Vanderbilt junior outfielder John Norwood deposited a Nick Howard fastball into the left field bullpen of TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. One inning later, the Commodores were crowned NCAA champions. The winning home run remains painfully etched in the collective memory of all Virginia baseball fans.
The 2014 collegiate baseball season ended 232 days ago. For the No. 2 Cavaliers, the new season begins Feb. 13.
Last season represented the high-water mark for the program. The team recorded the second-most wins in its history with 53 and made its first trip to the College World Series Finals, where it outplayed Vanderbilt for most of the series with points scored.
But many of last season’s heroes are now minor league prospects. Eight Cavaliers were selected in the 2014 MLB Draft—pitchers Howard, Artie Lewicki and Whit Mayberry; and position players Derek Fisher, Mike Papi, Branden Cogswell, Brandon Downes and Nate Irving.
To compound the problem further, junior outfielder Joe McCarthy underwent back surgery in late January and is expected to miss approximately 12 weeks. McCarthy started all 69 games last season and led the team in doubles and steals while batting .301.
However, this is not the first time coach Brian O’Connor has scrambled to plug holes up and down his roster—you cannot make 11 straight NCAA Tournaments without doing so.
The closer position exemplifies Virginia’s knack for making seamless transitions. The list of recent Virginia closers reads like a chronicle of late-inning royalty—Howard, Kyle Crockett, Justin Thompson, Branden Kline and Kevin Arico.
Arico was the last fireman to function in that role for multiple seasons when he did so in 2009 and 2010. Of the five closers listed above four were All-Americans.
Now, it is junior Josh Sborz’s turn to fill those grossly oversized shoes. Sborz appeared in 15 games for the Cavaliers last season and posted a 6-4 record with a 2.92 ERA. The year before he went 3-0 with a 1.98 ERA in 27 relief appearances.
O’Connor is confident in Sborz’s ability to take the baton from Howard, who set the ACC record with 20 saves in 2014.
“[Josh] has Nick Howard stuff,” O’Connor said. “He has experience pitching in the back part of games, and I think he is going to do a great job.”
And Sborz looks forward to stepping into his new role.
“I’m always excited to pitch for Virginia, win some games for [the team] and play baseball,” Sborz said.
Sborz is not the only pitcher stepping into a new role. His transition to the pen opens a spot in Virginia’s weekend rotation. Additionally, the bullpen requires new members with the loss of Lewicki and Mayberry.
Questions also abound on the offensive side as the Cavaliers attempt to replace one-third of their hits, close to half of their runs batted in and two-thirds of their home runs from 2014.
O’Connor is looking to the team as a whole, and not particular individuals, to push runs across the plate this season.
“Last year we were so skilled and had a lot of offensive standpoint,” O’Connor said. “This year is going to be a little different. Everyone needs to do their job for us to have the best offensive club that we can have.”
Virginia’s enviable position of having an elite crop of starting pitchers will keep the Cavaliers in games should the batting order require time to work itself out.
Juniors Nathan Kirby and Brandon Waddell form the two-headed monster that shut down teams for long periods of time in 2014. Kirby—the reigning co-ACC Pitcher of the Year and a 2014 All-American—won nine games for Virginia last year and had 112 strikeouts. Waddell became only the 11th Cavalier to win 10 or more games when he went 10-3 last year. The Houston native can also eat innings—he led the staff with 114 innings pitched.
“Having a veteran pitching staff is crucial,” senior infielder Kenny Towns said. “Pitching wins games, and it will take a lot of pressure off our offense and the young guys we’re relying on.”
The preseason prognosticators have expressed their confidence in the young Virginia offense. The Cavaliers were picked to win the ACC and are ranked between second and fourth in the sport’s major polls.
“There are high expectations for us,” Towns said. “We can’t have our goal to win the ACC Tournament. We have to play our style and take it game-by-game, and we’ll worry about everything else when the time comes.”
The Cavaliers play their first series against East Carolina Feb. 13 and 14.
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