Fresh off a three-game sweep of ACC rival Duke, the No. 1 Virginia baseball team travels to Radford this evening to face off against the Highlanders in a rare midweek road showdown.
The matchup will mark the second time that the Cavaliers (36-3, 16-2 ACC) and the Highlanders (21-15, 7-5 Big South) have squared off against one another. Junior pitcher Will Roberts led Virginia to a 2-0 victory against Radford April 5 as the right-hander completely shut down two of the Highlanders' most potent hitters - junior third baseman Matt Mack and junior left fielder Matt Hillsinger. Mack and Hillsinger went 0-for-7 against Roberts despite entering the matchup boasting the highest batting averages on their team.
"That's a good ball club," Roberts said. "They've beaten some good teams this year, [and] they're doing really well in the Big South. They can hit pretty well ... so it's definitely going to be a task."\nRoberts knows what it takes to stifle the Highlanders' offensive prowess, but the junior will not be able to take the mound tonight as coach Brian O'Connor gave him the start against the Blue Devils Sunday afternoon. Instead, senior pitcher Cody Winiarski likely will earn the starting nod against Radford.
To get the win, Winiarski will have to replicate the solid play that guided him through four innings of solid baseball last Wednesday against Coastal Carolina and hope that the Virginia bats give him enough of a cushion to secure a road victory. The team may look for more production from sophomore right fielder Colin Harrington and senior left fielder John Barr - arguably two of the team's hottest hitters.
Harrington has capitalized on his increased role in light of an injury to senior outfielder Kenny Swab by posting a .423 batting average in just 15 games. Barr, meanwhile, seemingly has pushed past an early-season slump as he played a crucial role this past weekend during the Cavaliers' weekend drubbing of the Blue Devils. After managing to get aboard the bases during the 11th frame during Sunday's doubleheader opener, Barr crossed the plate for the game-winning run before knocking three doubles during the second matchup of the afternoon.
"At the beginning of the year, I felt like anything I put in play was just like a giant glove, like people would make great plays on me ... and I wasn't seeing it as well as I would like," Barr said. "But it's better to be seeing it good now - and hopefully throughout the end of the year when it counts the most."
Barr and the rest of the Virginia lineup should face a formidable challenge, however, in senior pitcher Cassidy McDaniel. McDaniel has helped propel the Highlanders to an 11-2 home record, and tallied 4.2 scoreless innings during his last appearance against the red-hot Virginia batters.
Despite McDaniel's previous success against the Cavaliers and Radford's recent dominance at home, O'Connor believes his team will be ready to rise to the challenges associated with the matchup.\n"We've played them once already here, so we have an understanding of their type of players and what they do," O'Connor said. "This will be a good challenge for us [as] it's not too often that we play in the middle of the week on the road."
But the Cavaliers will not have too long to recover from the rare midweek road stint as Virginia is scheduled to take on Richmond Wednesday afternoon at Davenport Field. The Spiders (19-15-2, 6-3 Atlantic 10) will aim to earn an elusive upset against the top-ranked squad, especially after last season's 11-3 loss against the Cavaliers during which junior Shane Halley tossed four innings of shutout baseball.
This season's Richmond ball club should hope to return the favor behind a solid outing from senior pitcher Anthony Cafagna - tomorrow's expected starter. Cafagna currently touts a 3.79 ERA and already has eclipsed his previous season-high win total.
The Cavaliers' matchup against Cafagna and the rest of the Spiders is slated to begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
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