Sunshine sinks Cavaliers
By Jay Jenkins
Published: May 31, 2008

FULLERTON, Calif. — A would-be heartwarming classic turned into a horror flick with one simple throw.
With runners on first and second in the bottom of the ninth, Virginia third baseman Tyler Cannon slung the ball towards first baseman Jeremy Farrell for what appeared to be the inning’s second out. There was only one problem: Farrell never saw the ball due to his uncompromising angle with the sun glaring down in the backdrop.
As the throw sailed past Farrell, UCLA pinch runner Chris Giovinazzo raced home to propel the Bruins to a 3-2 walk-off win in improbable fashion.
“I tell you, in my coaching career, I don’t know if I have ever lost a game like that … where the sun affects a player not being able to see the baseball to catch the ball,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “It was a great ballgame between two great teams.
“It is just unfortunate. I feel for our players that that’s the way the game ends. I don’t know that either Tyler Cannon or Jeremy Farrell could have done anything about it.”
With the loss, Virginia (38-22) falls into the loser’s bracket and must win four straight games to win the regional. The Cavaliers will face the loser of Friday’s late game between top-seeded Cal State Fullerton and Rider tonight at 7 p.m.
UCLA (32-25) will play the Fullerton-Rider winner tonight at 11 p.m.
As odd as the ending was, O’Connor said there was nothing that Farrell could have done differently.
“He didn’t have a chance,” the coach said. “He didn’t see the ball at all.”
Oddly enough in a game that included a costly hidden ball trick, the wild walk-off finish almost unfolded on the prior at-bat in the ninth.
With runners at first and second and no one out, Virginia reliever Matt Packer corralled a bunted ball back to the mound and fired to Cannon at third. Cannon almost threw across the diamond to first base in an attempt to get a double play.
“I waved my hands and [Cannon] asked me after if we had a chance and I said, ‘No way,’” said Virginia second baseman David Adams who was covering first on the bunt. “It is just one of those things. It has never happened to me, never happened to us. I can assure you of that.”
The fact that Virginia was in a position to extend the game into extra innings was a feat in itself. The Cavaliers had trailed almost the entire game as UCLA starting pitcher Tim Murphy masterfully motored into the eighth.
It was in that frame, however, that Virginia managed to tie the contest and chase Murphy from the mound after another unexpected error.
With one out in the frame, Cannon lifted a lazy fly ball into the gap in left-center that hit Mickey Weisser’s glove and dropped to the ground for a two-base error.
Cannon advanced to third on David Adams’ bouncing single that snuck between the shortstop and third.
The sophomore scored one batter later as Farrell pushed a fly ball towards the right-field corner that caught on a head-first diving attempt by UCLA right fielder Brady Dolan.
“It was a big play,” said UCLA coach John Savage. “It saved another run. It was a tremendous.
“Whenever you get into regional play, it is like playoff basketball: it is one play, one foul, it is a walk, it is a flare.”
The Cavaliers also scored a lone run in the sixth inning, a frame that had the making for more.
Cannon laced a double down the left-field line to push shortstop Greg Miclat to third, and both runners advanced on a run-scoring sacrifice fly by Adams.
Moments later, UCLA third baseman Jermaine Curtis met Murphy near the mound and strolled to third. Cannon, thinking the ball was in Murphy’s glove, strolled off the bag far enough to allow Curtis to sneak in with the tag.
“I think Tyler Cannon made a mistake,” O’Connor said. “You should never wander off the base until the pitcher is on the rubber, and to their credit, it worked. You rarely ever see it, but it was a mental lapse on his part. “Obviously, it had an impact on the game — there would have been one out and a runner at third base.”
Savage said it was a play that his team had tried previously this season.
“The hidden-ball trick really was a big play. It is kind of a West coast play and you don’t see it a lot. The timing was good.”
Virginia’s late rally took starting pitcher Jacob Thompson off the hook for a loss in what could be his final outing as a Cavalier.
The program’s all-time wins leader allowed seven hits and two earned runs in six innings and escaped a pair of jams by allowing lone runs in the first and fourth innings.
“I thought Jacob Thompson pitched pretty well,” O’Connor said. “It is unfortunate that we were not able to get him more run support, but Murphy was really good tonight.”
Murphy, who entered having worked 16.2 straight scoreless innings, pitched 7.2 innings, scattering eight hits.
UCLA reliever Brendan Lafferty was credited with the win after working a perfect top-half of the ninth inning before the stunning play.
“If you are around the game of baseball long enough, you will see things that you have never seen before,” O’Connor said. “That’s why it is a great game, but it doesn’t feel very good right now to have that happen to you.
“I am proud of our guys, I thought we battled and we will be back [today] to play.”
O’Connor said he plans to start junior Andrew Carraway on the mound tonight and would take the contests on a game-by-game basis.

 

Baseball Suffers 3-2 Walkoff Loss to UCLA in NCAA Opener
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 05/30/2008

FULLERTON, Calif. – UCLA’s Chris Giovinazzo scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Bruins walked off with a 3-2 win over Virginia in the first game of the NCAA Fullerton Regional at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif.

Virginia drops into the consolation bracket and will play the loser of the Cal State Fullerton/Rider game at 7 p.m. ET Saturday. The game will be televised by ESPNU, while the radio broadcast is available on WINA (1070 AM).

The winning run scored on a crazy play in the ninth inning. With one out and runners on first and second, UCLA’s Cody Decker hit a grounder to third baseman Tyler Cannon (So., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.). Cannon then threw to first baseman Jeremy Farrell (Jr., Westlake, Ohio), who lost the ball in the bright sunlight over the third-base bleachers and could not make a play on the ball. The ball then rolled down the first-base line, allowing Giovinazzo to score.

Phil Gosselin (Fr., West Chester, Pa.) led Virginia with three hits, while David Adams (Jr., Margate, Fla.) had two hits and an RBI. Mickey Weisser had three hits for the Bruins, while Jermaine Curtis added two.

Neither starting pitcher earned a decision. Virginia’s Jacob Thompson (Jr., Danville, Va.) tossed six strong innings, allowing two earned runs, seven hits, one walk and two strikeouts. UCLA starter Tim Murphy was equally strong, pitching 7.2 innings and allowing two runs (one earned), eight hits and two walks while striking out four.

Matt Packer (So., Germantown, Tenn.) threw 2.1 innings, giving up an unearned run and three hits. He took the loss and fell to 6-3 this season. UCLA reliever Brendan Lafferty (4-3) earned the win after pitching a perfect ninth inning.

UCLA (32-25) got on the board first with a run in the opening inning. Curtis led off with a double and moved to third on a bunt single by Blair Dunlap. Alden Carrithers then grounded out to plate Curtis and give UCLA a 1-0 lead.

The Bruins added a run in the fourth inning on a Weisser single with the bases loaded. Thompson, who loaded the bases with no outs, escaped further damage by inducing Brady Dolan to ground into a double play to end the threat.

Virginia (38-22) cut the lead in half in the sixth inning, as Greg Miclat (Jr., Concord, N.C.) led off with a walk and moved to third on a Cannon double. Adams followed with a sacrifice fly to center field to score Miclat. The Virginia rally was snuffed out though when the Bruins performed the hidden ball trick following the sacrifice fly and tagged Cannon out at third.

The Cavaliers tied the game in the eighth inning. With one out, Cannon lofted a deep fly ball to left center field that Weisser dropped for an error, allowing Cannon to reach second. Adams followed with a single to move Cannon to third, and Farrell hit a drive to right field that Dolan made a diving catch on, but Cannon scored on the sacrifice fly to knot the score at two.

Game Notes – NCAA Fullerton Regional Game 1

- Virginia made its fifth-straight appearance and eighth all-time in the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers are 11-15 all-time in the tournament.

- Virginia played its first-ever game in the state of California and matched up with a California opponent for the first time as well.

- David Adams had two hits to pass John Galloway (1994-97, 223) and move into sole possession of ninth place on the UVa all-time chart.

- Jacob Thompson made his 47th career start. He stands third all-time at Virginia, two shy of the UVa career record of 49, held by Joe Koshansky (2001-04) and Brandon Creswell (1998-01).

- Phil Gosselin tied a career high with three hits. He has had three hits in a game four other times, with the last coming April 29 against Mount St. Mary’s.

- Jeremy Farrell had an RBI on a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning. It gives him 52 RBI this season as he moves into 17th place on the UVa single-season ledger

 

All Three Virginia Boats Advance At NCAA Rowing Championships
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 05/30/2008

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Virginia women’s rowing team advanced all three of its boats on Friday during the first day of competition at the 2008 NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships on Lake Natoma in Sacramento, Calif.

Virginia’s Varsity Four (coxswain Cristine Candland, Diane Leigh, Allison Brennan, Nora Phillips and Schafer Bomstein) won its heat and advanced directly to Sunday’s Grand Final. The Cavaliers finished with a time of 7:27.07.

The Varsity Eight (coxswain Caitlin Mixter, Jennifer Cromwell, Rebecca Ryall, Lauren Hutchins, Kelsie Chaudoin, Desiree Burns, Augusta Stratos, Bridget Wandelt, Katrin Sydlik) finished a close second in its heat, and advanced to Saturday’s semifinals. The crew led most of its race, but was edged in the last 250 meters by California. Virginia’s time was 6:24.95, compared to Cal’s 6:23.79. The third team to advance from that heat was Princeton with a time of 6:28.28.

The Second Varsity Eight (coxswain Mary Eddy, Amanda Chase, Lauren Shook, Helen Tompkins, Marie Long, Claudia Blandford, Annie Bohlen, Adrienne Egge and Victoria Burke) had a third-place finish and advanced to the repechage on Saturday.

“It was an encouraging day,” head coach Kevin Sauer said. “We are definitely in the hunt and we’ll continue to push tomorrow and hopefully put ourselves in a good position.”

2008 NCAA Championships
Friday, May 30
Lake Natoma | Sacramento, Calif.

Varsity Eight (Heat 3): 1. California (6:23.79); 2. Virginia (6:24.95); 3. Princeton (6:28.28); 4. Washington State (6:28.98); 5. Tennessee (6:30.69)

Second Varsity Eight (Heat 2): 1. Brown (6:44.46); 2. Washington (6:47.18); 3. Virginia (6:49.22); 4. Washington State (6:52.38); 5. Wisconsin (6:52.95); 6. Princeton (7:08.53)

Varsity Four (Heat 1): 1. Virginia (7:27.07); 2. Michigan State (7:31.83); 3. Brown (7:34.28); 4. Ohio State (7:42.17); 5. Washington State (7:46.87); 6. Tennessee (7:52.68)

 

Cavanaugh undergoes Poseidon adventure
By Doug Doughty

Proponents of an early signing period for football don’t have a prayer of getting that kind of legislation passed. Or do they?

Virginia Tech recruiting coordinator Jim Cavanaugh thinks there is a decent possibility.

Cavanaugh, featured guest Friday at the weekly SEC Roundtable, has been in the business long enough to remember when there was an early signing period for football.

When he was still relatively new to the profession, Cavanaugh said, players could sign a conference letter of intent in December.

“Of course, they could come back one week and sign another letter-of-intent with a team from another conference,” he said. “They could sign as many letters-of-intent as there were conferences.”

For close to 25 years, there has been one national signing day, on the first Wednesday of February, although many schools have received double-digit commitments by the previous summer.

Cavanaugh, between bites of a Poseidon at Tattler’s Pizza and Subs west of Salem, said he knows there is some sentiment for an early signing day in August but thinks that Dec. 1 is a more likely date.

“If you do it in August, then that becomes even more of a problem if a coach loses his job by the end of the season,” Cavanaugh said.

Just this week, the Southeastern Conference football coaches agreed to make a proposal for a national signing day on the Monday before Dec. 1, but would you expect the coaches not to be in favor of such a plan?

Opposition to a late November or December signing date for football comes from people who claim that it would only speed up a process that already has gotten somewhat insane, requiring college assistants to evaluate players as sophomores or freshmen.

IF ONE OF VIRGINIA’S purposes was to mend fences by offering scholarships to Perry Jones from Oscar Smith and LoVante' Battle from Phoebus, it was mission accomplished.

Phoebus coach Bill Dee, who has not had a player sign with Virginia since Phillip Brown in 2003, said that UVa head coach Al Groh visited Phoebus this spring and seemed intent on strengthening Virginia relations in the 757 area code.

“Some kids are a good fit for Virginia Tech; some kids are a good fit for Virginia,” Dee said. “The Battle kid is an excellent student who already had been on campus [in Charlottesville]. I think he has one ‘C’ on his transcript.

“If you watch this kid on tape, he can really fly. I think coach Groh was ahead of the curve on this one. I think it was a smart move on their part. There was a lot of interest in LoVante'. I think he would have ended up with a bunch of offers.”

Dee is also familiar with Jones, who had 25 tackles for loss as a junior, but could never remain at linebacker and play at the Division I-A level. The Cavaliers are hoping that he can play safety.

“He’s [Jones] a helluva player,” Dee said. “You know, they’ve got another linebacker at Oscar Smith, [Jerod] Askew, who has a ton more offers. I know I’m speaking from a high-school coach’s viewpoint, but do a couple of inches make that much difference?”

WHEN APPRISED OF Dee’s comparison of Askew and Jones, Oscar Smith coach Richard Morgan said Friday, “They’re really the same player. Perry is a little faster and Jerrod, at 6 feet and 230 pounds, is a little bigger. That right there is the difference between five or six offers and 20 offers.”

Morgan said that Askew has narrowed his list to Alabama, Michigan, Tennessee, West Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. A third Oscar Smith prospect, wide receiver Tim Smith, has Virginia on a list of 12-15 Division I-A schools from which he has received offers.

“I’m going up there on the 14th of June and we’ll sit down with the coaches to talk about their situation at quarterback and what they have planned for the passing game,” Morgan said. “As you can tell from schools like Louisville, South Carolina and West Virginia, he wants to go somewhere where they emphasize the passing.

“Tim and Perry are very good friends, so that certainly won’t hurt Virginia. To be honest with you, we’ve had 10 Division I-A signees in the past four years and none of them have gone to Virginia. I’m not sure when Oscar Smith has had a kid go to UVa.

“This gives them an inroad into our school and the 757 area code that maybe they haven’t had before. And they got it with the right kid. Perry Jones could have gotten 150 offers and he still would have gone to Virginia.”

CAVANAUGH, A BIG hit Friday with a crowd that included Ole Miss grad and newly named SEC Roundtable Medical Director Bill Ward, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Tech institute a junior day for football recruits during the basketball season.

Past reluctance has had little to do with the relative strength of Tech’s men’s basketball or the atmosphere at Cassell Coliseum. It has more to do with the number of hours that Tech targets can realistically be expected to spend on the road.

If a prospect is going to make a seven-hour round trip from Richmond or an 11-hour trip from Tidewater, Tech would much rather it coincided with the spring game in April or one of the one-day junior camps the Hokies stage throughout the summer. Also, a February trip to Blacksburg can be dicey weather-wise.

CAVANAUGH AGREED with the premise that the number of Division I-A signees out of Virginia could top 50 for the first time this year.

The reason?

“Population,” Cavanaugh said.

He didn’t provide any numbers and I didn’t ask for any, although I suspect that Virginia’s status as the 12th most populous state in the country remains unchanged.

What I have noticed is the new high schools springing up to the west of Washington, D.C., in Loudoun County, and to the south in the counties surrounding Fredericksburg. Given the demographics, it makes sense – as Cavanaugh contends – that the academic profile of college prospects has improved, too.
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