Cavaliers begin quest for region championship
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 4, 2004

It is often said that you can throw out the records in the postseason.

That saying applies today as play opens in the NCAA tournament at 16 different regional locations.

Thanks to a 42-13 regular-season record, Virginia is one of those hosts and thanks to that impressive mark, the Cavaliers will enter as the top seed against fourth-seeded Princeton (28-17) at 7 p.m. That game will be preceded by a contest with George Mason (39-17) and second-seeded Vanderbilt (42-17) at 3 p.m.

With a double-elimination format, it is obvious to the coaches that the regular-season record can now be tossed out the window.

For Virginia first-year coach Brian O’Connor the format is nothing new.

As a player he played in regionals at Creighton and as a coach he faced them numerous times at Notre Dame.

“This is really when it gets tough. This is the time of the year when you are talking about ending their season, possibly,” O’Connor said. “When you do that, every one of them is a dogfight. For fourth-year seniors, you are ending a guys’ career, so they are battles and you have to be better than you have been all year.”

O’Connor also knows the importance of having a good showing tonight against the Tigers.

“It is critical that you go out and you play well and you win your first ballgame. So you have to take them one at a time, but it is critical that we come out and we execute and get the job done [tonight].”

For the Cavaliers, the season has been a joyride to the top of college baseball.

While O’Connor knew his team could accomplish great things, it wasn’t until the Cavaliers rallied in the late innings against Seton Hall in late February to improve to 9-0 that the skipper knew he was working with a special group.

The players drove that point home again to O’Connor with a series sweep on the road at Georgia Tech as they opened conference play.

Fifteen ACC wins later and Virginia was sitting pretty in second place in the final ACC regular season standings.

O’Connor hopes that ACC regular-season success carries over onto the field this weekend in front of a sold-out crowd as UVa plays in a regional for the first time since 1996.

“I have been preaching to our kids since the ACC tournament, what we are going to experience this weekend is no different than playing Florida State at home or playing Clemson at home,” O’Connor said. “You still have to go out and perform. I don’t think the experience of playing in a tournament is going to be a factor. What I am hoping is, the experience of us playing a difficult schedule and playing in the ACC is going to weigh in our favor.”

The ACC has six of its nine teams in the tournament field and all are seeded one or a two in their respective regionals. Florida State and Georgia Tech will also host regionals this weekend.

O’Connor is confident that even though it is a new season, his players will respond.

“They are excited. They are ready to go,” O’Connor said. “They realize what we need to do to have success.”
 

Pitchers play key role for Cavs
Dobies, Avery both anxious to get on the mound in regionals
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 3, 2004

On paper, Andrew Dobies and Matt Avery are about as different from night and day.

Dobies is a junior. Avery is a sophomore.

One is a righty. The other a southpaw.

Dobies stands at 6-foot-1. Avery towers at 6-foot-5.

Dobies hails from Pennsylvania. Avery grew up in McLean and attended high school at Landon Prep in Maryland.

Differences aside, the two starting pitchers for Virginia share one common goal on the field - the desire to win.

This weekend they both share another common goal –- winning the Charlottes-ville regional.

Joined by Joe Koshansky, the trio formed the starting weekend rotation during the regular season and if the Cavaliers are to advance out of the regional they host, they will all be counted on heavily.

They both said that they are ready and while Dobies is expected to start in the Cavaliers’ opener Friday against Princeton at 7 p.m., it does not matter to either when they pitch as long as they both get the chance to take the mound.

“It does not matter to me at all,” Dobies said. “Just tell me when to pitch and I got it.”

Avery did not pitch in the ACC tournament after UVa was eliminated by back-to-back losses. He knows that he will probably pitch only if the Cavaliers advance to a third game in the three-day, double-elimination event.

“Whenever you get this far, when you lose you are pretty much done, especially if I am throwing in the third game and we have lost the previous game,” Avery said. “One more loss and we would be going home for the summer. I just hope I get a chance to pitch well.”

This season, both have done just that - pitch well.

Dobies (6-2, 3.38 ERA) leads the team in a handful of categories including strikeouts (102) and innings pitched (101.1). He has also shown excellent control, walking just 29 batters this season.

The left-handed throwing ace of the staff topped Clemson and N.C. State earlier this season, both of which are in the NCAA tournament field.

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor knows he has something special in Dobies.

“There is no secret, to win from here on out, you need to have great starting pitching and someone that consistently does the job,” O’Connor said. “Andrew is capable of that. He has a lot of talent and he is capable of going out there and having a lot of success.”

O’Connor should know. He pitched on Creighton’s 1991 College World Series team and coached 17 eventual professional baseball pitchers, including 13 Major League draft selections.

Dobies has also had to battle through the constant scrutiny and pressure of being considered an early selection in this month’s Major League Baseball Draft.

“The draft is kind of near the end of regionals but I am trying not to focus on it,” Dobies said. “I am trying to take it one game at a time, as coach says, and I am trying to abide by that.”

Since juniors can be selected in Major League Baseball without even applying for the draft, Dobies will have a tough decision to make after he is selected. He said a lot will depend on when he is drafted and how the Cavaliers do the rest of the season.

“Part of it depends on how we do,” Dobies said. “I would love to make it to the [College] World Series. We will see how it goes as it comes along.”

Dobies can also relate to the situation that Avery is in as the third starter on the staff.

Last season, it was Dobies in that role.

“Avery is in my spot from last year,” Dobies said. “It’s good because he has the older guys, guys that have been there to help him. That’s something that I never had last year. I think it is helping him out. He will definitely have [to pitch in] a key situation this weekend.”

For Avery the chance has been a long time coming. While he is 6-2 on the season, he wanted to pitch in the ACC tournament last week.

“I was so ready to go. I was just sitting there praying that we would pull that game out [against N.C. State] so I would get a chance to pitch,” Avery said. “I got an extra week and I got my arm a little bit of rest, but obviously we are still throwing. Late in the season it helps [to have extra rest]. I am trying to find some positives in it.”
 

Living like a champ
Myers, Cavaliers enjoying being on top
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
May 30, 2004

Her desk at the McCue Center is covered with at least three flower arrangements and several other letters of congratulations.

Virginia women’s lacrosse coach Julie Myers smiles at her full desk and in no means dreads it like so many do at their workplaces. She knows they are the spoils of winning a national championship.

The Cavaliers defeated Princeton 10-4 in the title game last Sunday to capture the program’s first NCAA championship since 1993.

Myers insists her week has been normal but that are constant reminders, other than the flowers and letters, that this is no ordinary week.

Several of her fellow coaches keep stopping by to offer their congratulations, there have been a bevy of media requests and she admits that her three-year-old daughter, Kelsey, and 10-month-old son, Timothy, have become quite attached to the big trophy that mom and her players received recently.

“It’s been normal and I’m at peace. I’m still changing diapers in the morning and cutting the grass and being a mom. It has been, though, almost overwhelming the number of people that have called and e-mailed and sent plants and flowers,” said Myers gesturing at that close-to-capacity desk. “It’s been pretty amazing. It’s far-reaching and it will take me a while to get back to everyone that’s got to us. That’s definitely one of my goals now to talk to everyone that has thought of us.”

The Cavaliers’ victory over Princeton on the surface would appear to be an exorcism of certain demons. The Cavaliers fell in overtime to the Tigers in last year’s title game and dropped a decision to them earlier this year. It was that prior loss to Princeton and not the one last year that Myers was most relieved to avenge.

Princeton had entered the game as the nation’s top team and 19-0 on the season.

“I think in a way it was more important to avenge the loss from this year than the one from last year. Princeton was an excellent team and deserved to be in the title game again,” Myers said. “I was glad to be able to dominate this game and it was a great feeling to do so against a team that was so dominant through the course of the year.”

Myers, however, did suggest that the team they beat had at least a little significance to her players.

“I think they were motivated for some of the players that graduated last year. They really wanted to do it for all of our heartache last year,” Myers said. “It was a piece of what was in their mind but it was not so much a ‘let’s get Princeton back’ kind of thing. It was more that they weren’t going to lose this opportunity again.”

Virginia finished the season 19-3 and on a 10-game winning streak. As is often the case with a coach that wins a championship, Myers is able to put her finger on what was a seminal moment in the season. For this squad, it was a 10-8 victory on March 9 at Maryland. Despite their victory over the Terrapins in the 2003 national semifinals, the Cavaliers entered the contest having dropped 14 of its previous 16 games against Maryland. Virginia would later beat the Terrapins in the ACC tournament semifinals.

“I think it really was the first Maryland game. It was a night game and we were on the road. … They just had a confidence about them and a certainty that they were going to work hard and play a great game,” Myers said. “The game was tied at the half and we ended up surging ahead. We had put together our first complete game and I think it served as great momentum for the rest of the season.”

Perhaps the most remarkable in the Cavaliers’ run to the title - in addition to the record 90 goals and 31 assists from junior Amy Appelt or the 23 saves by Andrea Pfeiffer in the title game - was that the Cavaliers accomplished this goal without two would-be starters.

Both sophomore Meredith Lazarus and junior All-American Cary Chasney were sidelined with season-ending injuries early in the year. That duo comprised what would have been a strong midfield unit.

The Cavaliers, however, didn’t wilt in their teammates’ absence. Instead it tended to strengthen the overall resolve.

“I think we kind of held our breath and took it day-by-day and I think it became a great opportunity for that next group. I think it gave kids on the bench life,” Myers said. “Coaches always stress to work hard and be ready for that opportunity because you never know when it’s going to be your chance. Those words really rung true. The injuries happened early enough in the season that kids were able to work really hard and were ready when their opportunities came. They really rallied around each other.”

For Myers, the win was in some ways a validation after several near misses. Besides last year’s loss in the title game, she had guided teams to three previous berths in the finals without earning a victory. She won one as a player at Virginia in 1991 and then another as an assistant coach in 1993. The win against Princeton on Sunday made her the first person ever to win the championship as a player and then later as a head coach.

“It’s awesome but I think it only happened because I’m here. If I’m at another school, it’s not quite the same. Virginia is such a special place. Kids want to come here before they even meet me. … More than anything, I feel incredibly lucky that I’m here at Virginia,” Myers said. “I’ve never been anywhere else so I’m sort of spoiled.”

Myers actually is quite relieved that there was little focus on her personal journey to win the title after the several chances she had encountered.

“There was not a piece of focus put on me trying to achieve that goal. I would actually say this was my least obsessive year in terms of going after this big elusive title,” Myers said.

The women’s title adds to the one gained by their male counterparts at UVa last year. Both championships are reflections of program-wide goals set by Athletics Director Craig Littlepage to capture 12 national championships and 70 ACC titles in a 10-year span. The encouragement and support that comes with such an ambitious plan were certainly factors according to Myers.

“We have great direction and great support in reaching those goals. Craig Littlepage I think has done a great job in saying this is where we are and this is where we want to be and this is the timeline we want it to happen in,” Myers said. “I feel very grateful and fortunate that we were able to help with a NCAA and an ACC title this year. The athletic department is moving in the right direction and it’s a great time to be here and be part of it.”
 

Smith dies at 60
Former UVa employee, "Mr. Lacrosse" was considered an icon of the sport
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
June 2, 2004

Doyle Smith, a legendary and well-admired figure in both UVa athletics and the sport of lacrosse in particular, passed away early Tuesday morning in his Charlottesville home. Smith was 60.

Smith had battled against Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system, for much of the past 20 years. He was able to watch the NCAA men’s lacrosse title game Monday on television, one of the few he was unable to attend since the tournament’s inception in the early 1970s. Smith, who quite literally wrote the book on lacrosse rules and statistics, was widely considered the most influential non-coach and non-player in the sport’s history.

Smith worked in the University of Virginia sports information office from 1968-1999 and his service to both Virginia athletics and the sport of lacrosse were unmatched. He was a two-time recipient of UVa’s Buz Male Service Award and was the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association’s Man of the Year in 1984 and 1993. For his dedication and commitment to the sport of lacrosse, he was inducted into the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame in October 2000. He also served as the coordinator of official statistics for the semifinal and championship games of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament for many years, and was one of the first 10 individuals selected to the Virginia Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1995.

In 1995, when the NCAA celebrated the 25th year of holding the lacrosse championship, Smith was named the team manager along with all the other great players and coaches selected to the team.

“Doyle was certainly by all measures a unique man. He established himself as a leader and prominent figure not only here at the university in media relations but nationally in terms of his knowledge and expertise in the sport of lacrosse. He became during his career the expert on the game and the person who literally wrote the book on the sport,” said Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage. “Doyle fell in love with the sport, dedicated himself to promoting the sport and became one of the sports most prominent figures. He is a remarkable man and remarkable story.”

Added Rich Murray, Virginia’s director of athletic media relations since 1983: “One of the first things that comes to mind about Doyle was his loyalty. Both his loyalty to the University of Virginia and to the athletics department. There is not a day that goes by where we don’t come across something that Doyle has worked on whether it be statistics or media guides or files from years past. He was here a long time. Folks remember him for his work with lacrosse and that was certainly understandable because he loved lacrosse. He was such a great and endearing figure that was so committed to what he loved and again was such a loyal person and such a person of integrity and that’s one of the things I remember most.”

Smith discovers lax at Hopkins

The game of lacrosse’s foremost authority, Smith’s beginnings with it were indeed humble. A native of Corvallis, Ore., Smith was completely unaware of the game before arriving at John Hopkins University in 1962. At Hopkins, where the sport has a religious-like following, students were required to play lacrosse as part of a physical education requirement. With his slight frame, Smith wasn’t well suited for playing and found a way to avoid it: He became the team manager.

“It was more accident than anything else,” Smith said in the May 28, 1999 edition of The Daily Progress.

Thus, began a more than 40-year association with the sport.

Smith, a 1966 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Johns Hopkins, became involved in the statistics keeping and other behind-the-scenes sides of lacrosse. He was Hopkins’ manager for six years, the last two as a graduate student. He came to UVa in 1968 to pursue his doctorate and expected to become a history professor or get involved in foreign affairs. Smith once quipped he sought to be the “ambassador to the UK.”

Any ambassadorship or professorships would take a back seat to lacrosse. Smith became first a part-time employee of the Virginia sports information office and continued to become more and more involved in the game. He continued to keep stats for the lacrosse team and eventually became a full-time member of the Virginia sports information staff in 1972. Shortly after that, Smith became the sports information director for the USILA.

“He first came here while I was athletics director and Doyle was a student here working on his doctorate. He started becoming more and more involved in lacrosse and within a short time became someone the sport couldn’t do with out,” said Gene Corrigan, the former UVa AD and lacrosse coach, ACC commissioner and fellow member of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame. “Doyle was so unselfish. He would do every task imaginable and never seek thanks or recognition for it. He was a person of tremendous integrity and unmatched honesty. He had such a great affection for the coaches and players and just about everyone he came into contact with.”

A first-class, professional man

Smith’s encyclopedic knowledge of the game, its rules and its statistics eventually earned Smith the nickname “Mr. Lacrosse.” Smith wrote the Lacrosse Statistician’s Manual, which is included in the NCAA Lacrosse Rule Book. Before the NCAA officially began keeping lacrosse statistics in the early 1990s, Smith had done the job himself for nearly 20 years.

Smith frequently took the time to pass along his methods for taking statistics to many at UVa and in the Charlottesville community, including this reporter.

“My very first impression of Doyle was his professionalism. He had a genuine concern for making lacrosse statistics correct and that added such an importance to the game. Doyle is the one person who raised the level of statistics and that really helped make the game what it is today. No one has been as exact as Doyle has,” said Doug Tarring, a member of UVa’s 1972 national championship team and currently the head lacrosse coach and athletics director at St. Anne’s-Belfield. “I feel Doyle is the most important non-player, non-coach in the history of the game. Every thing he did was service. … I can’t think of anyone that has had more of an impact on the game in a non-field way than Doyle. When you think that USILA’s top award is the Doyle Smith Media Award, that pretty much says right there how Doyle is viewed in the lacrosse community.”

Myron Ripley, a knowledgeable local coach and expert of the sport in Charlottesville who has served as the official scorer for UVa games since the 1980s and tutored under Smith for many years, often shares an anecdote to relate Smith’s thorough knowledge of all things lacrosse, especially the rules of the game.

During a Virginia-John Hopkins game in the early 1990s, Virginia had scored a goal just moments after a Hopkins player was released from a penalty. Ripley and the Johns Hopkins scorer proceeded to argue whether the goal should count as an extra-man goal. Ripley said yes while the Hopkins’ scorer said no.

“Doyle was standing next to us and you could tell he wanted to say something,” Ripley remembered. “He was fidgeting a little and finally Doyle just said, ‘He’s right.’ She [the Hopkins scorekeeper] just looked at him skeptically and said, ‘Why are you so sure?’ Then Doyle said, ‘I wrote the rule.’ That’s how Doyle was. He wasn’t egotistical or anything like that. Really, he was far from that. He just wanted to be precise and accurate. He was a man of integrity at all times.”

A fond farewell from UVa

The Cavaliers, who captured NCAA titles in 1972 and 2003, dedicated their 1999 title run to Smith, who that year was retiring from the athletic department. Along the way to the championship, many players wore shirts with “EDS” for Edward Doyle Smith on the front and the phrase “This Run’s for You” on the back.

“People see him keeping stats but they don’t see what he does for the players. He invites us over to his house. He always has a good word for us. It’s really special because you can tell he really cares about us,” said Henry Oakey, a Charlottesville native and UVa midfielder, in 1999.

Smith held such a highly respected position in the lacrosse world that when current UVa coach Dom Starsia first came to Charlottesville in 1992, intimidating described his disposition upon first meeting him. Starsia, as many others before him, would soon learn that intimidating and Smith were rarely words that met in the same sentence.

“One of my first memories of Doyle was really thinking whether he would like me. I was intimidated a little at first because he was such a legend and an icon of the sport. … Doyle had such a soft and very human side. He cared deeply about the university, about Virginia lacrosse and the sport of lacrosse,” Starsia said. “His contributions were so appreciated. Perhaps the fact that you’d only have to mention his name, ‘Doyle’, and everyone knows who you were talking about says so much about the esteem in which he’s held in our game.”

Two sisters, Debbie Cunningham of Seattle and Laurie Filstrup of Patchogue, N.Y, survive Smith. In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made on Smith’s behalf to the Virginia Athletics Foundation. Earlier this year, VAF established the Edward Doyle Smith Jr. Men’s Lacrosse Scholarship, which will be awarded annually to that player who embodies dedication, precision and integrity on and off the field.

Hill & Wood Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will be Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. A memorial service will be scheduled for a later date.
 

ACC enjoys record financial year
6-4-04
By Rob Daniels Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- The new television contracts haven't taken effect yet. Two new members are a few weeks away from formal membership. The third new school has another year in the halfway house known as the Big East. But the ACC appears financially fit for its expanding universe.

According to Internal Revenue Service documents for the tax year ending June 30, 2003, the ACC has become the first conference in NCAA history to distribute an average of $10 million to its members in a fiscal year. Fueled by increases in bowl payouts and various NCAA tournament revenue streams, the league went from a per-school average of $9.7 million for the period ending June 30, 2002, to an average of $10,846,423 in the 2002-03 cycle.

The figures, obtained through federal public-access legislation, are the most recently documented indicators of the ACC's fiscal vigor as it prepares to welcome Miami and Virginia Tech on July 1 and Boston College in 2005. The new members will create more pieces of the revenue pie, but will still mean more money for everybody; a recently negotiated football TV deal will more than cover the cost of expansion in a conference marked by its commitment to financial egalitarianism.

"I think it's steady and strong, and it needs to be with the addition of three new schools," said Maryland athletics director Debbie Yow, who grew up in Gibsonville.

The Big Ten Conference ranked second in per-school distribution at $9,986,026 in 2002-03 and was followed by the SEC ($8,585,465), the Big East ($7,142,052), the Pac-10 ($6,928,637) and the Big 12 ($6,438,980).

The Big East's figure includes only the seven schools competing for both football and basketball championships. Three of those are bound for the ACC, lured in part by the conference's financial stability, which has been approached but not equaled.

"It's fair to say our schools are very pleased with how things have come out," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "From a purely financial standpoint, we feel extremely good."

Ironically for the Big East, the defections of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College were being finalized as the conference was elevating its total revenue distribution by 21.3 percent during the previous fiscal year -- the largest increase of any conference.

The ACC's increase of 11.7 percent wasn't nearly as large as the 21.9 percent bump it enjoyed from 2000-01 to 2001-02, but that quantum leap occurred because it represented the first year of a new basketball TV contract. The deal took the league's revenue generated by televised hoops from $16 million to $28 million a year. Subsequent years of the package, which was recently renegotiated to account for the addition of 4 million households in the Miami and Boston markets, include a comparatively minor escalator clause.

The 11.7 percent jump resulted largely from NCAA postseason revenue, which went from $12 million to $17 million. It still outpaced inflation in at least most of the league.

Operating budgets rose 4 percent to 7 percent across a league that ranges from Wake Forest, a private school of fewer than 4,000 undergraduates, to Florida State, which has an enrollment of 37,328.

Wake received $11,292,186 from the ACC's revenue-distribution system, which calls for approximate equality. The differences from school to school result from expense money fronted to teams in postseason play, particularly football bowl games. The Demon Deacons football team went to the Seattle Bowl in December 2002. Only FSU ($11,435,885) received more.

"It's certainly not chump change to us," said David Marmion, assistant athletics director for finance at Wake. "We would be a different athletics department without it. And I think that's fair to say of all 12 schools.

"(The allocation) seemed like more than we were projecting, but it always seems to be a little more. They project conservatively because you don't want to get burned."
 

New coach brought Virginia a new attitude
With a winner in charge, the Cavaliers' baseball program has evolved into a tournament team.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published June 4, 2004

The man doesn't like to lose. When it happens, nobody connected with Virginia's baseball team even thinks about what music to play or which video to watch on the bus ride home. Nobody clowns around or makes plans for later, lest the man in charge get the impression that losing is something they can tolerate.

"When we lose," shortstop Mark Reynolds said, "there's silence."

True, we're talking about a program that, during the 1990s, went 16 games under .500. But to Brian O'Connor, the Cavaliers' first-year coach, history doesn't matter. He's used to winning, which Notre Dame did 71 percent of the time during his nine years as an Irish assistant. He won 20 of 33 decisions at Creighton and pitched in the College World Series.

In the words of noted baseball philosopher Nuke LaLoosh, winning is better than losing. And Virginia, one of the surprising stories of this college baseball season, has discovered that. The Cavaliers are 42-13 entering tonight's NCAA regional against Princeton, and for the first time in school history, U.Va. is a regional host.

For the most part, Virginia has the same personnel that went 29-25 last spring. But it has an entirely different mentality.

"He hates losing, and he's instilled that in us," third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said of O'Connor. "He's taught us that losing is no fun. But he's also taught us that you have to learn from it."

Unlike most years for U.Va. baseball, there have been few opportunities for lessons. The Cavs' 13 losses are their fewest since 1973, when they finished 16-12-2. The last time they were 29 games over .500 was ... well, never. They won 18 games in the ACC, seven more than their previous best total. They lost more than two consecutive games once, and that was in mid-March.

"They worked so hard all year, and they've been a model of consistency," said O'Connor, the ACC's Coach of the Year. "These kids feel they've paid the price since fall and winter, and they believe in each other and the coaches. And it's been everybody producing, from the nine-hole hitter to No. 4 to the lead-off guy."

A study of the numbers doesn't tell the story. In fact, it makes you wonder how Virginia has done it. The Cavaliers' team batting average is down seven points from last spring, to .292. The team ERA is up from 3.41 last season to 3.66.

In the latest ACC statistics, the Cavs are fifth in batting average, sixth in hits and seventh in slugging percentage and home runs. Virginia's pitching staff is sixth in batting average allowed and has one shutout in 55 games (that against Central Connecticut).

Yet the Cavaliers are playing .764 ball.

"I think the big difference is how aggressive we are this year," Zimmerman said. "A big thing for us is our mental toughness, and that's helped us out a lot, especially in those one-run games."

Virginia is 12-4 in one-run games, though two of those losses came in a quick exit from last week's ACC tournament. Of the Cavs' 42 wins, 17 came in games in which they either trailed or were tied going into the eighth inning. Virginia scored two runs in the ninth inning - the game-winner coming on Matt Street's single - to beat fourth-ranked Miami, 4-3.

O'Connor inherited most of the talent. ACC Player of the Year Joe Koshansky is a two-way threat, playing first base (.301, 15 home runs) on days he isn't pitching (7-3, 3.07 ERA). Zimmerman, from Virginia Beach's Kellam High, has bumped his batting average from .308 as a freshman last year to .361 this season. Left fielder Matt Dunn is up 41 points to .322.

After losing two returning starters to injury, the pitching rotation needed a boost. Sophomore right-hander Matt Avery has provided it, nearly doubling his innings pitched from '03 and winning six of eight decisions. Three of his wins came against Clemson, Miami and Florida State. The bullpen also has produced. Casey Lambert has eight saves, and all of Canon Hickman's eight wins have come in relief.

As the Cavaliers kept winning - at one point, they won a school-record 14 consecutive games - their fan base grew. Extra bleachers were installed at Davenport Field for a three-game Florida State series, which drew an average of 2,367 fans a night. As of late Wednesday, only 200 tickets remained for the regional games, which also pit George Mason against Vanderbilt today.

For O'Connor, a 32-year-old native of Council Bluffs, Iowa, it's been a dream start. But he doesn't expect the Cavs to be a one-year phenom.

"It's been tremendous," he said. "Part of the overall plan when I came here was not only to win but to develop it into the right kind of program, to be part of the national elite. This season has been a tremendous accomplishment for the players. I've had people in the community tell me how they had never been to a baseball game here before, but now they come all the time. It's been exciting."

Still U.Va.’s head coach, Gillen charges ahead
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 4, 2004

NORFOLK — Pete Gillen is hiring.

The Virginia men’s basketball coach has two openings on his staff, and he hopes to fill them soon, before the crucial July recruiting period begins.

Even if he didn’t have resumes to sort through and candidates to interview, this would have been an unusually eventful off season for Gillen, who was in town Thursday night to speak to local members of the Virginia Athletics Foundation.

It’s been a little more than two months since Gillen, whose job was widely reported to be in jeopardy, received a vote of confidence from athletic director Craig Littlepage, following a thorough review of the program.

Since then, assistant coaches Rod Jensen and Scott Shepherd have resigned, forward Derrick Byars announced plans to transfer and swingman Devin Smith, arguably the team’s best player, underwent back surgery. Gillen also signed a player, center Tunji Soroye, and received his first commitment from a member of the class of 2005, Laurynas Mikalauskas, who is considered a top-100 prospect.

Gillen has also been making the rounds on the fund-raising circuit, where he’s fielded more questions than usual about the direction of the program.

“It goes with the territory,” Gillen said Thursday. “Virginia is a great school. They have high standards in everything they do.

“We had a good team last year but we want to have a great team. Virginia wants to have a great team. That’s the way it should be.”

Virginia finished 18-13 last season but failed to make the NCAA tournament for the third straight year. The Cavaliers won six of their final 10, however, including three victories over ranked teams, and that modest late-season surge contributed to Littlepage’s decision to keep Gillen for at least another year.

Littlepage’s endorsement came with conditions that neither he nor Gillen would specify, but were believed to include changes to his staff. Jensen resigned in April, and Shepherd last month. Gillen plans to promote Alexis Sherard, the team’s director of basketball operations, to assistant coach. Greg Herenda, an assistant at East Carolina, has interviewed for the other vacancy.

“We’re very impressed with him. He’s terrific,” Gillen said.

But Virginia has not made Herenda an offer, and interviewed another candidate — whom Gillen declined to name — over the weekend.

The new assistant’s first job will be to hit the recruiting trail, where Gillen said prospects are beginning to warm to the idea of playing in the new John Paul Jones Arena, scheduled to be ready in 2006.

“The arena’s starting to pay off,” Gillen said. “It’s going to be one of the nicest in the country.”

The commitment of Mikalauskas, a 6-foot-8 forward, gave Virginia a jump on the class of 2005. The signing of Soroye, a 6-10 Nigerian, completed a highly regarded class of 2004 that also includes forward Adrian Joseph and point guard Sean Singletary.

Last year’s freshman class, led by guards J.R. Reynolds and T.J. Bannister, played a big part in Virginia’s late-season success. Eight players return, including Smith, whose surgery appears to have gone well, Gillen said.

“We feel that we’re on an uptick, we’ve just got to continue that momentum we started,” Gillen said. “It wasn’t great momentum, but some momentum at the end of the season.

“Our job now is to take the next step, get back to the NCAA tournament and try to do some damage.”
 

UVa coach relies on Dobies
Brian O'Connor is hoping for a dominating performance from Andrew Dobies.
By Doug Doughty

In search of its first baseball victory in 16 days, Virginia will turn to a pitcher who hasn't won since April9.

First-year coach Brian O'Connor has altered the rotation that resulted in an abbreviated appearance in the ACC Baseball Tournament and will return left-hander Andrew Dobies to his customary Friday night spot.

Dobies (6-2) will be opposed by right-hander Ross Ohlendorf (6-3) when top-seeded UVa plays fourth-seeded Princeton at 7 p.m. in the first NCAA baseball tournament game to be held in Charlottesville.

Second-seeded Vanderbilt (42-17) and third-seeded George Mason (39-17) will start double-elimination play at 3 p.m. at sold-out Davenport Field.

Virginia had hopes of serving as a regional host when it finished second in the ACC during the regular season, but hopes were dimmed when the Cavaliers lost both of their games in the league tournament last week.

"I don't know that it was a surprise," O'Connor said. "I did some investigating before Sunday and looked at what our RPI was and, even after the conference tournament, it was still really, really high."

Virginia was the only ACC team that did not play over the final weekend of the regular season, but O'Connor rejects the theory that the Cavaliers (42-13) had lost their edge after winning 21 of their previous 25 games.

"Our kids played as hard in the ACC Tournament as we did all year," O'Connor said. "We lost two ballgames [each by one run] in the fashion we had won in the past. When you play so many close games, the fact is, you can't win 'em all."

ACC player of the year Joe Koshansky was on the mound for the Cavaliers' ACC Tournament opener against Duke. After giving up four runs in the third inning, he did not return following a two-hour, 43-minute rain delay.

Dobies pitched UVa's second game in the ACC Tournament, exiting in the eighth inning with the Cavaliers leading North Carolina State 4-3 in a game the Wolfpack would win 6-5. Dobies has a 6.43 ERA over his last five starts, but he was 6-0 and had a 2.22 ERA in his first 10 starts

"The first game is critical in the NCAA Regional," O'Connor said. "Andrew Dobies is capable of a dominating performance. That's what you need the first night. Quite frankly, when you look at our top three starters, their numbers are very, very similar. All three have done tremendous things, but Dobies is the kid who has been more dominating at times."

Dobies has struck out 102 batters in 101 1/3 innings, but Ohlendorf has an even better ratio, with 73 strikeouts in 59 innings, for the Tigers (27-18). Ohlendorf is expected to go in the early rounds of the draft starting Monday.

Another Princeton junior, 6-foot-5 outfielder B.J. Szymanski, is projected by Baseball America for the 16th pick in the first round. Another player in the Charlottesville field, Vanderbilt left-handed pitcher Jeremy Sowers, is projected as the ninth pick.

Koshansky, a senior, could be joined in the draft by Dobies and another UVa junior, shortstop Mark Reynolds. O'Connor will not be left unprepared, having added two shortstops during the spring signing period, including Patrick Wingfield from Handley High in Winchester.

Reynolds has struck out 58 times, a team high, but he has 34 career home runs, "and for college position players, it's really thin out there in the draft," O'Connor said. "Mark's a middle infielder with power, and there are very few kids in the country who possess that."
 

Home plate's full
No seats are left as Cavaliers try to punch ticket to next round
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 4, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The first NCAA Division I baseball regional to be played at a school in this state sold out yesterday, about 24 hours before the start of the double-elimination affair.

"It's going to be a great atmosphere," third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said Wednesday at the University of Virginia's Davenport Field.

The four-team regional begins today when second-seeded Vanderbilt (42-17) and third-seeded George Mason (39-17) meet at 3 p.m. Top-seeded U.Va. (42-13) and fourth-seeded Princeton (27-18) follow at 7 p.m. Virginia last advanced to the NCAA tournament in 1996.

For the Cavaliers, tonight's game is their first since the ACC tournament. Virginia entered that tourney as the No. 2 seed but barely had time to unpack its bags before being eliminated. The Cavs went 0-2 in Salem, losing by one run each time.

"We were disappointed at the way we left, but I don't think any- body was discouraged," said senior Joe Koshansky, the ACC player of the year. "We were actually happy that we had more baseball to play. We couldn't say that in past years."

Senior closer Canon Hickman, an Atlee High graduate, took the loss in Virginia's final game in Salem. N.C. State rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth and won 6-5.

"You have to look at the positives to everything," Hickman said, "and I think one positive from what happened in the ACC tournament is we're hungry."

Zimmerman agreed.

"It's definitely motivating us to prove ourselves this weekend," he said.

Davenport Field seats only 2,430, including the temporary bleachers that were installed last month, but players don't consider it a small ballpark. Check out its dimensions: 352 feet down each line and 408 to center.

"The park is a definite advantage for us," Zimmerman said. "People are going to come in here and try and hit home runs, and that doesn't work too well here. It plays right into our game, which is why we've been so successful here this year."

ACC coach of the year Brian O'Connor, who's in his first season at Virginia, said Davenport's size is "only a factor if we make it a factor: if we throw strikes, make the other team put the ball in play, use our big ballpark to our advantage and play the type of game offensively that we traditionally do. That's bunt, put pressure on the other team, hit and run and do those kinds of things.

"Obviously the biggest advantage is you're dressing in your own locker room, you're sleeping in your own beds and you've got 2,500 fans behind you."

Not all of the fans, of course, will be pulling for the Cavaliers, but history suggests Virginia will enjoy a decided home-field advantage. Of the 16 regional hosts in last year's NCAA tournament, 10 advanced to the second weekend.

Princeton is likely to start ace Ross Ohlendorf tonight. The junior right-hander is expected to be a first-round pick in next week's major-league draft. O'Connor will go with Andrew Dobies, a second-team all-ACC choice.

The junior left-hander is 6-2 with a 3.38 earned-run average. But Dobies hasn't won since April 9.

He gave up 10 hits and four runs in seven innings against N.C. State in Salem. Koshansky and the rest of Virginia's staff struggled at the ACC tourney, too.

"If our pitchers come out and throw like they're capable of doing, I think we have a real good shot," Koshansky said.
 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jun 3, 2004

INTEREST HIGH: As of late yesterday afternoon, fewer than 200 ticket booklets remained for this weekend's NCAA baseball regional at Virginia's Davenport Field.

If the booklets sell out today, as expected, single-game tickets will not be available for the four-team regional, which begins tomorrow and runs through Sunday.

Ticket booklets ($36 for reserved seats, $24 for general admission) may be purchased on-line at www.virginiasports.com. They're also available at the Bryant Hall ticket office and by calling (800) 542-8821 or (434) 924-8821 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

GOING, GOING . . . Virginia sold a school-record 36,225 season tickets for football in 2003. The school already has exceeded that figure this year and expects to sell the full allotment of 39,000 season tickets.

The Cavaliers open their fourth season under coach Al Groh on Sept. 4 against Temple in Philadelphia.

HELP WANTED: Men's basketball coach Pete Gillen has two openings on his staff, including one for an assistant. He's courting East Carolina's Greg Herenda, with whom he met early last week.

"I think we had a good visit with Greg," Gillen said. "Nothing's been offered yet. I have other coaches I'm going to talk to. We just want to get the right guy, and I think we will."

Herenda's boss at ECU is Bill Herrion, whose brother Tommy, now coach at the College of Charleston, worked for Gillen at Virginia. Herenda hasn't returned phone calls seeking comment, but several sources said he's concerned about Gillen's job security at U.Va.

Like the Herrion brothers, Herenda graduated from Merrimack (Mass.) College. He's been an assistant at ECU, Yale, Seton Hall, Holy Cross, Merrimack and the University of Lowell.

"Obviously we don't want to lose him, because he is an important part of our program," Bill Herrion told the Greenville (N.C.) Daily Reflector. "He's not only a great basketball coach, but he's also a great guy in the community that's well-liked . . . Hopefully we can do what we need to do to convince him to stay."

Gillen is also looking for a director of basketball operations. Candidates include College of Charleston assistant Mark Byington, a former graduate student manager at U.Va. under Gillen.

ONE OF A KIND: Terry Holland, former athletic director and men's basketball coach at U.Va., fondly recalls Doyle Smith's retirement dinner at the Rotunda.

"Doyle was immovable concerning his desire to not only pay for his retirement dinner but to make sure that it was done just in the way that he wished it to be done," Holland said.

After the guests presented Mr. Smith "with the typical farewell gifts," Holland said, "he topped us all by giving everyone in attendance an engraved silver box. And he paid for everything."

Smith, who worked for more than 30 years in Virginia's athletic media relations department and became a legend in the world of lacrosse, died in his sleep Tuesday morning.

IN THE CREASE: The 2004 season was one to forget for the U.Va. men's lacrosse team as a whole and for Joe Yevoli and John Christmas in particular.

Virginia failed to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time in Dom Starsia's tenure as coach. Yevoli and Christmas struggled, too. As sophomore attackmen in 2003, they helped U.Va. capture the NCAA title, and each made the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's All-America second team.

The USILA announced its All-America teams Monday, and neither Yevoli nor Christmas, who also played midfielder this season, received even honorable mention. In 2003, they combined for 59 goals and 38 assists. They had 30 goals and 22 assists between them this season.

Three Cavaliers earned All-America recognition. Senior defenseman Brett Hughes repeated as a second-team pick, and senior goalie Tillman Johnson and sophomore attackman Matt Ward made the third team. Johnson was a first-team selection in 2003. - Jeff White
 

Va. football players not guilty of misdemeanors
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jun 2, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - University of Virginia football players Marques Hagans and Brandon Lee were found not guilty of misdemeanor charges yesterday in Albemarle County General District Court.

Hagans, a rising junior from Hampton, is expected to enter the coming season as U.Va.'s starting quarterback. Lee, a rising sophomore, is a walk-on defensive back from Williamsburg.

Each was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct April 28 after an on-campus incident in which former U.Va. defensive back Jamaine Winborne was shot in the leg.

Defensive back Kenneth Tynes, a rising sophomore from Clifton whose future in the U.Va. football program is uncertain, was charged with vandalism April 28. Tynes, accused of throwing a chair through a dorm window near the shooting scene, was found not guily of that misdemeanor charge May 21 in Albemarle General District Court.

Upset that Winborne had been shot, Hagans, Lee and Tynes had refused to leave the crime scene and were arrested.

An Albemarle judge last week certified a malicious-wounding charge against Aaron Joshua Robinson, the U.Va. student accused of shooting Winborne. A grand jury will consider Robinson's case Monday. - Jeff White