UVa students stole Hokie statue
Fraternity pledges apologize but may face felonies
By Aaron Kessler / akessler@dailyprogress.com | 964-5476
April 4, 2007

“Farmer Hokie” is back home, after a weeklong ordeal that could result in as many as 10 University of Virginia students facing felony charges for stealing him.

The UVa students have confessed to tearing down a fiberglass statue of Virginia Tech’s mascot and making off with it March 23. The statue, one of 75 pieces of public art commissioned to raise money for Blacksburg’s economic development, was stolen from right in front of the town’s municipal building. Only the feet remained.

The Blacksburg Partnership, which owns the Hokie Bird statues (each of which has a different theme), discovered Sunday through a tip that UVa students may have been responsible. It immediately contacted the Charlottesville Police Department.

Bill Aden, president of the partnership, said the police suggested they contact UVa administrators. Officials working for the dean of student affairs at UVa were able to track down the offenders, who then confessed.

“There was very good cooperation on the part of UVa,” Aden said. “I was very pleased with how quickly they responded.”

The students, all part of a fraternity pledge class, wrote a letter to the Blacksburg Partnership apologizing and offering to return the statue and pay for any repairs. The identities of the students were not released.

But Aden said that while an apology is nice, his organization would not rule out pursuing possible felony charges, which could include grand larceny and destruction of property.

“These things are very expensive works of art,” Aden said. “These boys have made a mistake and we don’t want them to suffer excessively, but they will be held accountable for what they’ve done.”

Charges pending

Aden said the Blacksburg Partnership would pursue whatever charges the commonwealth’s attorney may decide to bring, and will leave it to the judge to decide the students’ fates.

“If they make full restitution for what they’ve done and are contrite, they may not face the worst penalties,” he said. “The judge can be more lenient on them … but there are no guarantees.”

The Blacksburg Partner-ship is particularly upset that two statues have been severely damaged in as many weeks. Larry Hinker, on the board of the organization, said occasional vandalism has taken place since the art project began, but nothing like what took place over the last two weekends

“This is the worst thing that we’ve seen,” Hinker said. “The birds are severely damaged.”

In a separate incident this past weekend that has not been connected to UVa, an unidentified man kicked over another Hokie Bird, shattering the statue that stood in front of a Blacksburg day care center. Hinker said the children had decorated the bird.

“It’s sickening,” he said. “I mean, for crying out loud it’s a day care center.”

Expensive birds

The birds are part of a public art program that began in the fall of 2005, and the first Hokie Birds went up the following summer. Most of the statues, which are valued at $7,500 or more, were created by area artists and then purchased or sponsored by Blacksburg businesses. The program was modeled after ones in other cities, such as Chicago (which used cows) and Athens, Ga. (which used, not surprisingly, bulldogs).

Penny Rue, UVa’s dean of students, said the university is cooperating with the criminal investigation and that she believes UVa no longer has a role to play.

“It’s a police matter as far as we’re concerned,” she said.

Charlie Morgan, president of UVa’s Inter-Fraternity Council, declined to comment Tuesday.

“We may comment later when any investigations are completed, but for now we have been advised to remain quiet,” Morgan said in an e-mail, referring questions to UVa’s public relations office.

UVa spokeswoman Carol Wood said the students will have to answer for their actions.

“We want our students to take responsibility for this,” Wood said. “What started out as a prank, I think once they got back saner heads prevailed and they eventually realized things were much more serious than they intended,” Wood said.

It is not just criminal charges the students could face. UVa has two internal bodies - the Judiciary Committee and the Honor Committee - that could impose its own penalties, including expulsion.

Facing UVa

Honor offenses generally apply to lying, cheating and stealing committed in Charlottesville or Albemarle County, or while traveling to represent UVa, such as when attending a conference. But the fact that the students allegedly kept the stolen statue in their fraternity house for more than a week may leave the door open to honor charges, should someone decide to bring them.

“I can see an argument possibly being made that possession of a stolen good may be [an honor offense],” said Benjamin Cooper, the new chairman of UVa’s Honor Committee. “But we try not to deal with hypotheticals and would have to consider each case as it comes before us without prejudging.”

In the meantime, the damaged “Farmer Hokie” has been returned to Blacksburg, though there was almost another last-minute snafu. When the UVa students agreed to return the statue this week, there was a problem - it had disappeared.

“My understanding was that [the statue] was missing at the time,” Wood said. “So they were scrambling, because they thought it may have been taken from their house.”

A series of events that remain unclear unfolded, but Farmer Hokie was found and returned to his home.

“Maybe someone was playing a prank on the pranksters,” Wood said.

 

Cavs overcome lethargy, top Bearcats
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 4, 2007

Virginia men’s lacrosse coach Dom Starsia learned something new about his young team on Tuesday against Binghamton.

Apparently he has some aspiring artists and models on his squad.

“It looked like we were painting pictures in the first half,” Starsia said. “We’d be crossing the midline with the ball in our sticks and then decide it was time to pose - and the Binghamton kids were making plays, knocking the ball out of our sticks.

“Holy Moly! You ever see us bat around a loose ball so much in the first half? I don’t think we picked up a ball the whole first half.”

It sure didn’t seem like it.

Starsia’s squad put forth one of its poorest performances since its season-opening loss to Drexel. Virginia was sloppy and lethargic for much of the contest.

However, UVa turned it on when it had to. Behind three goals from Danny Glading and 11 saves by Kip Turner, the third-ranked Cavaliers overcame a two-goal halftime deficit and fought off Binghamton, 10-7, in front of 913 fans on a gorgeous day at Klockner Stadium.

“We struggled from beginning to end … it never was easy,” said Starsia, whose team has won nine straight, “but we’re certainly happy with the win. I certainly blame myself a little bit. A team like Binghamton was certainly a little better than we imagined.”

Virginia (9-1), which plays host to No. 11 North Carolina on Saturday, never got into any kind of groove against the Bearcats, who are just 2-5 this season, including a 19-4 loss to Cornell in their season opener.

“It felt a little like Drexel in the first half, but we persevered,” said Turner, who kept the game from getting away from Virginia with several nice stops in the first

30 minutes. “We needed to bring more energy and we brought that. We didn’t know too much about them and they took it to us in the beginning. Kudos to them.”

Virginia just didn’t have any focus, according to Glading. UVa had 15 first-half turnovers and finished with a season-high 28.

“A lot of [the turnovers] were just mental mistakes and carelessness,” Glading said. “The attack, defense and the middies were all dropping the ball. I think it was because we didn’t come out ready to play today.”

Starsia called that “disappointing and unacceptable.”

“They all know that we have to play better,” he said. “Anything less than that is not going to get it done.

“I give us a certain amount of credit for gutting out a win, but certainly we’re aware we’re going to have to play much better with these other games on the horizon.”

Virginia took a 1-0 lead just 34 seconds into the game on a goal by Brian Carroll. However, Binghamton responded with four answered goals to go up 4-1. UVa didn’t score again until a Glading goal with only 8 seconds remaining in the half - a drought of nearly 30 minutes.

“I thought that goal was very big,” Starsia said. “We just couldn’t make anything happen in the first half and it was really discouraging. At the very least, we got that goal and closed the gap.”

Binghamton took a 5-2 lead at the 9:32 mark of the third quarter on a Jake Boyce goal before Virginia scored three straight - by Glading, Jack Riley and Ben Rubeor - to knot the score.

Duncan Streeten put the Bearcats up 6-5 with 3:19 remaining in the quarter, but then Virginia finally took command, scoring five out of the last six goals.

“We came out flat,” Rubeor said. “We just weren’t prepared coming out in the first half.

“[Starsia] challenged us to come out and work harder than we did in the first half. I thought we did that.”

Rubeor knows Virginia will need to play better against the Tar Heels on Saturday.

“We need to come out ready,” he said. “They’re obviously a great team, having come off a very big win over Johns Hopkins. It’s going to be a challenge.”

 

Cavs get 'punched in the nose'
Mistake-laden 6th inning costs Virginia in loss to VMI
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
April 4, 2007

LEXINGTON - Chris Henderson has a wish.

After beating No. 3 Virginia, 5-2, on Tuesday night at Gray-Minor Stadium, the VMI pitcher was already longing for a rubber match.

That will only occur if the two teams meet in the NCAA Tournament, a feat that is more likely after the Keydets’ first win over the Cavaliers since 1995. UVa had won five straight in the series, including a 5-3 victory in Charlottesville on Feb. 27.

“When we lost to them the first game, it only fueled the fire because we know we are a better team than them,” Henderson said. “We would beat them two out of three if we played them again ... I guarantee.”

The bold words stunned Virginia junior Brandon Guyer, who tied the game 1-1 in the second with a solo homer.

“Is that what he said?” Guyer asked. “Man, I wish we did have a Game 3 because I know right now it would be a different outcome than it was tonight.”

Henderson’s confidence was justifiable - the 6-foot right-hander pitched 7.2 innings, scattering seven hits to match his seven strikeouts.

At one point, Henderson even retired 15 batters in a row as he said he relied heavily on his fastball and routinely brought the largest crowd in stadium history (1,265) to its feet.

“I was lucky enough to hit my spots with [my fastball],” Henderson said. “It is the greatest environment that I have played in so far.”

Virginia, which had just climbed to its highest ranking ever, dropped to 27-6 overall and had its five-game winning streak snapped. VMI, which is off to its best start ever, improved to 22-8 overall and 14-1 at home.

The Keydets, who scored a lone run off Virginia starter Jeff Lorick (5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) in the first, broke the game open in the sixth against Cavalier reliever Jake Rule.

After allowing a one-out double to deep center to Robert Crumpler, Rule struck out Eddie Van Es. The third strike, however, skipped away from catcher Beau Seabury, putting runners on the corners.

Rule then got VMI second baseman A.J. Yoder to hit a grounder back to the mound, but his throw toward second base sailed left of the bag and into the outfield, giving VMI a one-run lead.

It got worse.

Rule then plunked back-to-back batters, Michael Roberts and Jacoby Fields, pushing another Keydet run across the plate.

VMI added its last two runs after Michael Schwimer allowed an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.

“[VMI] did a great job of capitalizing on our mistakes in the sixth inning. That’s the bottom line,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “We didn’t block a ball in the dirt, we threw the ball to second when we should have thrown the ball to first and we hit a couple of guys, and that was the ball game.

“You can’t do that when they throw out a very good pitching staff like they did tonight.”

Virginia scratched back for a lone run in the eighth - Tyler Cannon singled, took second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single from Brandon Marsh - but the Cavaliers came up short after stranding two runners in the ninth.

“We got punched in the nose tonight,” O’Connor said, “and we didn’t respond very well.”

Virginia finished the game with nine hits, including two-hit performances from Sean Doolittle, Guyer and Marsh.

Crumpler, who finished 2 for 4, was the lone Keydet to tally multiple hits.

Virginia returns to action on Friday as it opens a three-game series with Duke at Davenport Field. VMI plays at Virginia Tech tonight at 7.

 

UVa baseball looking to join the nation's elite
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
April 4, 2007

For the better part of this columnist’s first 20 years here, we insisted that Charlottesville was a much better baseball town than it was given credit.

There was no reason that Virginia couldn’t become a power in the sport if the school would simply invest in the baseball program.

Five years or so ago, UVa started taking baseball seriously. With strong community support, Virginia built one of the most attractive baseball stadiums in the country, put money into the program and today stands as the No. 3-ranked team in the nation.

“You work so hard as a coaching staff, not only to recruit players, but to recruit fans, to get everybody excited about what’s going on,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said Tuesday before traveling over the mountain to take on VMI. “To see our program in the nation’s top five, it’s rewarding.”

Taking the next step

O’Connor has no plans on stopping there. He won’t be happy until the Cavaliers hold a championship trophy in Omaha.

Until then, the reward he and the players appreciate is fans showing up at Davenport Field.

“What better opportunity do you have than to come out and see one of the top five baseball programs in the country, right in your own backyard, in such a beautiful stadium?” O’Connor said.

The Wahoos, 27-6 overall and 8-4 in the ACC are tied with North Carolina for the lead in the Atlantic Division. What’s better is that 12 of UVa’s next 19 ACC games are at Davenport beginning with a three-game set with Duke this Friday night at 7.

O’Connor was a little concerned when the schedule was originally set because three of the first four ACC weekends were on the road - not an easy task for any team in this highly competitive league.

“But we survived it by going 8-4,” he said. “Now, we have four of the next five weekends at home where the weather is the best, which can affect the fan base. We’re right there in the thick of things to win the regular-season title, and what better way to do it than to play on your own field.”

More seats on the way

Speaking of which, Davenport was so overflowed for the Miami series two weekends ago, that there was simply nowhere to put people. That’s a nice problem to have, but presents the challenge to do something about it.

Virginia thought it had arranged to bring in extra bleacher seating into left field for the rest of the season, but the company contracted was the same one that supplies seating for The Masters in Augusta, and simply overextended itself to the point that it couldn’t deliver the seating for this weekend’s series with Duke.

But as soon as the last putt drops at Augusta, extra seating will be on its way northward.

“That shows the administration’s commitment, them responding to what happened here against Miami,” O’Connor said.

The administration’s next challenge may be broader in scope if hoards of fans continue to flock to Davenport, a great baseball stadium that may have to think - gulp! - expansion after only a few years of existence.

“What the Miami series showed is that we’re going to be at a point sometime where we’re going to have to make a decision,” O’Connor said. “Are we going to continue to push on?

“From putting people in the seats like we are to the interest in our suites, that’s a decision that’s out of my hands,” the coach said. “Eventually, my hope is something is done to make [the stadium seating] even better.”

Finding itself among the elite baseball programs in the country, Davenport’s seating capacity is somewhat undersized compared to the ACC’s other upper-echelon baseball stadiums and the nation’s top programs.

A quick glance at the rest of the ACC reveals that Virginia’s capacity of 3,236 isn’t bad, but can’t handle the overflow crowds that some of the conference’s best programs can.

Florida State boasts a 6,700 capacity. Miami’s Mark Light Stadium, which is due for another facelift, seats 5,000. Clemson, which has already sold out its upcoming home series against Virginia in advance, seats 5,617, although listed a crowd of 6,217 for a mid-week game against rival South Carolina.

Georgia Tech seats 4,157. North Carolina’s Boshamer Stadium currently lists 2,500 as capacity, but it is undergoing a major renovation after the season in which more than 4,000 chair backs are part of the new design. N.C. State seats about 2,500 but has mucho overflow for standing-room patrons.

Of the other non-ACC schools in the top 15, only Vanderbilt, Oregon State, Pepperdine and Coastal Carolina seat fewer fannies. Meanwhile, South Carolina seats 6,000, Arkansas 10,737, Texas 6,649, Rice 4,500, Wichita State 7,851, Oklahoma State 4,000 and Arizona State 3,879.

And we’re not even talking about some of the other Southern schools such as Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Georgia and more.

Now, O’Connor isn’t insisting upon immediate expansion, but as the success continues and the fan base continues to grow, where will UVa put all those people? You can’t turn them away.

“Our ability to host a regional for two of the last three years has been to our advantage,” O’Connor said. “Obviously, we’ve been disappointed that we haven’t advanced through it, and that’s the next step, but when you host regionals I think it draws even more attention to what’s going on.”

Considering that UVa plays in one of the top two baseball conferences in America (the SEC being the other), there has also been a noticeable change in Cavalier crowds. They used to come to see great teams from Miami, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Clemson. Now, they’re coming to see Virginia.

That’s rewarding to O’Connor and the Cavaliers. Not only has the ranking attracted fans, it dramatically affects recruiting.

Virginia’s skipper didn’t want to be a roller-coaster program, in the NCAA Tournament one season, out the next. He’s delivered three consecutive trips and is working on a fourth with his best team yet.

The Cavs boast the ACC’s lowest ERA (at 2.41) after becoming the first team to sweep Virginia Tech in a series this season. They also are second in the league with a collective .344 batting average.

Everyone expected this to be Virginia’s best team, but even O’Connor said he was surprised at how his deep pitching staff has responded to the challenges, particularly the bullpen.

“They have been nearly flawless, and that’s been such a weapon for us,” O’Connor said. “We can bring somebody in on Friday out of the bullpen, somebody different on Saturday and somebody different on Sunday, and they’re all high-quality guys. That gives us a better chance to win two out of three or to sweep a series.”

It’s also a veteran team that knows what’s required to compete at the championship level and that understands it must find ways to win close games.

So, welcome to baseball’s big time, Charlottesville. Finally, you are a baseball town.

 

Keydets capitalize on Virginia's errors
Cavs haunted by sixth-inning mistakes; held to two runs on nine hits
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

LEXINGTON, VA -- A season-high 1,265 fans filled the seats of Grey-Minor Stadium on a gorgeous evening for baseball in Lexington. The VMI squad did not disappoint, as the Keydets defeated the No. 3 Cavaliers 5-2, snapping a five-game winning streak for Virginia. The Cavaliers represented the highest ranked opponent that the Keydets have beaten in school history.

"Tonight was a very difficult loss against a very good team and a great pitcher," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "We got punched in the nose tonight, and we didn't respond very well."

The story of the night was the performance by VMI's starter, sophomore Chris Henderson. In his fourth start of the season, Henderson allowed just two runs in 7.2 innings to a Virginia offense that scores more than eight runs per game. Henderson found his groove as the game went on, retiring 15 straight batters from the third to the eighth inning.

"That's the one game that we really wanted to win this week," Henderson said. "Fortunately, we got it."

VMI got on the board first against Virginia's starter, freshman Jeff Lorick, scoring once in the first inning. This would be the only run, however, that Lorick would allow, as he gave up just three hits in five innings.

"I felt good in the [bullpen]," Lorick said. "That doesn't always guarantee success out on the mound, but it definitely gave me a little bit of confidence going out there for the first inning."

The Virginia bullpen, however, did not match Lorick's effort, as VMI exploded for a four-run sixth inning. Junior Jake Rule started the inning by giving up a hit to redshirt junior Thane Smith, which was erased by a brilliant play from left fielder Brandon Guyer to throw out Smith at second. Rule, however, continued to struggle, as senior Robert Crumpler hit a double, and took third on a wild pitch to sophomore Eddie Van Es. An error by Rule on a fielder's choice hit by sophomore A.J. Yoder appeared to shake him up even more; Rule hit the next two VMI hitters before being pulled for junior Michael Schwimer, who allowed a single and a sacrifice fly before retiring the side.

"They did a great job of capitalizing on our mistakes in the sixth inning," O'Connor said. "We didn't block a ball in the dirt, we threw the ball to second when we should have thrown it to first and we hit a couple of guys, and that was the ballgame."

The Cavaliers scored again in the eighth to cut the lead to 5-2 and put two runners on in the ninth before VMI closer Corey Bachman closed out the game. Rule took the loss for Virginia.

The defeat comes as a wake-up call to Virginia after its sweep of Virginia Tech last weekend. As the Cavaliers look forward to the second half of their difficult ACC schedule, they will have to be consistent in order to vie for the ACC crown.

"I purposely scheduled this game where I did because we needed to get our players out of their comfort zone," O'Connor said.