The No. 1 Virginia baseball team took two of three road games against No. 8 Georgia Tech this past weekend as the Cavaliers took sole possession of first place in the Coastal Division.
[caption id="attachment_43030" align="alignleft" width="159" caption="Star senior midfielder Shamel Bratton returns against North Carolina after serving a one-game suspension for breaking unspecified team rules.
[caption id="attachment_43024" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Senior Sanam Singh and sophomore Jarmere Jenkins fell against the Tar Heels last Sunday, prompting coach Brian Boland to stress improvement on doubles.
[caption id="attachment_43021" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Freshman first baseman Stephanie Harris owns a team-high .343 average and will look to thwart one of the ACC's top pitchers, senior Sarah Hamilton.
[caption id="attachment_43027" align="alignleft" width="237" caption="Senior right fielder David Coleman brings a hot bat to the weekend's series.
[caption id="attachment_42942" align="alignleft" width="253" caption="With her team in need of an ACC win, junior Charlie Finnigan delivered four goals and three assists to down Tech.
After reading fellow columnist Eric Cooper's piece, "A year without football," which appeared in yesterday's paper, my friend Solomon and I began to discuss our upcoming sports fate - a year that potentially would go on without the NFL and the NBA.
[caption id="attachment_42939" align="alignleft" width="135" caption="Junior center fielder Giannina Cipolloni propelled the Cavaliers' offensive charge by tallying three hits, two stolen bases and one RBI against JMU.
[caption id="attachment_42937" align="alignleft" width="159" caption="No. 84 sophomore Hana Tomljanovic likely will pair up with junior teammate Emily Fraser to take on two top-30 teams during the Cavs' final home matches.
[caption id="attachment_42861" align="alignleft" width="203" caption="Sophomore outfielder Reed Gragnani added an important insurance run for Virginia when he ripped a two-out RBI triple to right-center field in the bottom of the seventh.
[caption id="attachment_42859" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sophomore pitcher Melanie Mitchell returned to action this past weekend after being sidelined by injury for nearly a month.
[caption id="attachment_42857" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Against Virginia Tech, the Cavaliers hope to ride the hot scoring hand of sophomore midfielder Annie Thomas, who tied her season high with three goals during a wild 19-18 win against Harvard Sunday.
The end of the summer has meant one thing for me during the past few years. Without fail, there has come a time each August or September when I have no choice but to give up on my hope that the Mets will make one last push for a playoff spot.
In an attempt to relieve the college basketball overload that swamps most sports fans this time of year, I'm going to talk about something else - and don't worry, I'll avoid the tired topics of Barry Bonds, Jim Tressel and the NFL draft as well.
[caption id="attachment_42790" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="After posting Virginia's first perfect game, junior Will Roberts collected College Baseball's National Player of the Week and ACC Pitcher of the Week honors.
[caption id="attachment_42788" align="alignleft" width="263" caption="Junior attack Julie Gardner, who switched positions at the beginning of the season, has tallied a team-high 21 assists and 22 goals in 12 starts during 2011.
You may not realize it, but the newspaper you are reading right now was in part an invention of Virginia football fans.
[caption id="attachment_42784" align="alignleft" width="270" caption="Sophomore pitcher Melanie Mitchell only yielded one run in her first start since suffering an injury.
Now that the Major League Baseball season is officially under way - and in conformity with modern media's rules of knee-jerk, way-too-early reactions - it's about time for some thoughts and reflections regarding the first weekend of the 2011 season. Let's start with a look at several of the early favorites to make a run at the World Series.
[caption id="attachment_42747" align="alignleft" width="208" caption="Freshman Alex Domijan hammered Duke's senior Reid Carleton Friday, The nation's No.
