Koskansky keys Cavs' success
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
May 7, 2004

The Virginia baseball team opens one of the most highly anticipated series in program history tonight with Florida State at 7 p.m. at the UVa Baseball Stadium.

For Joe Koshansky, it has been a long time coming.

Koshansky has seen it all since he elected to come play for former Cavalier coach Dennis Womack after graduating from Chantilly High in 2000.

The Cavaliers’ starting first baseman and starting pitcher joined a program that had suffered through 12 straight losing seasons in Atlantic Coast Conference play and played its home games at one of the smallest stadiums in the league.

The difference four years and a renovated stadium can make.

Now Koshansky and his teammates have a chance to do something that would have seemed like a dirty joke to the player four years ago - win an ACC title.

With the team currently boasting a 36-9 overall record and a first-place mark of 14-4 in the ACC, Koshansky knows they control their own destiny with a two-game lead and just six league games left.

“It has been an exciting season, but we are still taking it one game at a time,” Koshansky said. “We are going to try to go out there and win [tonight]. If and when we do that, we are going to try to take the series on Saturday and then sweep them on Sunday.

“We are definitely not looking to get one win here. If we only get one win in here, it would probably make the ACC standings much tighter. We want to stay on top of that because the one-seed is big in the ACC tournament.”

This season, Koshansky has been a dual-threat for the Cavaliers.

At the plate, he leads the team with 13 homers, 56 RBI, 104 total bases and an ungodly slugging percentage of .627.

On the mound, the lefty hurler leads the team with seven wins and in 77 innings of work, he has recorded an earned run average of 2.45. He has also struck out 62 batters while walking just 23.

For first-year coach Brian O’Connor, it has been a blessing to have such a weapon at his disposal.

“Joe Koshansky is a self-made player,” O’Connor said. “It’s my understanding that this kid has put on a tremendous amount of muscle in his career, which has made him into a serious threat at the plate and he has turned himself into one of the top pitchers in the league.

“It is just so rare that you come across an individual that can help your team so much from both areas. That is a valuable player. He is the kind of kid that if you could give somebody two scholarships, you would.”

O’Connor also credits Koshansky with a great deal of the success that the team has had in the ACC.

“He has been a good leader this year. His leadership has really been on the field ... as far as his performance,” O’Connor said. “His performances on the mound on Sunday’s have really told the story on the type of person that he is.

“The North Carolina win when we were down … we lost the first two games to them and Joe comes back and wins that game. All of those series sweeps - Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland … he started the final game in those series to allow us to sweep a team. That is not an easy thing to do after swinging the bat and playing 18 innings the two games before.”

Defensively, Koshansky has made huge strides at first base and despite playing at one of the hot corners, he has only made three errors all year.

“He is a good defensive player at first [base]. He is a big guy … he is a big target and a rangy guy and he is a good athlete,” O’Connor said. “He has really developed into a special player. He is a very gifted athlete and an intelligent ball player.”

It did not come easy for the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder.

As a freshman, Koshansky batted .133 and had an ERA of 5.68. As a sophomore he batted .156 and finished 2-5 on the mound while putting up a lofty ERA of 5.94.

Through hard work and a steady weight-training routine, the former Louisiana native turned it all around.

Last year en route to being named first team All-ACC, Koshansky went 7-2 on the mound, batted .320 and connected on nine homers.

Coupled with his strong junior season and his excellent play thus far this year, Koshansky has kept the dream of playing professional baseball alive.

“I am looking to keep playing after this year,” Koshansky said. “Hopefully, I will get drafted in June and continue playing baseball for a long time. I think I have a pretty good shot right now.”

Koshansky also has a pretty good shot of winning and ACC title and playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career.

“When I came in here, I was hoping to be a part of something like this … to turn this program around,” Koshansky said. “My Dad really wanted me to come here for academics. It is a good school and we play in the ACC. He told me that I could be a part of something if I came here. I don’t know if I bought into it but it was a good situation being able to play against the ACC competition. I was happy to come here and help this turnaround.”

 

Cavs earn No. 6 seed; will host in NCAA men's tourney
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
May 6, 2004

With an automatic bid into the NCAA men's tennis tournament already locked up, the only questions that remained to be answered for coach Brian Boland's Virginia squad during Wednesday's selection show was who and where they would play in the opening regional.
After a wait that took less than 10 minutes but seemed to take an eternity, and amid loud cheers, the Cavaliers were awarded the No. 6 seed in the 64-team field and given the right to host one of the 16 first-round regionals that get under way May 14.

In the opening round, Virginia drew a favorable opponent - American University. The match will start at 10 a.m.

In addition to the Patriot League champion American (13-8), Wake Forest and Mississippi State also join the regional and will play the opening day at 2 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center. The winners of both matches will play on May 15th at 1 p.m.

"All three of those teams in our region are going to put up a good fight," said Boland, whose team is 22-3 on the season. "Mississippi State is out of the SEC so they are day-in and day-out playing the toughest competition in the country. The same goes for Wake Forest [in the ACC]."

After being forced to play on the road in the opening regional last year, Boland knows the importance of getting to host it this year.

"[Hosting] is a tremendous advantage and I am so pleased to have the opportunity," Boland said. "What an advantage that is to be at home and not have to travel. The guys can play on their home courts and hopefully we will play as well as I know we can."

While the Cavaliers earned the right to host with an impressive resume on the court this season, it was the logistics of hosting the event was a different story.

With a majority if not all hotels booked next weekend for Virginia's graduation exercises, the UVa athletic administration had to scramble to find enough accommodations for the three other teams in order to even make the bid to host.

"I give credit to some of the administrators who put forth the effort to make sure that we were able to host particularly for a busy weekend for graduation ? there is so much going on at the university," Boland said. "It's a tremendous credit to the administration for putting that together."

The players on the team were also excited in being named a host institution for the regionals.

"It is pretty big. I was expecting a 10 or 11 [seed]," said Rylan Rizza, the No. 2 seed for much of the season. "It's good to get a top seed especially since our team is so young. It is such an advantage. To have these schools come in and have to travel for a couple of days and play on our courts ... we have been playing on these courts for three months. It is great."

Doug Stewart, who plays No. 1 singles for the Cavaliers and enters the tourney as the sixth-ranked individual, said one of the most important things about hosting is that it gives the team a chance to win two games and advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Tulsa, Okla.

"The main thing is that we are hosting and we have a good shot to make it to the round of 16," Stewart said. "It is amazing. Last year, we thought we [would play at home in the tournament] and we didn't. We had to travel. I feel really comfortable at home. Having those other teams come in and play us knowing about the successful season we have had ? it is just a real advantage."

Should the Cavaliers win the first two matches, they may be able to get some revenge against one of the three teams they lost to this season - North Carolina.

The Tar Heels, who are the No. 11 seed in the tourney, and the Cavaliers would square off in the round of 16 if they both advance to that point. UNC plays South Carolina State in the opening round and if they win, they play the winner of the opening match between South Carolina and Ohio State.

"The first two rounds are going to be very tough but if we get to North Carolina, I think we will come out with more fight," Stewart said.
 

Ayers settles on N. Dame
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
May 6, 2004

Ryan Ayers, a 6-foot-6 junior small forward from Germantown Academy in suburban Philadelphia, committed to Notre Dame during a news conference Wednesday at his school. He picked Notre Dame over Virginia, where he had visited this past weekend.
Ayers, the son of former Ohio State and Philadelphia 76ers coach Randy Ayers, averaged 16.8 points, eight rebounds and four assists last season for Germantown Academy.
Ayers had visited Notre Dame two weeks ago. Germantown coach Jim Fenerty said Ayers had positive visits at both schools.
Ayers is currently ranked as the No. 80 prospect in the 2005 class.
Virginia has already received one commitment for its 2005 class. Blue Ridge forward Laurynas Mikalauskas committed to the Cavaliers last month. The 6-8 Mikalauskas averaged 18.3 points and 11.0 rebounds this past season and was a first-team All-Central Virginia selection.

Raising Arizona? When Virginia coach Pete Gillen was told he would return next season, among the conditions was an upgrade of his team’s non-conference schedule. Gillen’s slate next season seems to be growing tougher today.
According to sources, the Cavaliers will add Arizona to their slate next season, joining Providence, Iowa State, Auburn, possibly Richmond and a Big-10 opponent in the ACC/Big 10 challenge. Sources indicate that Virginia and Arizona have agreed in principal to a four-year contract that would have the Wildcats playing the first of the four games in Charlottesville this upcoming season.
A specific date has not been determined but it likely would be sometime before Virginia enters its ACC schedule so that would be sometime between November and January. The series with Arizona has apparently been touted at several Virginia Athletics Foundation gatherings around the state in the last month.

Notes. Tunji Soroye, a 6-foot-11 center from Montrose Christian in Washington, officially signed his letter-of-intent with Virginia last week. Soroye had committed to UVa in the fall but waited until the spring to sign his letter. … While Gillen is searching to replace former assistant Rod Jensen, who resigned last month, a second change is still possible but that remains only a possibility at this time, sources said. Gillen did have an informal meeting with former Clemson coach Larry Shyatt late last month in Charlottesville regarding the open position.
 

College Baseball
After school special With classes out of way, U.Va. braces for home series vs. Florida State
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 7, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE Final exams end today at the University of Virginia. Play ball.

"This weekend is going to be amazing," relief pitcher Canon Hickman said.

That's because perennial power Florida State is in town for the most eagerly anticipated baseball series in years at U.Va. The ACC rivals' three-game series starts tonight. Virginia has added 364 temporary bleacher seats to Davenport Field, raising the stadium's capacity to 2,430. Fewer than 400 tickets remain for the opener, and tomorrow night's game is sold out.

"We've worked so hard to put ourselves in a good position, and now we have to capitalize on each game," said Hickman, who'll graduate this month with a degree in economics.

The Cavaliers, who were picked to finish seventh in the ACC, are ranked No.7 nationally by Collegiate Baseball. The Seminoles are No.24. Virginia (14-4, 36-9) leads the ACC, but the'Noles (8-7, 29-17) are coming off a strong showing at Clemson, where they won two of three games.

These are heady times for the Cavaliers, especially older players who remember when no buzz surrounded Virginia baseball. U.Va. finished 25-31 when Hickman was a freshman and 25-32 a year later. The Cavs improved to 29-25 last season, after which Dennis Womack retired as coach.

In came new coach Brian O'Connor, and suddenly what has been a "lacrosse school" in the spring can't get enough baseball.

"It's a pretty amazing transformation," said Hickman, an Atlee High graduate.

A 6-3, 225-pound right-hander, Hickman has the strongest arm on the pitching staff, and he emerged as the Cavaliers' top closer in 2003. This season, however, that distinction belongs to freshman left-hander Casey Lambert, who's thrown 41 innings.

"Casey did such a great job at the start of the season, especially that weekend down at Georgia Tech, where he just kind of took over that role," O'Connor said. "But in my opinion, in college baseball, you need two different guys in that role."

The addition of Lambert has "only made me a better pitcher, and it's certainly helped our team," Hickman said. "You get a guy out there who can't hit a lefty, why put in a righty?"

He may have pitched only 17 innings this season, but Hickman has piled up decisions. He's 6-2, with one save.

"It's been kind of a crazy year," Hickman said. "I've been in there a fair amount of times when we've been tied, and it seems like we always come out ahead."

Hickman's losses - to Quinnipiac on March 8 and to North Carolina on March 20 - were "pretty ugly," he said. The Tar Heels scored four runs in the ninth inning, all off Hickman, and won 8-4.

"I think that game made me more determined," said Hickman, who hopes to play professionally. "I was a little bit complacent at the beginning of the year. I think since then I've been coming out with a new mind-set, and my pitching has reflected that, I believe."

O'Connor agreed.

"Canon has done a tremendous job," said O'Connor, a former Notre Dame assistant. "He's been a leader out there, and the way he pitched in the Maryland series [a three-game sweep for U.Va. last month] was critical."

Hickman wouldn't object to more work, of course, but he's savoring the twilight of his college career.

"I'm completely happy with my position," he said. "As long as our team is going out and winning, I have total confidence in our coaches."
 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch May 4, 2004

PHILLY PIPELINE? The Virginia men's basketball team included one player from Philadelphia in 2003-04, freshman forward Jason Cain, and will add another in 2004-05, point guard Sean Singletary.
The Cavaliers' wish list for 2005-06 includes Ryan Ayers, a junior at Germantown Academy, a prestigious private school outside Philly that has produced Matt Walsh (Florida), Lee Melchionni (Duke) and Ted Skuchas (Vanderbilt) in recent years.

Ayers, a 6-6, 190-pound swingman whose father is former Ohio State and Philadelphia 76ers coach Randy Ayers, completed his official visit to U.Va. yesterday. The younger Ayers visited Notre Dame last weekend and is likely to choose soon between the two schools, Germantown Academy coach Jim Fenerty said yesterday.

An outstanding student whose mother teaches at Germantown Academy, Ayers hopes to major in business.

"He's approached it the right way," Fenerty said. "He wants to pick a school where he'd be happy if, God forbid, he wasn't able to play basketball."

Ayers and Singletary are "pretty good friends" who have played with and against each other for several years, Fenerty said. "The fact that Sean's down there doesn't hurt things" for Virginia.

Nor, apparently, does having a certain redhead running the hoops program.

"Any place where Pete Gillen is coaching is a good place to be," Fenerty said.

SOUTHBOUND: Point guard Majestic Mapp, who missed two seasons and part of a third because of knee problems, has been granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA. He'll spend it at West Georgia, a Division II power where another guard who transferred from U.Va., Chezley Watson, completed his college career in 2001-02.

Mapp, who entered college in 1999, could have served as a graduate assistant at Virginia in 2004-05, Gillen said, but the former McDonald's All-American from New York wanted to play another season. In a decision that displeased many U.Va. fans, Gillen announced last year that Mapp would not be invited back as a player in 2004-05.

In 2003-04, Mapp appeared in 24 games for the Cavaliers and averaged 1.6 points and 8.5 minutes. He earned a bachelor's degree from U.Va. last spring and is finishing work on his master's there.

FUTURE UNCERTAIN: Football recruit James Terry hopes to enroll at Virginia this summer. He has yet to be admitted, though, and his fate is unclear.

"I do not know for sure," U.Va. coach Al Groh said last week when asked about Terry's status for the coming season. "It's pending his admission situation."

Terry, who plays fullback and linebacker, met NCAA eligibility standards coming out of Woodbridge High, but U.Va. wasn't satisfied with some of his grades and denied him admission for the 2003-04 school year.

U.Va. officials asked Terry to spend a year at prep school to strengthen his academic foundation, so he enrolled at Fork Union Military Academy, where he played for the postgraduate team last fall. Terry was late reporting back to Fork Union in January, however, and later returned home to deal with undisclosed personal issues. FUMA ultimately dismissed him, Terry said last week, because he'd missed too much class time.

Terry, who signed with U.Va. in 2003 and again this year, said he'll begin summer school there next month if admitted.

ON THE DIAMOND: The 15th-ranked Virginia baseball team (14-4, 36-9), which leads the ACC, has a crucial three-game series with perennial power Florida State this weekend at Davenport Field. Game times are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Midlothian resident Billy Bokkon, thanks to his winning bid at a U.Va. baseball fund-raiser in February, will throw out the ceremonial first pitch Saturday. Bokkon has a daughter, Mary Alison, who graduated from Virginia. Bokkon's friends marvel at his passion for U.Va. sports and are curious to see if he'll be able to conquer his nerves Saturday night and deliver a strike to the plate.

SEASON OVER: Operations have been scheduled for the top two freshmen on the U.Va. men's lacrosse team: long-stick midfielder Ricky Smith and midfielder Drew Thompson. Each has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee, and neither will play Saturday in Virginia's season finale at Penn State.

Smith tore his ACL in the ACC tournament final April 25. Thompson played for much of the season with his injury, the extent of which wasn't discovered until he had an MRI last week. Both should be ready by next season.

"We expect great things from both kids," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said.

STRONG SHOWING: Mac McDonald's annual charity golf tournament, held last month in Charlottesville, raised nearly $81,000 for the U.Va. Children's Medical Center. In its four years, the tournament has raised more than $200,000 for the CMC. McDonald is the Cavaliers' longtime radio play-by-play announcer. - Jeff White
 

Cavs boost slate
Virginia and Arizona are close to four-game deal to highlight tougher schedule
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 6, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Since taking over as the University of Virginia's basketball coach in 1998, Pete Gillen has been famously wary of lining up ambitious nonconference schedules. Of the non-ACC opponents U.Va. faced during this past regular season, for example, only Providence went on to make the NCAA tournament, and only Iowa State reached the NIT.

When he spoke last month about U.Va.'s decision to retain Gillen, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage indicated that future schedules would be upgraded. Littlepage wasn't bluffing. Some details are still being worked out, but Virginia's tentative nonconference slate for 2004-05 won't elicit snickering from critics.

The big news: U.Va. is close to signing a four-game deal with Arizona. The Wildcats would play at University Hall in November and at the new John Paul Jones Arena in 2006-07. U.Va. would travel to Arizona in 2005-06 and 2007-08.

"It's certainly a big challenge, but it'd be big for our fans, big for our program," Gillen said yesterday. "We know [the Wildcats] have great talent, but that's going to get us ready for the ACC."

Also next season, Virginia will visit Iowa State and Providence and play Northwestern at a Midwest site in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. U.Va. is scheduled to meet Auburn, perhaps at Virginia Commonwealth's Siegel Center. Richmond, which qualified for the NCAAs as an at-large team from the Atlantic 10, is expected to play at U-Hall next season. A game with Georgetown is another possibility.

"The key word is balance," said Gillen, who had arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday. "You can't play 11 Arizonas, because then you'll be black and blue."

Virginia, which finished 18-13 in 2003-04 after losing in the NIT's second round, returns six players who started at least 10 games: center Elton Brown, forwards Jason Clark and Devin Smith, swingman Gary Forbes, shooting guard J.R. Reynolds and point guard T.J. Bannister. Smith, bothered by back prob- lems throughout the 2003-04 season, is scheduled to have surgery next week.

"It's not super-invasive," Gillen said, and Smith isn't expected to be sidelined more than six weeks.

This has been an eventful offseason for Gillen, whose record in six seasons at U.Va. is 104-78. He shook up his staff last month - highly respected assistant Rod Jensen left after two seasons - and lost talented forward Derrick Byars, who decided to transfer. Then Bannister was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, a matter Gillen said he's handled internally.

Jensen's departure might not be the only change on U.Va.'s coaching staff. "There could be something else," Gillen said. "We're still evaluating it."

Gillen hopes to replace Jensen with former Clemson coach Larry Shyatt, who visited U.Va. last month. Shyatt is considering other career options, Gillen said, but "I think he's very interested [in Virginia]. I think he'd be a great fit if we could get him."

U.Va. already has one commitment for 2005-06, from Laurynas Mikalauskas, a 6-8 junior at the Blue Ridge School in Greene County. Gillen had hoped to pick up another yesterday, but swingman Ryan Ayers, a junior from Philadelphia, chose Notre Dame over U.Va.

The Cavaliers will have at least five scholarships to fill in 2005-06, including the one Mikalauskas has claimed. Three freshmen will join the program next season, including Tunji Soroye, a 6-10, 225-pound center from national power Montrose Christian in Rockville, Md. Gillen expects Soroye, who recently signed his letter of intent, to contribute in 2004-05.

"He's still green offensively, but he can run very well, he can rebound very well and he can block shots very well," Gillen said. "He brings a dimension we don't have."