Cannon drives in win
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
May 2, 2007

One of the lesser-known rules in baseball led to Virginia’s 12th win over an in-state foe.

Two pitches after a balk moved Tim Henry into scoring position in the ninth, UVa freshman Tyler Cannon slapped a 2-1, two-out pitch up the middle for a single that prompted a dugout-clearing celebration for a 5-4 win over Virginia Commonwealth at Davenport Field.

It marked the fifth walk-off win for third-ranked Virginia (38-10). VCU - which lost, 8-1, to the Cavaliers in April - dropped to 26-18 overall.

The wild finish ended a contest that appeared destined for extra innings.

After Henry delivered a two-out single, he attempted to steal on the second pitch offered to Cannon from VCU reliever Mick Mattaliano. Initially, it appeared that Henry had been thrown out by Rams’ catcher Carlos Rodriguez, ending the frame.

However, home-plate umpire Greg Howard popped out from behind the plate to call Mattaliano for his third balk of the season.

Howard had help making the call.

“We were yelling from the dugout, ‘Make him stop. Make him stop,’” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “The NCAA has really put an emphasis on that in the last two years. You have to come to a discernable stop before you deliver the ball to the plate. “Obviously, it is in [Howard’s] hands to decide that and fortunately we benefited from it.”

After the Rams’ players, who had started off the diamond, returned to their positions, Cannon promptly sent the 1,764 fans in attendance home.

“It was a fastball right down the middle and he grooved it in there,” Cannon said, “and I just drove it up the middle.”

All of the games’ previous scoring had come in the first five innings as both teams exchanged leads.

Virginia reliever Andrew Carraway, who worked 1.1 innings, earned the win to improve to 5-0. Mattaliano (2-2) worked 3.1 innings in relief of VCU starter Phillip Deane.

The victory was timely - barring the addition of a mid-week game next week, Virginia is not scheduled to play again until May 11.

“This was a big win for us,” Cannon said. “If we had lost, we would have had a bad taste in our mouth going into next week.

“Hopefully, we can take this game and carry it on to N.C. State next weekend.”

 

Cavs finally finish out series strong
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
May 1, 2007

Sunday has become a day of preaching for Brian O’Connor.

While watching his baseball team slowly climb into first place in the ACC’s Coastal Division this season, the fourth-year coach has witnessed some uncharacteristic series-ending performances.

Those setbacks spoiled potential three-game sweeps over Clemson, Miami and North Carolina.

Despite being ranked the No. 3 team in the country and boasting a 37-10 overall record, the players have taken the message to heart.

“Coach [O’Connor] always says if you want to be a championship team you have to win on Sunday’s, and we haven’t been doing that,” said Virginia outfielder Brandon Guyer.

The tune finally changed on Sunday as Virginia dispatched Maryland, 4-0, to clinch its first league sweep at Davenport Field, the site of tonight’s non-conference game with VCU at 7 p.m.

“We have had a rough time this season getting our last win on Sunday,” said infielder Patrick Wingfield. “It was a key victory for us to know that we can come in and sweep a team. You can’t take days off and we didn’t [on Sunday].”

Virginia certainly deserved the sweep over Maryland, outscoring the Terps, 21-2, in a series that was composed of three distinctly different contests, including an extra-inning affair on Saturday.

“In baseball, sometimes you are going to win hard-fought games,” O’Connor said. “You are not going to execute all the time, but the key was that we found a way to win all three ball games.

“All three games had great pitching by us - that was a constant - but the thing that I was most proud was how we found a way to win on Saturday night. A veteran team doesn’t panic, they hang in there and they know the opportunity is going to come our way at some point.”

Thanks to the sweep, Virginia is sitting pretty - the Cavaliers (16-7 ACC) are a half-game ahead of UNC (16-8) and two games ahead of Georgia Tech (14-9) in the Coastal with only six ACC games remaining. The Cavaliers are also close to clinching one of the eight berths in the ACC Tournament; they can do so with one win or one loss by Boston College or Wake Forest.

O’Connor, happy to control his own destiny in the division, is keeping his a “one game at a time” mentality.

That has not stopped his players, however, from scoreboard watching.

“I am not going to lie, I definitely do,” Guyer said of his post-game activity. “Me personally, I look at it because I want to be in first and I want to be a championship team.”

Extra bases

O’Connor said he plans to start lefty Pat McAnaney tonight against VCU (26-17). The Rams have won seven of 10 since losing to Virginia on April 10 at The Diamond in Richmond.
 

Men receive No. 4 seed for NCAAs
Women will play VCU in S.C.
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
May 2, 2007

There was no cheering, high-five slaps or jumping up and down by the Virginia men’s tennis team when it watched Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament pairings show telecast by ESPNews.

Instead, the Cavaliers, fresh off a perfect 14-0 ACC season and tournament championship, were a bit miffed by the No. 4 seeding presented by the selection committee. They expected a little higher.

UVa (26-3) will host Hampton (15-8) in the opening round of an all-state regional on Friday, May 11 at 10 a.m. at Charlottesville’s Snyder Tennis Center. Old Dominion (21-7) meets Virginia Tech (13-12) in a 1 p.m. match, with the winners facing off on May 12 (1 p.m.), also at Snyder.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s women (11-11) received an at-large bid and will face VCU (21-8) in a regional at Clemson, S.C., on either May 11-12 or 12-13 (TBA).

It is the second straight appearance for the Cavalier women, ranked No. 45 by the ITA. Last year, UVa’s women lost in the second round to Duke. Host Clemson is ranked seventh nationally.

Virginia men’s coach Brian Boland said that he can use the seeding as an added incentive to gain his team’s attention prior to the NCAA competition.

“I try not to focus too much as to what our draws are because it’s something we have no control over,” Boland said. “We have to focus on Hampton and take it from there.”

However, the Cavs seemed to expect a seeding no lower than third. Unbeaten Georgia was seeded No. 1, followed by Ohio State, then Baylor.

“I wouldn’t say we were disappointed, but we didn’t expect to see a 4 seed,” said UVa’s No. 1 singles star Somdev Devvarman.

Junior Treat Huey didn’t understand the rationale behind the drop in the rankings or the seed.

“Obviously it’s disappointing that we received a 4 seed,” Huey said. “We were [ranked] 2 last week and won the ACC rather convincingly. No matter who we play, we need to win six matches to win it all, so in that respect, dropping to 4 is not that big a deal.”

Still, Boland can use that in a positive way to keep his team focused over the next week before the tournament starts.

“It’s certainly something we’ll use to motivate the guys,” Boland said of the seeding. “I know that they’ll respond.”

Remarks by one of the analysts during the telecast definitely caught the attention of the Cavaliers when she said that there were only a few teams in the country capable of beating top-seeded Georgia on its home courts (site of the NCAA championships this month). Virginia wasn’t one of those teams even though the Cavaliers perhaps gave the unbeaten Bulldogs (26-0) their most difficult match of the season.

“In February we had a real close match with them that could have gone either way,” Boland said. “We pushed them more than any team in the country thus far.”

The Cavs lost that match, 4-2, via dropping a close doubles point, although in a singles match that didn’t finish, UVa was up a break in the third set.

“We’re going to have to work to have an opportunity to play them again,” Boland said. “We’re far from thinking about Georgia at this point.”

Still, it was noteworthy to watch the reaction of Virginia players when they noticed the analyst discarded them as a threat to Georgia.

A collective, “Ooooooohhhhh,” rang out around the TV screen at the Boar’s Head Sports Club where the team assembled to watch the pairings show.

“I’m not looking ahead,” Devvarman said, “but we definitely feel like we can beat Georgia. We feel like we are one of the teams that has the ability at every single spot to put pressure on them, including doubles. But right now, our focus is only on Hampton.”

 

Virginia Women Receive No. 10 Seed for NCAA Golf Regional
Cavaliers Will Play in East Regional at LSU
April 30, 2007

Charlottesville, VA - The 21st-ranked Virginia women's golf team is seeded No. 10 at the NCAA East Regional Championship to be held at LSU May 10-12. The tournament will take place at the University Club in Baton Rouge, La.

The Cavaliers are one of 21 teams that will compete for eight spots to the NCAA Championships. The top two individuals not represented by one of the eight advancing teams will also qualify for the NCAA Championships. It marks the third consecutive season the Cavaliers have received a postseason berth.

The complete field for the East Regional includes: 1. Duke, 2. UCLA, 3. Auburn, 4. Purdue, 5. Texas A&M, 6. North Carolina, 7. Alabama, 8. Wake Forest, 9. South Carolina, 10. Virginia, 11. Florida State, 12. LSU, 13. Louisville, 14. South Florida, 15. NC State, 16. Birmingham-Southern, 17. Furman, 18. College of Charleston, 19. Western Carolina, 20. Jacksonville State and 21. Jackson State.

The individual qualifiers are Aruka Felgueroso of Coastal Carolina, Lene Krog of East Carolina and Amanda Mathis of Mississippi State.

Last year Virginia tied with Alabama for eighth place at the regional but lost a one-hole playoff to advance to the NCAA Championships. In 2005 the Cavaliers finished fifth at the NCAA Regional and went on to a 13th-place finish at the NCAAs.

Virginia has played at LSU during the last two seasons. The Cavaliers were fourth in the LSU Classic in March of 2006 and were 12th at this year's tournament.

The tournament features tee times at 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. CT.

Live scoring of the championship will be online at Golfstat.com.

The Central Regional championship will take place at the University of Michigan Golf Course and the West will be hosted by BYU at Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah.

The NCAA Championships are scheduled for the LPGA International Golf Course in Dayton Beach, Fla., May 22-25.