Complete command
Ballard 's no-hitter 1st since '66 for UVa
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
April 16, 2006

Mike Ballard made history on Sunday at Davenport Field and his body paid the price.
Moments after Ballard tossed the first Virginia no-hitter in 40 years, the crafty southpaw was mobbed by his teammates.

When Ballard finally emerged from the team's dog pile, he turned to the 2,000-plus fans, tipped his cap and let the magnitude of his actions start to sink in. He had just tossed the first no-hitter since Ned Turnbull threw one for Virginia in 1966.

Using 117 pitches, Ballard quickly mowed through Boston College's lineup as the Cavaliers secured a memorable 5-0 victory and a series sweep.

"It was crazy," Ballard said. "I have never been a part of a no-hitter before. I have been a part of several one-hitters, myself and other guys, but it was definitely special."

Like most no-hitters, Ballard's monumental outing was not without drama.

Brandon Marsh made a diving catch in right field on a blooper during the middle innings and in the ninth inning alone, Ballard walked one batter and shortstop Greg Miclat booted a two-out grounder.

"I keep replaying it and I don't know what happened," Miclat said. "I'm glad the next ball was hit to Marsh and he got him out. I was very relieved and I didn't want to blow it.

"I have never been part of a no-hitter and I know what it feels like now and if I ever get the chance again, I will make that play."

For the game, BC (18-18-1, 4-14 ACC) managed just four base runners. Ballard (6-2) walked two, hit Pete Frates with a pitch and one runner reached on Miclat's miscue.

"Guys played great defense all day," Ballard said. "They made some huge plays. That allowed me to go out there and pitch well."

Ballard got more than enough run support as Virginia scored lone runs in the third, fourth and seventh and plated a pair of runs in the sixth.

As the game quickly progressed, Virginia's players started to notice the goose egg on the scoreboard.

Marsh said the older players tried to keep their distance from their starting pitcher. Not everyone got the message.

"I had to tell [Miclat] to shut up [in the fifth]," Marsh quipped. "He said 'Hey, Bally, great job. You haven't even thrown that many pitches. What's your pitch count?'

"I was in the background going 'shh!' Ballard was blowing him off."

Ballard admitted that he didn't even notice what was going on until late in the game.

"I wasn't really paying too much attention until maybe about the seventh and I looked up at the scoreboard," Ballard said. "When I was in the dugout, I kept paying attention to the offense and watching them get going."

Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said he could tell early in the game that Ballard was locked in on the mound but he wanted the win more than the no-hitter.

"We were still in a tight ball game, but Mike did a great job of making clutch pitches all day," said O'Connor, whose team improved to 31-9 overall and 11-7 in the ACC. "I noticed it about the sixth inning, but our team did a great job of continuing to play and not talking about."

Ballard said he had thrown a one-hitter in high school, but never flirted with a no-hitter.

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2003 and missing the following season, it was never something that crossed Ballard's mind.

"I have been through so much," Ballard said, "rehabbing from surgery and having to sit out a whole year and just coming back it is definitely rewarding just to know all the hard work is starting to pay off a little."

O'Connor agreed.

"Obviously throwing a no-hitter is something that you rarely, rarely ever see," O'Connor said. "I am just so happy for Mike Ballard. It is very well deserved with what he has went through in his career.

"He has worked hard for this and it is something that he will remember for the rest of his life."

 

UVa's Mr. Clutch
Ward has become Cavs' go-to guy
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
April 15, 2006

It's a good thing that Matt Ward traded in his tennis racket for a lacrosse stick about eight years ago.
If he didn't, the world would probably have another John McEnroe on its hands.

"When I was little, I would cry all the time because I would get so frustrated," Ward said. "I'm pretty sure that if I was playing competitive tennis now I'd still be crying.

"I couldn't deal with it. You make a mistake, you can't do anything about it. You take it out on your racket. Lacrosse kind of gives you an outlet to take it out on other people."

Growing up, Ward also played a lot of golf. While he became good - at one time he says he was a scratch player - the frustrations in the sport were similar to tennis.

"The physicality of lacrosse is really what drew me away from golf and tennis," Ward said. "Even though I loved to play them, they certainly don't have the same place in my heart as lacrosse does."

Wahoo Nation is certainly glad Ward decided to ditch his racket and clubs. The Oakton native is a main reason why Virginia (11-0) is having its best season ever.

The Cavaliers, who have been ranked No. 1 in the nation since March 20, are the only undefeated school in Division I lacrosse and are considered the odds-on favorite to win the National Championship.

Ward, one of the team captains, leads Virginia with 38 points (21 goals and 17 assists). The senior attackman uses a combination of strength and skill to get the job done.

Watching Ward play is kind of like watching former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis barrel toward the goal line.

"He's the classic bull in a china shop as a lacrosse player," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia. "He doesn't paint the prettiest picture on the field like some guys we've had.

"Matt's a little all over the place with some of his stuff. He's not going to win a lot of beauty contests, but he will run over you to get to the goal, and he forces you to deal with him on the lacrosse field."

Virginia senior Kyle Dixon said the 5-foot-10, 203-pound Ward just knows how to play.

"He's not one of those tall, lean guys who looks real smooth on the field or a small, quick guy," Dixon said. "He just uses his strength and is great at rolling in and getting the shot off. Some of the things he does are just amazing."

The most impressive thing about Ward, affectionately nicknamed "Piggy" by teammates, is his ability in the clutch. When Virginia really needs a big play, Ward usually answers the bell.

Last season, it was Ward who scored the two late goals that gave Virginia a brief lead in the waning seconds of the NCAA Tournament Championship game against Johns Hopkins.

"He's one of those guys who, when the game's on the line, he wants the ball on his stick," said Virginia junior Drew Thompson. "That's one of the things I look up to him for. It's not just like he wants the ball. He follows through [when he gets it]."

Added Starsia: "At the critical moments of these games, he just expects to be in the middle of the fray."

Ward said he craves those moments.

"I'm going to do whatever it takes to hopefully get our team that late goal," he said. "It just seems when there's pressure at the end of the game, I just get going harder."

Ward has some athletic genes. His father, Ken, played baseball at Northwestern. His older sister, Kristen, was a diver for the Wildcats. Ward's younger brother, Colin, is a standout high school wrestler.

According to teammates, the thing that stands out most about Ward - a marketing major who hopes to go into sports law - is his ultra-competitive nature.

Whether it's a "friendly" game of golf or tennis or just hanging out with teammates and playing video games, Ward always plays to win.

"He's one of those kids that just loves to compete and expects to succeed," Starsia said. "I think we see evidence of that in all the facets of his life."

This afternoon, Virginia was scheduled to play Duke in what would have been one of the biggest college lacrosse games of the season (the game was cancelled due to the rape allegations involving members of the Blue Devils).

The competitive side of Ward - the side that used to destroy tennis rackets - is bummed that the schools won't be squaring off.

"We had certainly circled it on our calendar because they handed it to us pretty good last year," said Ward, alluding to a 17-2 loss in Durham, N.C. "It's a little disappointing because it would have been a great crowd. It's always a good game.

"As a player, each week you want to have the best possible competition and Duke was certainly one of the better teams on our schedule, but there's nothing we can do about it now. We just have to go about our business and get ready for Bellarmine [on April 22] and then the ACC Tournament."

 

Mature sense of urgency
With a better attitude and improved health, Michael Johnson, a Heritage High graduate, is eager to come through with a big senior season.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
April 16, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Even after the ankle and the shoulder and the sports-related hernia, the doubts probably hurt the most. They nagged Michael Johnson during the offseason, just like the injuries that pestered him since he arrived at Virginia.

"Sometimes, I sit around and think, 'Can I still run fast?' " Johnson said. "I don't know why I'd question myself like that."

It's a pointed question, one that strikes at the essence of Johnson's game as a running back. So can he still run fast? Can he, in his final season at U.Va., finally cash in all that potential? Can he show why he was a Parade All-American at Heritage High, why he rushed for 4,394 yards and 99 touchdowns in three prep seasons?

He's certain he can. And maybe he's so sure because he's so sick of those doubts, those frustrations that dogged him. Johnson, a rising senior, has a chance to see more action next season than he has in his previous three seasons. For his college career, Johnson averages 4.3 carries and 24.4 rushing yards. He has just four touchdowns.

As U.Va. finishes spring practices this week and prepares for Saturday's 3:30 p.m. spring game, Johnson shares the backfield with rising senior Jason Snelling, rising sophomore Cedric Peerman and rising redshirt freshman Mikell Simpson.

Virginia coach Al Groh wants to use a two-tailback rotation this season. Seeing his opportunity, Johnson battled this spring through bone spurs in his right ankle. At first, he was uncertain whether he'd practice this spring. But he figures he'll rest the ankle after the spring, and while surgery is an option, Johnson wants to avoid it.

"It's not really bothering me or slowing me down right now," he said. "I can still outrun anybody on this team."

That's what many people thought in 2002, when he came to U.Va. In some respects, he proved them right. He has run the 40-yard dash at U.Va. in 4.21 seconds, he said.

But something else slowed Johnson that season. By his own admission, he was a smug, preening fool. A guy he knew in Newport News had given him some bad advice: "Be selfish, don't give a damn about no one else," Johnson recalled.

"When I got here, all I wanted to do was start," Johnson said. "I was better than everybody. I couldn't be coached. I was hardheaded. Just real ignorant."

Injuries soon tempered his pomposity. He hurt his left ankle in the '02 season's third game and missed the next four. He finished with 133 yards. Wali Lundy shined that year as a true freshman, rushing for 826 yards. Johnson had fallen behind Lundy, Alvin Pearman and Marquis Weeks. So Groh redshirted Johnson in 2003.

"Once he got redshirted, I think that was the year that kind of made him sit back and say, 'OK, what's going on with me here? What's my situation?' " said Dwight Robinson, Johnson's offensive coordinator at Heritage.

Johnson had 381 yards in 2004 but carried just six times in the final five games. He sat out the following spring after having sports-related hernia surgery. Last fall, he hurt his right ankle in the seventh game, at North Carolina. He said he also played the whole season with a separated shoulder. In the season's final six games, he had no carries.

"Stuff like that breaks your spirit," said Johnson's father, Michael Johnson Sr.

During tough times last winter, when Johnson doubted himself, he turned to his father. "Your day is coming," Johnson Sr. told his son. "When they turn you loose, just show 'em."

Robinson frequently talks with his former player, and Johnson loves to hear how current local prep players remember his high-school feats. Robinson was an assistant coach last season at Virginia Beach's Landstown High, home of Percy Harvin, who will play next season at Florida. Harvin watched Johnson play at Heritage, and, apparently, the memories stuck with him. "That dude was nice," Robinson remembers Harvin saying. "He was fast."

Johnson has shown flashes of that speed at U.Va. There was the 56-yard run in 2004 against Akron, the 70-yard touchdown dash last season at Syracuse. He rushed for 5.3 yards per carry last season, fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Yet with Pearman and Lundy entrenched ahead of him on the depth chart, he couldn't establish himself as an every-down tailback.

Johnson, who is 5-foot-9, knows his size hampered him - and probably led to some injuries. He weighed about 190 pounds his first four years at U.Va. This spring, he said, he's up to about 210.

Though he's practicing this spring, his ankle gets some rest because he misses Wednesday practices for class. Plus, Groh limited his running for the final three weeks of offseason workouts. "Our mentality was, 'Look, let's just try to get him out on the field so he can get something done,' " Groh said.

His arrogant days behind him, Johnson just wants to earn carries. He recently told Robinson that he doesn't care whether he starts.

But part of Johnson's pride remains, rooted in his certainty that he can, will, must sprint away from his doubts. Johnson's dad recently teased him about speedster wide receiver Andrew Pearman, a rising sophomore and Alvin's younger brother, who will debut this season after transferring from Hawaii.

"You've got somebody faster than you now," Johnson Sr. said.

"No," Johnson replied. "Can't touch me."