Cavaliers sweep Tigers
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 11, 2004

The last time that the Virginia baseball team swept Clemson in a three-game series, UVa coach Brian O’Connor was a one-year-old toddler in Omaha, Nebraska.

On Saturday with a sweep in a doubleheader, O’Connor and his team rewrote the Virginia record books as they swept the Tigers in a series for the first time since 1972.

With a 4-3 come-from-behind win in the opener and lightning quick 3-1 win in less than two hours in the nightcap, the Cavaliers completed the sweep and tied a school record with its 11th ACC win.

It leaves Clemson, a team that entered the series on a nine-game winning streak, looking for answers.

“We didn’t make a big pitch when we had to. We hit horrible all weekend long. You have to give Virginia credit,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said. “[Coach O’Connor] has got them playing good and they are doing what they have to do to win.”

The three-game sweep also puts the Cavaliers into a prime position to compete for an ACC title.

“Our goal all along has been to win this league. That is our goal and our expectation,” O’Connor said. “We are really in a great position. We can’t think that we have it made right now. We have to keep doing the things that have made us successful.”

The things that made them successful against Clemson started on the mound.

After getting a gem from Andrew Dobies in Friday night’s 5-1 win, Virginia got two solid pitching performances from Joe Koshansky in the opener and Matt Avery in the second game.

In the opener, Koshansky tossed eight innings allowing eight hits, three runs - only one of which was earned - and struck out seven Tiger batters.

“Joe was throwing strikes. He was making the clutch pitches,” O’Connor said. “The one home run they hit, he felt it was a mistake pitch. He was in complete command. He rose up and made some pitches.”

Koshansky also did his part at the plate to spark the Cavaliers.

With two outs and the Cavaliers trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth, Ryan Zimmerman hit a double to left center. Koshansky helped his own cause following with a double down the right-field line to plate Zimmerman tying the game.

Matt Dunn kept the hit parade going with a single up the middle on a split-finger fastball from Clemson reliever Patrick Hogan (0-2) scoring Koshansky.

“[Hogan] was messing everybody up with [the split-finger],” Dunn said. “He just hung it up in the zone and I took advantage of it. I was trying to give myself the best opportunity to put our team ahead.”

With the 4-3 cushion, O’Connor went to closer Casey Lambert and the freshman struck out two batters and forced Ryan Hub to ground out to third to end the game. It was Lambert’s fifth save of the season.

In the second game, Avery stole the spotlight with a complete game, four-hitter.

The 6-foot-5 right-hander, limited the Tigers to just seven baserunners and improved to 4-1 on the season.

“The story of the last game was Avery,” O’Connor said. “In my opinion, he really grew up a lot today. Matt had been doing some good things all year long in that No. 2 [rotation] spot but there was something about today … he took a step up.”

The Cavalier hitters also did their part wasting little time to get to Clemson starter Stephen Faris (1-3). The Cavs scored two runs in the first inning and a lone run in the third inning.

In the first inning, Matt Street scored on a sacrifice fly from Koshansky and Mark Reynolds later scored on a single to left from Dunn.

Reynolds also added a homer just to the left of the monstrous wall in center to make it 3-0.

With a three-run margin, Avery got himself into a jam in the fourth inning. Avery gave up pair of doubles that sandwiched a walk to open the frame and was staring at disaster with two runners in scoring position and no outs.

Avery responded.

The McLean native struck out three straight Tiger batters to get out of the jam.

Avery then settled into a groove retiring 15 of the final 17 Tiger hitters - allowing just a pair of walks in the fifth and seventh inning, respectively.

“The clutch pitches that he was making when he got to the latter part of the game … you could tell his confidence was rising,” O’Connor said. “Now he will have that confidence going into the rest of the season.”

And so will Virginia.

McGrew's return a big boost to UVa
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 11, 2004

The first time Michael McGrew ran a pass route in Virginia’s spring football practice this month, everybody held their breath when it came time for him to stop, including McGrew.
Coming off a nasty broken leg in training camp last August that kept him sidelined last season, the fifth-year senior wasn’t sure how his leg would hold up when it came time to put on the brakes.
“It took me about 15 yards to stop,” McGrew said. “I was babying it for a good couple of days. But then I ran one route and planted like I used to and said to myself, ‘Oh, it’s holding up a little bit.’”
The Alabama native rates his recovery at somewhere between 75 and 80 percent but is hopeful he will return to normal by next month. Three more months of rehab and McGrew believes he’ll be raring to go when training camp opens in August.

Blessing in disguise
While the timing of his injury was most unfortunate for him and Virginia last year, it created an unexpected bonus for the Cavaliers heading into the 2004 season. McGrew was the Wahoos’ most experienced wide receiver heading into the 2003 campaign.
When he went down, it left an inexperienced corps of wideouts even thinner, putting pressure on Ottowa Anderson and Ryan Sawyer to step up their development. It also forced UVa to throw more to running backs and tight ends in order to keep defenses off guard.
After the Cavaliers failed to sign a big-time wide receiver in its February recruiting class, Groh reminded us that having a player like McGrew back was a bonus. The coach equated McGrew’s availablity a year after he was supposed to be done was better than bringing in an inexperienced high school blue-chipper, at least for the coming season.
“He has been through it all,” Groh said. “He’s game savvy. He has been through the stadiums. He has been through camp. He has been in the big games. He is a two-year starter, so he has started a lot of games.”

Back into shape
McGrew has cautiously pushed himself in the spring, making certain that he gets through it stronger and with no setbacks. Eight months after the break, the bone is fine. It is a matter of getting the muscles around it back in shape.
He gets sore and sometimes has to back off a little. He can almost feel things getting better day after day.
“Really just doing the movements again has been the biggest adjustment in coming back,” McGrew said after a recent practice. “I’ve been doing a lot of rehab, but the only rehab that has benefited me a lot is actually going out there on the practice field. I can do things in the training room all I want, but there’s nothing like going out there and stopping on a dime, moving around and getting hit on it.”
At 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, McGrew has started 24 games in his career, the most of any returning player coming into last season. He also had 60 career catches, most of anyone returning last year.
He probably would have had more, had he not started opposite of Billy McMullen for two years. McMullen, who rewrote the school’s pass receiving records, was obviously a favorite target.
This Virginia team welcomes McGrew back, not only because he is a proven receiver.
“The main thing is that he brings leadership because he has been around for awhile,” said UVa quarterback candidate Marques Hagans. “He’s competing every play, getting better. I’m glad he’s out there. Plus, he brings a lot of life to the lockerroom. We missed him in that respect last year as well.”
McGrew works hard on the practice field, which serves as a good example to some of the Cavs’ younger wide receivers.
The fifth-year player said that while he struggled in watching the games from the sidelines or on TV last season, that he learned more about the game. He feels more comfortable than ever before and has adjusted his mindset to a higher level because of his experience.
Most of all, he’s itching to get out there again and to survive without any more injuries.
“I’m real anxious,” McGrew said. “I haven’t played in a game in two years [Virginia’s first Continental Tire Bowl appearance]. It seems like I’m in a two-year off season program.”
And, man, that’s getting old.
He plans to spend his summer in Charlottesville. That’s when quarterbacks and receivers really nail down their timing on pass routes and learn to anticipate each other’s moves and thought processes.
“I’m doing pretty good out there,” McGrew said. “I’m not focusing on making plays right now. I just want to run routes, feel good, get hit, block, get back into the flow of things.”
He’ll save all the juicy stuff for when it counts.
 

UVa falls again
No. 15 Cavaliers' tourney chances getting slimmer
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
April 11, 2004

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Virginia senior goalkeeper Tillman Johnson claims his team hasn’t played a full and complete game all season. Saturday was the perfect example.

The No. 15 Virginia men’s lacrosse team led at halftime and early in the third quarter before wilting under a plethora of miscues and missed opportunities as No. 5 North Carolina rallied for an 11-9 victory on Saturday at Fetzer Field.

Andrew Lucas and Ryan Blair each had two goals to pace the Tar Heels, who improved to 6-3, 2-1 ACC with the win.

Matt Ward, carrying his team at times, led Virginia with five goals and two assists.

The loss dropped Virginia to 3-6 (0-2 ACC) and put the defending champions in dire straits in terms of merely getting the chance to return to the NCAAs this season.

The game, while certainly closer than last week’s 11-2 loss at Maryland, featured the same nagging problems in many ways.

“It’s very frustrating because we made so many mistakes. There were things we could have prevented by just thinking about what we were doing. … We played hard but we didn’t play smart,” Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. “A lot of the things that plagued us today were characteristics of mental toughness. We weren’t tough enough to do the right thing over and over again. We weren’t tough enough to think through every situation.”

Johnson was emphatic in his evaluation.

“We just haven’t played a full game all year. The closest we came was the Hopkins game. There are too many mental mistakes and we’re not playing good lacrosse. It’s just that simple,” said Johnson, who recorded 16 saves.

North Carolina opened a 3-0 lead early in the first quarter, but Virginia came back to tie it at 3 at the end of the period.

Ultimately, Virginia held a 6-5 lead at intermission. A goal by junior attackman John Christmas - his first in a month - gave the Cavaliers that advantage. With 27 seconds remaining before halftime, Christmas took a pass from teammate Kyle Dixon and laced it past UNC keeper Paul Spellman from approximately 10 yards out. It was Christmas’ seventh goal of the season but his first since a third-quarter tally in 8-7 loss against Princeton on March 13.

Virginia’s lead, however, would be short-lived as those mental errors and miscues surfaced several times in the second half.

The Tar Heels outscored the Cavaliers 4-1 in the third quarter and when Mike McCall scored off a nifty pass from Scott Falatach, UNC had gained the 9-7 advantage with just four seconds remaining in the third quarter. Two of the four goals were extra-man opportunities the resulted from a slashing penalty against UVa defenseman Steve Holmes and an offside penalty against Christmas when he sort of just drifted into the field of play.

“We could have prevented those things by thinking. We walked offsides to give them an extra man. … We had so many silly fouls in the third quarter,” Starsia said. “It’s across the board. It’s sort of a virus. It may start with mistakes by some of the younger guys but it’s then continued by those who have been around the block.”

The play of Spellman only compounded Virginia’s woes. After yielding a Christmas goal that gave UVa a 7-6 lead with 9:06 remaining in the third, Spellman stonewalled the Cavaliers as he made nine-straight saves over the game’s next 19 minutes before surrendering a goal to Ward with 2:25 left in the contest.

Many of Spellman’s saves were on what would be described as very legitimate scoring chances by the Cavaliers.

“I think anytime your goalie plays well and can make some saves for you, it strengthens your defensive unit and gives you more opportunities down at the offensive end. Paul came out in the second half and played pretty well,” said UNC coach John Haus.

The momentum stayed very much on the side of the Tar Heels as they increased the lead to 10-7 on a goal by Lance Zimmerman with 8:34 to play in the contest and then 11-7 on a pretty score by Andrew Lucas with 4:33 remaining.

Ward tried - almost entirely by himself - to get Virginia back into the game. Ward scored consecutive unassisted goals, the second coming with 1:46 left, to bring the Cavaliers to within two, 11-9. The Cavaliers would get no closer, however, as the Tar Heels controlled the ball over the final minute and a half to secure the victory.

Virginia returns to action next Saturday when it hosts Duke at 1 p.m. at Klockner Stadium. No one needs to remind or alert the Cavaliers how small their window of opportunity now is with a maximum of four games remaining and a .500 or better record needed for NCAA play.

“Coach told us the other day that 90 percent effort in a lacrosse game is still a ‘F’. One hundred percent is what you want and we didn’t do that. That just doesn’t cut it,” Ward said. “We have one chance now and we have to win out. That’s essentially our only chance now. We have to put 100 percent into practice and hopefully it will translate into the games we have remaining.”