Tech, UVa each listed with 10 off rivals’ Top 100
Tar Heels reloading quickly
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Although 15 of the Top 100 already have made oral commitments, none has committed to Virginia Tech or Virginia. Of course, these are Top 100 players we’re talking about, but UVa must have had a dozen commitments overall at this time a year ago, as opposed to one this year.

Virginia has shown it can get involved with the top players in New York and New Jersey, but has lost much of its strength in Maryland, where the Hokies have continued to maintain a presence. Tech, too, has received a good reception in New Jersey, as well as Pennsylvania.

Tech and UVa are both listed with the No. 88 prospect on the rivals.com list, linebacker Brandon Spikes from Shelby, N.C., but Tech’s push into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia isn’t necessarily being felt at the highest levels.

Tech and UVa are listed with 10 players apiece on the Top 100, including seven players who are considering both schools:

> No. 1 Percy Harvin, a 6-foot-1, 188-pound wide receiver from Landstown High School in Virginia Beach.

> No. 4 LeSean McCoy, a 5-11, 204-pound running back from Harrisburg, Pa.

> No. 20 Vidal Hazelton, a 6-2, 194-pound wide receiver from Staten Island, N.Y.

> No. 40 Chris Bell, a 6-3, 205-pound wide receiver from Granby High School in Norfolk.

> No. 55 Brandon Caleb, a 6-1, 194-pound wide receiver from Richmond by way of the undergraduate team at Fork Union.

> Spikes, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound linebacker and defensive end.

> No. 100 Knowshon Moreno, a 5-11, 205-pound running back from Middletown (N.J.) South High School.

(Based on their national rankings, Harvin, Bell and Caleb would be rivals.com’ s No. 1, 2 and 3 prospects in Virginia. If that stands up, almost certainly it would be the first time that the state’s top three prospects were all wideouts.)

Players reportedly considering UVa but not Tech are No. 5 Carl Johnson, a 6-6, 235-pound offensive lineman from Durham (N.C.) Southern; No. 90 Pat Devlin, a quarterback from Downingtown, Pa., and No. 91 Maurice Evans, a 6-3, 245-pound defensive end from Middle Village, N.Y.

Players said to be considering Tech but not UVa are No. 37 Jared Orick, a 6-5, 303-pound from Mount Lebanon, Pa.; No. 63 A.J. Wallace, a 6-1, 195-pound from Pomfret, Md., and No. 73 Akeem Hebron from Good Counsel in Gaithersburg, Md. (I’ve subsequently heard that Orick may have UVa on his list).

Maryland already has received a commitment from the top prospect in Maryland, No. 16 Antonio Logan-El, a 6-4, 307-pound offensive lineman from Forestville, Md., although Logan-El said he is continuing to look at Penn State, Florida, Illinois, Boston College and Oklahoma.

Logan-El apparently did not enjoy himself at the Nike All-Star Camp in April at Virginia Tech, through no fault of the Hokies, it turns out.

The subject was raised when an interviewer for rivals.com asked about a one-day camp this weekend at Maryland.

“I’m not sure if I’ll participate because I had a bad experience at the Virginia Tech camp when one of the kids dove at my ankle, so I don’t know if I want to take that risk,” Logan-El said.

The only other Top 100 prospect to commit to an ACC school is 95th-ranked Josh Holmes, a 6-foot, 260-pound defensive tackle from Point Loma High School in San Diego.

Texas has commitments from four Top 100 players, not surprising given coach Mack Brown’s recruiting prowess, and Michigan and Notre Dame have two apiece, not that anybody doubted the Fighting Irish’s ability to recruit — under new coach Charlie Weis or even predecessor Tyrone Willingham.

CRAIG BREHORN, boys’ basketball coach at Bethel High School in Hampton, said Friday that North Carolina has expressed heightened interest in Willard “Duke” Crews, a 6-7, 225-pound forward who transferred to Bethel after playing for Phoebus as a sophomore.

Crews, rated the No. 62 prospect in the country in the Prep Stars Recruiter’s Handbook, has offers from Virginia Tech, Virginia, Clemson, Xavier, Georgetown and Old Domion, Brehorn said. Carolina, Maryland, N.C. State and Illinois are among the other schools that are recruiting him.

Brehorn said that former Virginia coach Pete Gillen made a scholarship offer to Crews, an offer that subsequently was reissued by successor Dave Leitao, “but I wouldn’t say Duke is any more interested than he was when coach Gillen was there,” Brehorn said. “All he’s said is that he likes the ACC.”

While Virginia Tech has not pulled its scholarship offer, the Hokies currently have committed all of their scholarships until the 2007-2008 recruiting class, although coach Seth Greenberg has said he will continue to evaluate the current junior class.

Crews took an official visit to Xavier this spring and plans to take 3-4 more in the fall, with the intention of making a November commitment. The connection to Xavier was through assistant coach Chris Mack, with whom Crews first became familiar when Mack was an assistant at Wake Forest.

NORTH CAROLINA already is assured a recruiting bonanza, with its latest commitment from 6-5 Wayne Ellington from Episcopal Academy in Merion Station, Pa. Ellington is rated the No. 3 prospect in the country by Prep Stars.

The Tar Heels also have commitments from No. 9 Tywon Lawson from Oak Hill Academy and No. 78 William Graves from Dudley High School in Greensboro, N.C., with Lawson’s teammate and fellow Baltimorean, No. 2 Kevin Durant, also considering the Tar Heels strongly.

Durant is said to be considering an early jump to the NBA, also viewed as a possibility for the nation’s No. 1 junior, Greg Oden, a 7-foot center from Indianapolis who has Ohio State and Wake Forest at the top of a list that also includes Indiana and Michigan State.

The Tar Heels can’t expect to gain much ground on Duke, a likely preseason choice in the ACC this year with the return of seniors J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams. The Blue Devils have commitments from three of the nation’s top 25 recruits, No. 14 Jon Scheyer, No. 17 Gerald Henderson and No. 23 Brian Zoubek.

Red Storm surge past Virginia
Hensen's strong outing sends Cavs to loser's bracket
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 4, 2005

CORVALLIS, Ore. - In many ways it felt like deja vu.

Of course the opponent was different and the venue was on the opposite coast, but Virginia’s baseball team got the same end result - a two-run loss in its opening game of the NCAA Tournament.

For the second straight year, the Cavaliers dropped their opener in the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed as they were out dueled again by one of the top prospects in the country.

St. John’s closer-turned-starter, Craig Hensen, worked seven strong innings, lifting the Red Storm to a 5-3 win over Virginia in the Corvallis Regional at Goss Stadium on the campus of Oregon State.

Virginia (41-19) falls into the loser’s bracket of the four-team, double-elimination regional with the setback. The Cavaliers must now win today at 4 p.m. against Ohio State, twice on Sunday and one more time on Monday if they are to advance to a Super Regional.

“I think it was a great game,” said St. John’s coach Ed Blankmeyer, whose team improved to 40-16. “To ask [Hensen] to start after not starting for two years, I think it speaks volumes for what the kid did. He picked the team up in a time of need.

“When we got the bid to the NCAA Tournament, I said to Craig ‘you may be getting that ball in game one.’ He said ‘I’m ready. Give me the ball.’”

Hensen found himself in a jam in the third inning with the game scoreless.

With Virginia centerfielder Tim Henry on base at second and one out in the frame, St. John’s elected to intentionally walk Ryan Zimmerman and pitch to Sean Doolittle.

“I have been in that situation before,” said Doolittle, of the intentional walk. “When they do that you have to be aggressive because you know that they are going to come right at you.”

Hensen left his first pitch to Doolittle up in the zone and the freshman ripped it over the head of St. John’s centerfielder Greg Thomson, giving UVa an early 2-0 lead.

“I think that is one of the few mistakes that Hensen made early in the ballgame,” Doolittle said. “I put the barrel on it and drove it into the outfield.”

Pitching with the lead, UVa starter Matt Avery worked a scoreless fourth but soon after, the seams started to unravel for the junior.

Avery opened the fifth inning by hitting Chris Joachim with a pitch. After getting an out, Avery gave up four straight singles, which accounted for two runs and left the bases loaded.

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor turned to Doolittle, the Cavaliers’ top option out of the bullpen the entire season.

Doolittle threw four consecutive pitches that missed the strike zone, which walked in the go-ahead run, giving the Red Storm a 3-2 lead.

Doolittle threw two more balls to the next batter, but worked out of the jam by getting a fly ball to left and pop up to first in foul territory.

Virginia tied the game at 3 in the bottom half of the inning on a sac fly to right field by Zimmerman, which plated Henry.

St. John’s regained the lead for good when they scratched out two runs off Doolittle in the sixth off four singles, the last of which came from P.J. Antoniato and plated both runs.

“When I made the decision to go to Sean Doolittle when I did, I felt that momentum was swinging to their side,” O’Connor said. “I put this kid in every situation this entire year and he has responded very, very well. Unfortunately, I think Sean ran out of gas a little bit.”

Virginia chased Hensen from the game in the eighth and managed to load the bases, but senior Kyle Werman hit a ground ball to second that turned into an inning-ending double play.

“Those are the situations you dream about,” O’Connor said. “The kid made a good pitch to Werman and that is baseball. Unfortunately, he hit it right at the second baseman and they were able to turn the double play.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Matt Street walked with one out, but St. John’s pitcher Anthony Sullivan struck out Zimmerman swinging and forced Doolittle to ground out to end the game.

For the game, Virginia managed eight hits, but the Cavaliers left 10 runners on base as Hensen and a trio of relievers for the Red Storm worked out of a number of jams.

The loss leaves Virginia in a must-win situation, something that is all too familiar for UVa in the NCAAs. Last year, the Cavaliers lost their opening game to Princeton, 4-2, in the Charlottesville Regional, as the Tigers started one of the top prospects and an eventual third-round draft pick by the Diamondbacks, Ross Ohlendorf.

“Princeton had a very good ballclub and unfortunately we dropped a hard-fought loss in the opening game last year,” O’Connor said. “St. John’s had a guy on the mound today that will probably be one of the first 10 picks in the Major League Baseball draft next week. Hensen throws up to 96 miles per hour, he has a great slider and he did a great job of pitching deep into the game.”

Virginia’s pitching staff, which entered the game with a 2.73 earned run average, allowed 11 hits and six walks.

“What we didn’t do, is that we didn’t match them, quite frankly, on the mound,” O’Connor said. “We walked too many batters.”

Cavalier baseball notebook
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
June 4, 2005

CORVALLIS, Ore. - The spotlight and the radar guns were on St. John's pitcher Craig Hansen on Friday and he showed just why.

The flame-throwing junior from St. John's, who was the Big East Pitcher of the Year, clocked in as high as 97 miles per hour on a fastball and as high as 88 on a slider as he helped the Red Storm pull off a 5-3 upset win over Virginia, the second-seeded team in the Corvallis Regional.

Hansen scattered eight hits over seven innings and allowed three earned runs in his first starting performance since his freshman season.

Virginia slugger Ryan Zimmerman, who entered the game batting .399, said Hansen came right at the Cavaliers.

"There were no surprises," Zimmerman said. "We all knew what was coming and he still did a good job of pitching deep into the game. He obviously wasn't as overpowering as he would be if he came out of the bullpen for the last inning or so, but he did what he had to do."

LAST START FOR AVERY?: Matt Avery's 4.1 innings of work on the mound on Friday against St. John's may prove to be the final pitching performance of the junior's career at UVa.

Avery will be eligible for the first-year player draft that starts on Tuesday and said earlier this week that he is uncertain what direction he will go when drafted.

St. John's chased Avery from the game in the fifth inning as the right-hander allowed four consecutive singles.

Avery worked out of jams in early stages of the game, which had Virginia coach Brian O'Connor concerned and ready to go to his bullpen early.

"I think Avery was pitching good enough to get out of the innings," said O'Connor, of Avery's work prior to the fourth. "I knew early on that it was going to be a matter of time before Sean Doolittle was in the game on the mound.

"In those first four innings, Matt did walk three batters and that is uncharacteristic of him. Two of the walks were on four pitches. I knew it was a matter of time before Sean was going to be in the game. Unfortunately, it was in a situation where the bases were loaded."

QUICK HITS: Virginia has now lost two straight games, the first of which came against Georgia Tech (4-3) in the title game of the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville. The last time that happened? UVa won nine straight games. ... Oregon State, the host of the regional, got a walk-off homer in the ninth inning on Friday to rally past Ohio State. ... UVa senior Jeff Kamrath is slated to start today on the mound against Ohio State at 4 p.m. in a loser leaves Corallis contest. ... Virginia left 10 runners on base against St. John's. ... The Cavaliers slipped to 0-17 on the season when trailing after the sixth inning.

- Jay Jenkins

Becoming a big hit on the diamond
O'Connor has U.Va. baseball program swinging for fences
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jun 3, 2005

To longtime observers of University of Virginia baseball, that the Cavaliers are in the NCAA tournament again is astounding. This is a program, after all, that until Brian O'Connor arrived, never made back-to-back appearances in the NCAAs.

To Sean Doolittle, it's not such a big deal.

"This is what I came here for," said Doolittle, a freshman first baseman and pitcher from Tabernacle, N.J., who last month was named to the all-ACC second team.

For decades, spring was the time for the Virginia men's lacrosse team to shine. Baseball stayed in the shadows. Junior Tom Hagan remembers his first year at U.Va., looking over at Klockner Stadium "on Saturdays when lacrosse was playing at the same time, and they had about 20 times more fans than we did. But that's changed a bit."

Indeed, capacity crowds are no longer uncommon at Davenport Field. Nor are memorable wins.

In 2004, its first season under O'Connor, U.Va. went 44-15, matching the school record for victories, and advanced to the NCAA tourney for the first time in eight years. At a school where the baseball team won 40 games in a season only once in the 20th century, Virginia did it again this year.

"That's going to be the goal," said junior third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, U.Va.'s best player. "We've done it two years in a row, and with the recruits that they're getting now, I don't see how it's going to change."

The 64-team NCAA tournament begins today at 16 sites. At Corvallis, Ore., second-seeded Virginia (41-18) meets third-seeded St. John's (39-16) at 3 p.m. Rounding out the regional are top-seeded Oregon State (41-9) and No.4 seed Ohio State (39-18).

The U.Va. players know next to nothing about Corvallis. They're not familiar with Omaha, Neb., either. But O'Connor believes the day will come when the Cavaliers reach the College World Series. The first trip to Omaha isn't likely to come this year, but Virginia has continued to lay the foundation for what it hopes will become one of the nation's elite programs.

U.Va. won eight of its final 11 regular-season games. Then, as the No.7 seed in the ACC tournament, the Wahoos knocked off N.C. State and Clemson (twice) to reach the championship game, where they fell to Georgia Tech.

"It was absolutely vital and critical that we performed down the stretch run like we did, and the run that we had in the ACC tournament is very important for where we want to take this program to," said O'Connor, who has been to the College World Series twice, as a Creighton pitcher in 1991 and as a Notre Dame assistant in 2002.

"I said it from Day One, when I arrived as the coach here, that I want to develop consistency in this program, and that's consistently having an opportunity to play in the NCAA tournament," O'Connor said. "Because when you have that and your players get to fight to go to Omaha every year, then sooner or later you kick that door in. But you have to get [to the NCAAs] consistently, and we did it. Our guys persevered and found a way to get it done at the end of the year."

In 2004, U.Va. played host to an NCAA regional for the first time. After losing their opener, the Cavs bounced back to win twice before falling to Vanderbilt.

"Last year, we were in uncharted waters by going to the NCAA tournament," O'Connor said. "Now, the players have had that experience. They know what it takes. They know the pressure of it . . . the urgency of our situation, and the level of competition: how hard it is to win the regional. It's going to be like going to the ACC tournament."

If so, that could bode well for Virginia. The NCAA field includes seven teams from the ACC.

"I think we proved a lot to ourselves and to a lot of other teams based on our performance in the ACC tournament," Doolittle said.

 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Jun 1, 2005

GLORY DAYS: The Virginia baseball team is in the midst of the greatest run in the program's history. In two seasons under coach Brian O'Connor, the Cavaliers have won 85 games. That's heady stuff at a school where the baseball team won 40 or more games in a season only once before O'Connor took over.
Centex

In 2004, Virginia (44-15) advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time in eight years. A year later, the Cavaliers (41-18) are back in the NCAAs, seeded No. 2 in the four-team regional at Corvallis, Ore.

U.Va. meets third-seeded St. John's (39-16) in the first round Friday at 3 p.m. Also in that regional are top-seeded Oregon State and fourth seed Ohio State.

This will be Virginia's fifth appearance in the NCAA tourney. The Cavaliers went 2-2 in 1972, 1-2 in 1985, 3-2 in 1996 and 2-2 last season.

IN THE CREASE: The All-America teams for men's lacrosse were released at the NCAA Final Four in Philadelphia. U.Va. placed two players on the second team and two on the third.

The Cavaliers' second-team selections were junior attackman Matt Ward, who was a third-team choice in 2004, and junior midfielder Kyle Dixon.

The All-America third team included long-stick midfielder Rob Bateman, who played as a graduate student this season, and junior defenseman Mike Culver. Also, junior defenseman Steve Holmes was an honorable-mention selection.

To the surprise of U.Va. coach Dom Starsia, senior attackman John Christmas did not receive even honorable mention.

Christmas, who Starsia said drew the opponent's top defenseman in every game this season, was a third-team All-American as a freshman in 2002 and a second-team pick in '03, when U.Va. won the NCAA title. He was the Cavaliers' second-leading scorer, behind Ward, this season and led the team in assists.

BOUND FOR C'VILLE: The Washington Post last week recognized U.Va. recruit Danny Glading as its player of the year in boys lacrosse. Glading, a senior at Georgetown Prep in Rockville, Md., is the school's career leader in points (274) and assists (156). His brother Billy is a former lacrosse standout at U.Va.

Another Virginia lacrosse recruit, Gavin Gill of St. Paul's, is a player-of-the-year candidate in the Baltimore area. Gill's brothers, Conor and Brendan, played at U.Va.

STRIKING A BARGAIN: Temple's move to the Mid-American Conference for football created scheduling problems for several teams, including Division I-A Middle Tennessee State.

Enter Virginia. In exchange for adding several games at Scott Stadium against MAC teams -- none of which have to be returned -- U.Va. agreed to play at Middle Tennessee State in 2007. The Cavaliers will receive $200,000 for the game, the Daily News Journal of Murfreesboro, Tenn., reported.

NEW AND DIFFERENT: Its profile is rising at the University of Connecticut, but football wasn't a huge deal during Dave Leitao's two stints as an assistant basketball coach at the Big East school. DePaul University, where Leitao was head coach for the past three seasons, has no football team. All of which means Leitao, who took over as U.Va.'s coach in April, will have to adjust to life at a school with a big-time football program.

"For me, it changes a lot," Leitao said. "It changes most every Saturday in the fall. It changes the thought process [in recruiting], it changes a little bit how you sell this university. But the unique thing about the three places I've been and here is, regardless of football, basketball remains very important. Football, obviously, is successful [at Virginia]. I think they do a terrific job, and I can't wait to watch a game and be part of the experience. But I also know that people are passionate about [basketball]."

One of Leitao's assistants, Rob Lanier, has some ideas about how to make a strong football team a positive for a school's basketball program. Lanier formerly was an assistant at Texas, and "obviously there's not a whole lot [of schools where football is] bigger than that," Leitao said.

LATE SURGE: U.Va., which came out of the winter 34th in the Directors' Cup standings, will finish considerably higher after a strong spring.

In NCAA competition, U.Va. finished second in women's lacrosse and second in women's rowing. In men's tennis, Virginia advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals. In women's golf, the Cavs placed 13th in the NCAA tourney. In men's lacrosse, Virginia advanced to the NCAA semifinals. The school also will earn Directors' Cup points for making the NCAA tourney in baseball. -- Jeff White