Walking on, moving up
Glaspy makes most of late-season opportunity to grab spot with Cavs
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Apr 15, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE Maybe Byron Glaspy's ascent up the University of Virginia football depth chart shouldn't be considered so stunning. His family has come to expect such things from Glaspy, a second-year engineering student at U.Va.

"We've just learned over the years, when he puts his mind to something, he'll do it," Glaspy's father, Archie, said this week. "He's always been that way."

This time last year, Glaspy was on the roster in the Cavaliers' spring media guide, but the walk-on from Basking Ridge, N.J., didn't have a number listed next to his name. He'd been with the team only a couple of months, so "we were still getting to know him," U.Va. coach Al Groh recalled.

A 5-11, 195-pound safety, Glaspy is no longer an unknown quantity at Virginia. He made his college debut Nov. 5 against Temple. A week later, pressed into service because of attrition in the secondary, he started against Georgia Tech and helped Virginia pull off an upset against the nation's 24th-ranked team.

Glaspy has yet to relinquish the job. He started the Cavaliers' final four games last season and, as the end of spring practice nears, is still on the first team. "Everything is coming a lot easier," said Glaspy, who has three seasons of eligibility left. "I can make all the reads that I need to make a lot quicker, and I feel more comfortable out there. I just kind of take it step by step. I don't let anything go to my head, but I'm definitely very appreciative of the opportunity."

Glaspy, 19, has roots in this area. He was born at St. Mary's Hospital and lived in Henrico County for four years before his father was transferred to Dayton, Ohio. The Glaspys moved to New Jersey four years later, and Byron graduated from Ridge High in 2004.

Georgetown recruited him, as did Harvard, but Glaspy, who'd been hurt as an 11th-grader, didn't have any scholarship offers from Division I-A schools. After U.Va. accepted him, he decided to head to Charlottesville to study engineering and, he hoped, to win over the football coaches.

His first attempt, during his first semester at Virginia, failed. But he persevered and was added to the roster last spring.

"We were just ecstatic he made the team," said Archie Glaspy, who ran track at Hampton University.

Groh's decision to start Glaspy ahead of Jamaal Jackson, a scholarship player, against Georgia Tech surprised many observers. The Cavaliers' coach, however, said the decision wasn't difficult.

"Walk-on, full scholarship, half scholarship, National Librarian Association award winner, it doesn't make any difference to us," Groh said in November. "Once the player is on the team, it's all based on performance and expectation of performance in the game."

Glaspy had two tackles against Georgia Tech. He made five against Virginia Tech a week later and eight against the Miami Hurricanes in the regular-season finale. He made five stops in U.Va.'s win over Minnesota in the Music City Bowl, including his first for a loss.

"I think I definitely started out really slow, because I was kind of thrown out there before I was real comfortable and knew all the checks and everything," Glaspy said of his play in 2005. "But by the end of the season I was pretty comfortable out there, and even now I think I've grown a little more during spring practice."

Since returning to his alma mater after the 2000 season, Groh has awarded scholarships to numerous players who came to U.Va. as walk-ons, among them Connor Hughes, Mark Miller, Kurt Smith and Kase Luzar.

Glaspy hasn't received one yet, but his day figures to come soon.

"Hopefully if I keep working hard, I might get a scholarship," Glaspy said. "But I'm more focused just on playing right now."

Cavs TE Santi hopes to build on bowl game
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 16, 2006

Who could blame Tom Santi if he wanted to pop a copy of the Music City Bowl into his VCR?
The native of Nashville, Tenn., had a memorable homecoming in December - he caught five passes for 128 yards - and helped spark Virginia's come-from-behind 34-31 win over Minnesota.

Santi, a rising junior, admitted that he has watched part of the bowl game, but a majority of the tight end's film work has consisted merely of practice tape from the nearly completed spring practice period.

"That was a lot of fun to be able to play at home like that, but I really haven't watched it all the way through," Santi said. "For me, personally, I need to work on my releases off the ball and getting down field as fast as I can.

"Also, a big emphasis for me has been blocking at the point of attack and getting better at that. Being a tight end you have to be able to do both."

For Santi, the spring practice period has been a blast. Last year he was stuck watching from the sidelines, recovering from a shoulder surgery that followed a rookie campaign in which he caught 13 passes for 155 yards.

"I finally have had a full offseason," said Santi, who has added considerable muscle to his 6-foot-5, 238-pound frame. "Last year, I had to get surgery on my shoulder and didn't get hardly as much done as I wanted to in the offseason.

"This year, I have made some good progress and I plan to continue that through the summer."

Santi's time on the field, he feels, was necessary with a new quarterback set to start under center for the Cavaliers.

Rising senior Christian Olsen appears, at least at this point, to be the top candidate for the spot held for the past two years by Marques Hagans.

"Olsen is definitely the old man of the group, but it is good to have him in here because he definitely has the best knowledge of the offense of anybody out here," Santi said. "He is a calming presence. He is always cool-headed and it seems like he is real cool under pressure."

Santi said there was a noticeable and positive reaction in the locker room when it became known that Olsen would be invited back for one more season. Leading up to the bowl game, Virginia coach Al Groh appeared to be weighing the decision of bringing the Notre Dame transfer back for another campaign.

"I think that was definitely a big thing," Santi said. "He wasn't guaranteed a spot and he has been a backup pretty much the whole time that he has been here, but he has used that to his advantage."

Santi said Olsen's knowledge of the offense has separated him from the other signal callers - rising junior Kevin McCabe, rising sophomore Scott Deke and redshirt freshman Jameel Sewell - who are battling for playing time.

"Olsen was making up for the physical reps he was missing last year by taking mental reps, and that's why he has the best knowledge of the system and that's why he is a good calming presence out there," Santi said. "He is always cool."

Tight ends have been a key part of Virginia's offense since Groh arrived. Santi knows that and that's why he and his position mates, who include rising junior Jonathan Stupar and rising sophomore John Phillips, needed a strong spring collectively.

"We are making a lot of progress as a group," Santi said. "We still have a long way to go and you never can be complacent or satisfied, but I think everybody is making a lot of progress.

"I think everybody wants to get better too and that's a big part of it."

Groh has said that all three tight ends could factor into the mix next season.

"Our attitude with tight ends here is the more the merrier," Groh said. "I don't know if we'll get to four tight ends, but we certainly wouldn't be averse to having three in there."

That's just fine with Santi.

After a wild offseason that included the premature departures of three veterans on defense - linebacker Ahmad Brooks, safety Tony Franklin and defensive end Vince Redd were dismissed from the program - and a number of arrests stemming from an incident at a fraternity house, Santi admitted that he just enjoys strapping up his helmet and hitting the gridiron.

"You don't have to worry about anything out here at practice," Santi said. "You are out here with your boys and you can really make a great bond with everybody because you go through the same stuff together. All of that outside stuff doesn't mean a thing to us out here.

"We can't change it and we wouldn't if we could. It is just the way that it is and we get to do what we do out here for fun."

 

Thompson comes through for UVa
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 16, 2006

Jacob Thompson was far from perfect on the mound.
In the end, it didn't matter.

The hard-throwing freshman was able to persevere into the sixth inning and earned his team-best seventh win of the season as Virginia scored in every other inning on its way to a 5-4 win over Boston College in front of a season-high 2,119 fans at Davenport Field.

The win not only secures Virginia's 30th win of the season, but also gives the Cavaliers (30-9, 10-7 ACC) the series win. Boston College (18-17-1, 4-13 ACC) lost its seventh straight league game.

BC took one-run leads in the second and fourth innings, but each time Virginia bounced back with at least one run and went on to score insurance runs on a sixth-inning homer from Sean Doolittle and an RBI double from Patrick Wingfield in the eighth.

"I think that shows the character of this team that we keep fighting back," said Virginia coach Brian O'Connor. "That's something that you develop over time."

The run support made up for a lackluster start by Thompson. The rookie from Danville allowed 10 base runners - he walked five and gave up five hits - but only one of the two runs he allowed was earned.

"I have talked about his poise since he has arrived here and he has proven that," O'Connor said. "Every time he goes out he gives us a chance to win. Even when he doesn't have his great stuff, he minimizes the innings and gives you a chance to win. That's all you can ask for."

Thompson, who has pitched at least five innings in all 10 starts, spotted BC its early lead when he overthrew first base on a two-out comebacker in the second. The first error of Thompson's career al-lowed the Eagles' Jett Ruiz to score from second.

After settling down in the third inning, Thompson ran his pitch count up in the fourth and fifth as he threw 54 of his 109 pitches.

With Virginia leading 3-2, O'Connor tried to get another frame out of Thompson in the sixth. After Thompson walked Ruiz to open the inning, he started center fielder Pete Frates with two balls. Vir-ginia's skipper was forced to yank his starter.

"Those guys in the bullpen have been worked hard," O'Connor said. "I was trying to sneak through one more inning with Jacob."

Reliever Michael Schwimer, who was pitching in his third straight game, came in and escaped the jam despite giving up a double to Johnny Ayers.

Doolittle provided Virginia with an additional run in the sixth when he hammered a 2-1 fastball off BC starter Dan Boggan over the right field wall. It was the first homer of the year for the sophomore, who hit 11 in his rookie season.

"It was a fastball on the inside part of the plate," Doolittle said. "I was looking for something in be-cause that's where they had thrown a lot to me this weekend. I just stayed within myself and let my hands do the work."

BC scratched for a lone run off Schwimer in the seventh, trimming the lead to 4-3, but Wingfield de-livered a two-out double off the left field wall in the eighth.

"Patrick has waited his turn," O'Connor said. "He made a lot of great plays at third base and that was a clutch double in the eighth inning."

Casey Lambert pitched the ninth, and despite giving up a run, secured his sixth save of the season.

For the game, Virginia finished with nine hits. Doolittle and Wingfield each tallied two hits and des-ignated hitter Tom Hagan collected a pair of RBI, giving the senior six in the series.

"I went through a little hazy section in the last week-and-a-half," said Hagan, who entered the se-ries with four RBI in his last nine games. "The baseball season is long and you are thankful for the hits here and there, but most importantly when runners are in scoring position you want to cash in, espe-cially with two outs."

Virginia will look for the sweep of the series today as the Cavs send Mike Ballard to the mound. The senior southpaw is 5-2 on the season with a 2.68 ERA. BC will counter with Terry Doyle (2-3, 2.83 ERA).

EXTRA INNINGS: Both teams stole three bases on Saturday. Hagan swiped a pair giving him 11 on the season. ? Today's game is Little League Day and any uniformed youngster will be allowed to stand on the field for the National Anthem. There will also be a postgame Easter egg hunt and an autograph session with Virginia's players.

 

Cavs going 3-D has led to 30 wins
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
April 16, 2006

For the second time in three years, Virginia's baseball team swaggers into Davenport Field this afternoon with 30 wins in its hip pocket and it's only mid-April.
With strong pitching from freshman right-hander Jacob Thompson and power hitting from the bat of sophomore left-hander Sean Doolittle, the Cavaliers beat visiting Boston College, 5-4 on Saturday.

A sweep of the Eagles would go a long way in UVa's quest for postseason play because its next six conference games are on the road at Miami and Maryland.

A high-water mark

Standing at 30-9 overall and 10-7 in the ACC's Coastal Division, it's the earliest the Wahoos have ever reached the 30-win mark (eclipsing the old mark of 30-7 two years ago, by a day).

"Any time in college baseball you can get 30 wins before you have 10 losses, you put yourself in really great position," said Virginia coach Brian O'Connor. "We need to take advantage of every opportunity we have at home."

O'Connor's Cavaliers are a haughty 22-2 at home and 5-7 on the road, so it's easy to see where the Cavalier coach is coming from.

Turning up the offense

But this is a little different animal than O'Connor's first two teams at Virginia. Those teams were a little more two-dimensional, built on pitching and defense, certainly understandable because if you're rebuilding a program that's where you want to start, then add power as you go.

That's exactly what's going on at Davenport. This bunch of Cavaliers is the only team in the nation that is ranked in the top 10 nationally in both team pitching and team batting average.

"That's amazing when you think about it," O'Connor said after Saturday's win in front of more than 2,000 fans. "We've had a trademark for two-plus years of top-notch pitching. We've had the best ERA in the ACC for a couple of years and we concentrate on that and defense."

Among the nation's best

Virginia ranks No. 2 nationally in team earned run average with a collective ERA of 2.64. The Cavs entered this weekend series with their northernmost neighbors ranked 10th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (8.9).

But O'Connor knew when building this program that, while being strong on the mound and solid on defense would show up daily and keep the Cavs in games, without a more potent offense it would be difficult to survive and advance in NCAA play. Maybe that's why his first two teams only had a cup of coffee in the postseason and maybe the added firepower will allow UVa to stick around a little longer this year, providing the Cavs finish the regular season as well as they've started.

"The big difference in our team this year has been our offense," O'Connor said. "If our pitching is off a little bit one day, our offense can carry us.

"That's the kind of team it takes to advance in the NCAA Tournament, a team that can provide great offense when they needed, but can also pitch and play great defense when they need it."

Virginia's team came into the BC series ranked No. 9 nationally in team batting average at .335. Certainly the Cavs didn't hurt themselves by pounding out nine hits against the Eagles, including a bases empty home run and a double by Doolittle, who did a lot.

"I've been a little overdue," said Doolittle of his first round-tripper of the season. "I felt like I've been pressing a little at the plate the last couple of weeks."

He has been working hard with assistant coach Kevin McMullen, who drew high praise from O'Connor for his work with Cavs hitters, and the work paid off big-time. Doolittle's double appeared to be a run-scoring triple but was ruled a ground rule double by the umpires.

Then there's Thompson, who at this time last season was pitching for Tunstall High School and getting ready for the Senior Prom.

For the 10th time this season, the rookie pitched into the fifth inning and improved his startling record to 7-1.

Don't be confused about this kid. It's not like he's getting all the cupcakes on the schedule.

"Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, some really good programs," O'Connor marveled when reviewing the freshman's deeds. "He has given us an opportunity to win every time out. Now, that's a great starter. It's going to be exciting to watch him develop in our uniform ... I'm just glad he's here and not pitching for the Braves."

But as designated hitter Tom Hagan said, this team is all about hitters 1 through 9 in the lineup being able to step up and get the job done at any time. That's what happened Saturday as Hagan delivered what O'Connor thought was the biggest hit of the game.

That came in the UVa fourth with BC leading, 2-1. Doolittle's hit had been ruled a ground rule double, holding Brandon Marsh at third with no outs. Marsh scored on a ground out, but Hagan's two-out single up the middle put UVa up 3-2.

"That was big because after the controversy our team didn't panic and was still able to get those two runs home," O'Connor said.

Doolittle said that he believes the Cavaliers are going to peak at the right time and that getting the first two wins against BC is allowing Virginia to build momentum for the stretch run (the Cavs have 17 games remaining before the ACC Tournament).

"This team is a little more well-rounded," Doolittle said. "We can get something started from any spot in the lineup and the pitching staff hasn't been this deep."

Lots of optimism. But that's what 30 wins by Tax Day will do for a college baseball team. Florida State and North Carolina are the only other two ACC teams that can boast such a number heading into Easter Sunday.

With any luck, the Cavs will make it 31 today.

 

Jackson to offer scholarship to accuser
Samiha Khanna, Staff Writer

The Rev. Jesse Jackson announced Saturday that he and his organization want to pay for the accuser in the Duke University rape allegations to finish her education.
Speaking by phone from the headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition in Chicago, Jackson said he learned the woman, a 27-year-old student at N.C. Central University, has aspirations to finish her undergraduate degree and attend graduate or law school.

Meditating on the significance of Easter, Jackson was moved to offer his support to the woman at the center of the allegations, said his publicist, Jerry Thomas.

In the telephone interview, Jackson said he wants to pay for the woman to finish school, "so she will never again, in an act of desperation, have to expose her body.

"She should never again have to stoop that low to survive," he said. "That happens to all too many women."

He said he is waiting until the woman is "strong enough" to meet with him for prayer, and so he can formally offer her a scholarship. He said the offer stands, regardless of the outcome of the case.

On Saturday, Jackson said he has no plans to visit Durham immediately and has not had a chance to speak with the woman. He said he has talked to local ministers who have spoken with her family.

Reached by phone Saturday, the woman's mother was taken by surprise by Jackson's offer.

"I'll have to see what she thinks," the woman said of her daughter. "I think it will make her happy."
 

Duke's swift actions didn't come too soon
JOHN MARKON
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Apr 16, 2006

Questions of guilt and innocence seem a long way from being resolved, but there's one thing that strikes me first and foremost about the allegations that three members of the Duke University lacrosse team were involved in the rape of a stripper:

A lot of people really want these guys to be guilty.

Run "Duke lacrosse" through Google and you'll find outraged demands for "justice" from just about every subset of the Durham County and Duke communities. Duke faculty . . . female students at Duke . . . residents of the neighborhood in which the assault supposedly happened . . . students and faculty at nearby North Carolina Central University . . . there was a huge rush to line up behind the idea that punishment needed to be immediate and severe.

After 41 player arrests over seven years, maybe some charm had worn off this program.

An effort to capitalize on the noxious atmosphere around the team may actually have compromised the state's case. Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong, who faces a primary election May 2, appears to have gotten a few miles out in front of the facts in his public statements.

When DNA tests failed to link any suspects to the victim - not really a rarity in sexual assault cases - Nifong looked like a man holding an empty bag.

Nifong says he still plans to take the case to a grand jury, where he and his investigators quite possibly could be overwhelmed by a platoon of lawyers retained by the players and their families. A wealthy group of Duke athletic boosters also threw in with the players, scraping up the cash to hire yet another attorney to serve as lobbyist and advisor for team members.

It's even been suggested that Duke owes the athletes some sort of apology for calling a halt to the team's season and either demanding or encouraging the resignation of coach Mike Pressler.

My one-word response would be: ridiculous.

Even if no assault occurred and no contemptuous, race-baiting remarks were made, the players had turned the "Lacrosse House" at 610 North Buchanan - a property owned by Duke - into an unlicensed strip club where excessive amounts of underage drinking were mandated rather than prohibited.

A key element in the players' defense is supposed to be photographs showing that the alleged victim was extremely intoxicated and had sustained easily visible bruising before she arrived at the lacrosse party.

That's a sweet one: "Sorry you're having a rough day, babe, but . . . frankly . . . we're paying you to get up there, get naked and dance. Strike a hot pose for me, though, while my pal Theo here takes your picture."

When Duke and Durham police began investigating the incident, the players showed they hadn't been too busy to keep up with "The Sopranos" on television. They instantly clammed up, lawyered up and invoked a lacrosse version of "omerta," the Sicilian code of silence.

Had a Duke fraternity adopted similar stonewall tactics, its charter would have been pulled faster than you can say (or spell) "Mike Krzyzewski." An athletic team, funded by the university and containing numerous students on scholarship, ought to be held to higher rather than lower standards than the Phi Kap house.

The athletes' "Our Lips are Sealed" philosophy also plays much better in prisoner of war movies than it does in real life. The alleged victim says she was assaulted by three men. That gives, at most, three players a legitimate excuse for not talking. Duke had every right to expect some degree of cooperation, rather than defiance disguised as loyalty, from other students at the party.

One of the few statements Pressler made before he was advised to maintain silence is that he was no more responsible for the off-the-field activities of his players than their parents were. For that remark alone, he should have been fired.

Athletic teams can't be allowed to exist as independent, unmonitored agencies within a college community. Coaches can't be allowed to populate the campus with troublesome characters and deny responsibility.

Duke's administrators can blame themselves for allowing these things to happen with their lacrosse team. I can't blame the college for trying to sweep up the mess now.