The Virginia baseball team will open their 2019 season Friday at 7 p.m. against No. 1 Vanderbilt in Scottsdale, Ariz. as part of the MLB4 Collegiate Baseball Tournament. The game will be televised on MLB Network.
Virginia faced Vanderbilt in the 2014 and 2015 College World Series, coming away with the title in 2015.
However, the Cavaliers missed the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time in 15 seasons under Coach Brian O’Connor. Virginia finished with a 29-25 record, going only 12-18 in ACC play.
This year, the Cavaliers were chosen to finish second behind defending division champion No. 7 North Carolina in the ACC Coastal in a preseason poll of ACC baseball coaches. No. 4 Louisville was chosen to win the conference.
Virginia opens the season unranked, losing starting pitchers Derek Casey and Daniel Lynch, reliever Bennett Sousa, second baseman Andy Weber and center fielder Jake McCarthy to professional baseball and several more players to graduation. The Cavaliers add 13 freshmen and 3 transfers to the roster this year.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Mike Vasil will slot immediately into the Cavalier starting rotation in 2019 as Virginia looks to replace Casey and Lynch.
Vasil was a potential first-round pick in last year’s Major League Baseball draft before sending an email to all 30 MLB teams informing them that he was withdrawing from draft consideration in order to attend Virginia.
“A baseball career doesn’t last forever, and as I think about my future I realize that I want to be known as more than just a good player,” Vasil wrote in the email. “Attending the University of Virginia will afford me the tools for the next phase of my life.”
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Griff McGarry had a rough freshman season for Virginia, posting an 8.15 earned-run average in 11 appearances. However, McGarry started along with Vasil in the Cavaliers’ Orange and Blue World Series fall scrimmages and will likely be a starting pitcher for Virginia this year.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Andrew Abbott spent the summer playing for the Orleans Firebirds in the prestigious Cape Cod League. Abbott was a starting pitcher for the Firebirds but worked out of the bullpen in the team’s Orange and Blue World Series and will likely continue to do so for Virginia this year, potentially replacing Sousa in the closer’s role.
Senior infielder Nate Eikhoff and Sophomore infielder Tanner Morris, as well as sophomore outfielder Alex Tappen, joined Abbott in the Cape Cod League. The three were teammates on the Harwich Mariners.
Morris had the most successful summer of the three, batting .331 with 2 home runs, building on a freshman season in which he was second on the Cavaliers with a .298 batting average as the team’s starting shortstop and leadoff hitter.
Eikhoff, however, only hit .220 for Harwich, while Tappen was out for most of the summer and only appeared once in the regular season and twice in the playoffs. Tappen started all 54 games his freshman year in right field and will likely be back there on Opening Day for Virginia.
Senior outfielder Cameron Simmons missed all of last season with a shoulder injury but will return for the Cavaliers. His sophomore year, Simmons hit .352 with nine home runs and 57 RBIs. Over the summer, he was selected in the 15th round of the draft by the Texas Rangers but did not sign.
"I'm thankful for the Rangers for picking me," Simmons said. "It was awesome, but it just wasn't the right time for me to leave. I'm just excited to be back and get another opportunity.”
Though Simmons was the Cavaliers’ starting right fielder his first two seasons, he will move to center field this season.
“Cam's got really, really good speed,” O’Connor said. “He can run, and think [sic] he's a very good outfielder. He just hasn't had the opportunity to play center field here, because of [former Virginia outfielders] Adam Haseley and Jake McCarthy."
Sophomores Brendan Rivoli and Devin Ortiz both went 9-18 in the Orange and Blue World Series and will also play important roles for the Cavaliers this year. Rivoli is a catcher who mainly served as the designated hitter last season, while Ortiz made appearances as both an outfielder and a pitcher in 2018.
Virginia will also take on No. 19 Texas Christian and No. 25 California State-Fullerton this weekend in Arizona. The Cavaliers will return to Disharoon Park for their home opener on Feb. 20, hosting VMI at 3 p.m.
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