Baseball is a hard game to win consistently. After another ACC series sweep - and another walk-off win - however, the No. 1 Virginia baseball team continues to make it look easy.
"I think people lose perspective of the way the game of baseball is played, and the losses that come in the game of baseball," coach Brian O'Connor said. "The greatest teams in this world at the highest level in professional baseball are going to lose a third of their ball games."
Virginia (36-3, 16-2 ACC) has lost just three of its ball games, however, and since accepting the Virginia job in 2004, O'Connor has won more frequently than any of his counterparts in the conference. After Friday's 10-0 shutout against Duke (20-19, 4-14 ACC), O'Connor became the fastest coach in ACC history to win 350 games.
"Three hundred and fifty wins at the University of Virginia in seven-and-a-half years means two things," O'Connor said. "It means we've got great players that ... are winners and we've got a lot of people at this university who are committed to our success."
One of O'Connor's best players, junior pitcher Danny Hultzen, also has a knack for winning. The ace notched a Virginia record 28th career victory Friday as he tossed seven shutout innings while striking out eight.
"Danny Hultzen is really a special talent," O'Connor said. "That this kid has had 30 decisions in his career and he's won 28 of them is just remarkable, and shows that not only is he talented, but he's very, very consistent with that talent."
Friday's game - a contest in which the offense was firing and the team's ace dominated - is one a team expects to win. The first game of Sunday's doubleheader, however, was one the team could have lost. Junior third baseman Steven Proscia homered in the sixth and senior pitcher Tyler Wilson was perfect through 16 batters and faced the minimum while striking out 10 through seven frames. During the eighth inning, though, Wilson hit a batter and then gave up a two-out double before sophomore closer Branden Kline came in to relieve him. Kline entered the contest a perfect 11-for-11 in save opportunities, but Duke's freshman pinch hitter Mark Tatera spoiled that record by battling through eight pitches before doubling to the right-center gap and plating the two tying runs.
"I think a lot of teams in that first game today maybe wouldn't have handled the adversity like we did," O'Connor said. "To have a 2-0 lead and then they tied the ball game ... guys could hang their heads but they don't, they just keep playing and they keep playing hard."
Virginia looked ready to respond in the eighth as the team loaded the bases with no outs, but Duke escaped the jam when sophomore pitcher Marcus Stroman retired the next three batters. The Cavaliers again threatened with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th, but the following three hitters failed to get the ball out of the infield and Virginia left the frame empty-handed.
Those wasted chances, however, simply delayed the inevitable for a Virginia team with a penchant for comebacks. Kline escaped a bases loaded jam of his own in the top of the 11th and gave an emphatic fist pump after escaping the inning with a strikeout. Stroman retired Virginia's first two batters before surrendering a double to senior left fielder John Barr. Junior catcher John Hicks then roped a cutter up the middle for the game-winning, walk-off hit.
"We had opportunities and we weren't able to capitalize, but we stayed up; we didn't let it bother us; we were able to capitalize later in the game," Hicks said. "That's how we are: we stay tough, and we know our teammates are going to pick us up."
The second game of Sunday's doubleheader didn't require those same late inning heroics, as Virginia won 18-4.
After posting a 0.87 ERA through his first nine appearances in midweek matchups, junior pitcher Will Roberts earned the weekend start. The righty had not given up a run in a month but promptly surrendered two during the first two innings against Duke.
Roberts "wasn't pitching as consistently as he has been," O'Connor said. "I don't think that has anything to do with the fact that he hasn't pitched in the league, I think it has more to do with the fatigue factor of only throwing on four-days rest."
Although Roberts lacked his best stuff, his performance was more than good enough for a Virginia offense that exploded during the third inning. Barr triggered the scoring with a two-RBI double past Duke's diving third baseman. Hicks followed with a bouncing ball off the tip of the shortstop's glove and scored when Proscia's single dropped between three Duke players in center field. Three runs later, Duke made another miscue as the pitcher lost a high pop up in the wind, allowing another score. Barr then smacked his second double of the inning to cap off the nine-run frame.
"I think going into that inning it was a tie ball game, and the fact that we didn't let the foot off the pedal was big," Barr said. "You don't want to let them out of those innings; you want to keep pouring it on."
Virginia kept pouring it on in the fourth as the team pushed across five more runs. Barr capped the scoring with a long drive to the warning track, notching his third double and fourth and fifth RBIs of the day. Virginia later tacked on two more runs to complete the sweep against the Blue Devils and take its sixth straight ACC series.
"We've played six weekends of baseball in this league, and to only have two losses is as good as we've ever played," O'Connor said. "When you pitch like we do, and compete like we do at the end of the ball game, those kind of things can happen"
Read More
Payton Cormier breaks Division I goals record
By Michael Liebermann | 4 hours agoCormier has forever cemented his legacy as one of the greatest lacrosse players in NCAA history.
Cavaliers advance to NCAA Championship with second place finish at Baton Rouge Regional
By Stephen O'Dea | 6 hours agoVirginia will head to the National Championship in Carlsbad, Calif., with a chance to make history.
Thank you, Reece Beekman
By Ben Istvan | YesterdayBeekman will leave Charlottesville as the program's all-time leader in steals.
