Brian O'Connor and UVa Agree to Three-Year Contract Extension
The three-year extension takes the Virginia baseball coach's contract through the 2012 season.
June 10, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage announced on Sunday (June 10) that the University and head baseball coach Brian O'Connor have agreed to a three-year extension of O'Connor's contract. The extension takes the contract through the 2012 season.

"I'm pleased by our baseball program's progress during the past four years," Littlepage said. "Brian O'Connor has done a tremendous job. I believe he's pleased with the program's development and the support he's received as our head baseball coach.

"We've had discussions over the past few weeks and I'm delighted we're in agreement that Brian will be our head coach through the 2012 season. This is great news for Virginia baseball."

O'Connor came to Virginia in July of 2003 after being a member of the Notre Dame baseball coaching staff for nine years. His four UVa teams have compiled an overall record of 177-66 (.728 winning percentage) and the Cavaliers have won at least 41 games each season under O'Connor's direction. Virginia has participated in the NCAA Tournament each of the last four seasons and has hosted an NCAA Regional three of the last four years.

"I'm excited to be the Virginia baseball coach for many years to come," O'Connor said. "The University of Virginia continues to be 100 percent committed to having a national caliber baseball program.

"I'm very proud of the success our baseball program has experienced during the last four years and I'm excited about the 2008 season. We have a talented nucleus of players returning and a group of recruits who will be successful in our program."

The Cavaliers finished the 2007 season with an overall record of 45-16, including a 19-9 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Virginia had a school-record five All-ACC selections in 2007, including three players named to the first team, and also had a school-record six players selected in the recent Major League Baseball draft.

O'Connor was the 2004 ACC Baseball Coach of the Year and earned 2006 College Baseball Foundation Coach of the Year honors.

Quartet of Cavs taken in draft
Lambert, Seabury, Mitchell, McAnaney selected on 2nd day
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 9, 2007

A recommendation from a friend goes a long way in the Major League Baseball draft.

Seeing a player in person, however, carries far more weight.

Apparently, Chicago Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry, who coached Virginia coach Brian O’Connor at Creighton, liked what he witnessed at Davenport Field on Saturday during the Charlottesville Regional.

After selecting Virginia outfielder Brandon Guyer on Thursday in the fifth round, the Cubs took another Cavalier on Friday - left-handed pitcher Casey Lambert, a former St. Anne’s-Belfield star, was picked in the sixth round with the 187th overall selection. Lambert and Guyer, who has one year of eligibility remaining, were drafted by an organization that already includes former UVa pitcher Matt Avery.

“I was actually expecting to go in the seventh round to the Orioles, and I was just sitting there watching the draft on my computer, and I wasn’t paying that much

attention … I looked away and then I saw my name on there,” said Lambert, who set the ACC record for saves in a career. “I was shocked. It is pretty cool to be on the same team that took Guyer.

“Depending on what he does, maybe we will be teammates again next year.”

O’Connor said he was excited for Lambert, a player that improved his stock immensely in the past year.

“Casey earned that selection for what he did in his career, and he is a legitimate big-league prospect,” the skipper said.

“I think the guy could pitch in the big leagues and the Cubs do, too.”

It took a few rounds after Lambert’s selection, but a host of Virginia’s players were eventually taken. Colorado selected two seniors, catcher Beau Seabury in the 13th round and outfielder Mike Mitchell in the 25th round.

“It will be nice to have a familiar face around,” Seabury said.

Mitchell added: “I think that would help us adjust a lot better if we are on the same team.”

Pat McAnaney, a junior at UVa, was also selected, going in the 38th round to Pittsburgh, the same team that drafted the left-handed pitcher out of high school.

“If you don’t develop as a player and work hard, you don’t have these opportunities,” said O’Connor, who also had first baseman Sean Doolittle get drafted in the first round by Oakland. “I am happy for them individually and I think it really helps our program.”

McAnaney said he would pitch this summer for Orleans in the Cape Cod League before making a decision.

“It is neat that someone picked me, and we will just have to see how things play out this summer,” McAnaney said. “I am pretty much in the same position I was in after high school … kind of a draft-and-follow.

“I am going to go through it one more time with Pittsburgh and see what happens.”

It is too early to tell, however, O’Connor said, what direction many of the drafted players that signed National Letters of Intent with Virginia will go.

Jake Cowan, a 6-foot-2 pitcher from Roswell, Ga., was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the 14th round. The Red Sox also used a pick in the 35th round to draft left-handed pitcher Sean Tierney. Robert Morey, a right-handed pitcher from Virginia Beach, was also selected, going to Tampa Bay in the 29th round. Right-handed pitcher Kevin Arico (Flemington, N.J.) was taken in the 45th round by the Twins.

While catcher Devin Mesoraco, who was taken in the first round by the Reds, is expected to sign a professional contract, many of the others have strong demands.

“I have said it before: I think they signed here for a reason,” O’Connor said. “They want to win a championship and they want to get a great degree. They know, as the draft is showing with our current players, if they come to the University of Virginia and work hard, they will have that opportunity in three or four years.”

Cowan said those were his thoughts exactly.

“I talked to the Red Sox guy that called me to congratulate me … but I had thrown a number [financially] out there and that is probably why I didn’t get picked in the third or fourth round,” Cowan said. “I threw out a very high number because I understand that Virginia is a great school and I didn’t know if I wanted to turn down that opportunity that I have at an excellent school like that.

“I know the coaches very well and I have been to the school five or six times, and if I go to college, the coaches there could even develop me into a first-rounder. I really trust them to do that for me.”

Teams have until Aug. 15, a new uniform date, to sign players to a contract, but Cowan’s window is even smaller.

“For me it is a little bit of a shorter time frame because I enrolled in a summer school program at Virginia,” he said. “I actually have orientation July 5 and I start classes July 9, so I can get ahead and get some hours in before my first semester.

“I have closer to three or four weeks before I have to make that decision.”

The Red Sox, who boast unlimited finances, have burned Virginia before. Last year, outfielder Ryan Kalish, a high school phenom, was selected in the ninth round only to be given a $600,000 signing bonus, a larger figure than most players taken around him.

“[The Red Sox] were one of the teams that thought that [my asking price] was a pretty good price range for them,” Cowan said, “but they have five or six cross-checkers and not all of them have seen me. I think I might have to throw a couple of times before they have to throw a number out there for us.”

 

Cavs endured a season of highs and lows
UVa set several records but ended the year with plenty of bumps, bruises
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 10, 2007

It was a 45-win season that included grand slams, late-inning heroics, eight shutouts and even a memorable hidden-ball trick.

En route to earning the highest ranking in program history, Virginia’s baseball team, already an ACC power, took yet another step toward the forefront of the national radar.

The Cavs, however, ran into a common roadblock: the Charlottesville Regional.

Unfortunately, the overriding story the third time around centered on the players who were sidelined, not those dressed in uniforms.

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor was forced to play the final two games of the season, a pair of season-ending losses to Oregon State, without the Nos. 1, 2 and 4 hitters from his usual batting order after injuries sidelined Greg Miclat, Brandon Marsh and Brandon Guyer.

“The ball has to bounce your way and you have to have a little bit of good fortune from an injury standpoint; we did not,” O’Connor said. “For some reason, the big guy upstairs is saying: ‘It is not your turn.’ We have to deal with that.”

It was the first time, with the exception of a few setbacks, that Virginia battled major roster-crippling injuries under O’Connor’s watch.

The biggest, as it turned out, was the loss of Miclat, who played almost every game in 2006 at shortstop.

Miclat, trying to be a sparkplug, played for small periods of the season at both corner spots on the infield, although he was typically relegated to being the team’s designated hitter. The speedy sophomore, who still swiped 32 bases and hit .376, tried everything possible to play before shutting it down in the middle of May, opting for labrum surgery with Dr. James Andrews.

“No discredit to [freshman Tyler Cannon], but the little guy that played shortstop last year and played there the first 10 ball games of the year is a great player and one of the best players on our field,” O’Connor said. “It is like asking the [Virginia] basketball team to play without Sean Singletary.

“That is what Greg Miclat means to this team; he is that kind of player.”

Jeremy Farrell, a highly regarded sophomore, was also limited in the middle of the season with an arm injury that kept him from being cleared to throw, leaving the slugger with limited at-bats in just 25 games.

Guyer and Marsh, after combining for 28 doubles and 11 homers, joined the injury report in the second game of the Charlottesville Regional.

Virginia, which finished 45-16 overall, still came within six outs of advancing to the Super Regionals, but its pitching staff, one that posted a league-best earned run average (3.18) in ACC play, proved it was human.

Despite stumbling at the finish, numerous Virginia players said they felt as though they went down fighting.

“It was an up-and-down season and we got bit by the injury bug at the end of the year, but we fought through most of everything we could,” said senior Casey Lambert, who set the ACC career saves record during the season. “We had our highest ranking ever around the midpoint of the season, and thanks to the coaching staff, my teammates and our style of baseball, it was fun.

“I think we were just as good this year as we were my previous three.”

Lambert and Virginia’s senior class, which included seven others, finished a four-year run that included 177 victories.

“That group of seniors has been the winningest class in the history of this program - going to four regionals, hosting three of them, is quite an accomplishment,” O’Connor said. “They should be proud of what they have done in this uniform.”

Virginia may also lose three members of its junior class - Sean Doolittle (Oakland), Guyer (Chicago Cubs) and Pat McAnaney (Pittsburgh) were drafted earlier this week - but the future appears bright on the surface.

Jacob Thompson, a sophomore, returns after emerging as the program’s ace on the mound, winning 11 games. He is not alone - seven pitchers that struck out 22 or more batters are expected back.

Offensively, the Cavaliers boast four underclassmen that registered at least 58 hits and will add former Monticello infielder Corey Hunt, who redshirted.

Throw in another stellar recruiting class and the pieces could be in place for yet another run at Omaha, Neb.

“We had very high expectations for us to make it past this year’s regional,” said senior outfielder Mike Mitchell. “When it didn’t happen it kind of hurt … but the outgoing players realize that the teams after us are going have even more of an opportunity with the recruits that they have coming in.”

Playboy not as much fun as expected
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
June 9, 2007

Scattershooting around the local sports scene, while predicting that Sean Singletary will be wearing a Virginia uniform next season ...

Meanwhile, Virginia senior defensive end Chris Long has been named to the Playboy All-America football team.

We couldn’t help but chuckle when Chris’s dad, Howie Long, told us that Chris thought he was going to the Playboy Mansion for the photo shoot, but not so lucky.

“We had to break it to him that the mansion is in Bel Air (Calif.) and not in Phoenix, where the photo is taken,” Howie said.

When Howie broke the news to Chris, he got the answer one might expect:

“Oh,” the senior Wahoo said.

We also couldn’t help but chuckle when we thought about another former Cavalier who was invited out for the Playboy photo shoot one summer, former free safety Anthony Poindexter, now one of the Virginia coaches.

Dex’s mom, a very religious lady, was more than concerned when she heard her son was heading out to Playboy for a football photo shoot. She said something about how there was no way her son was going out there and running around naked for a football photo.

Dex assured her that neither he, nor anyone else at the photo shoot, would be naked and so he went on out for the photo.

Longing for another season

Meanwhile, there’s no questioning how much Chris Long loves his teammates and wants to put Cavalier football back on the map this season.

He could have easily gone pro after his junior year and joined the NFL Draft this past April, but he decided to stick it out another year.

From all the NFL scouts and front office personnel we talked to about Long, we kept hearing the following comments:

“Best technique in college football, best motor in college football, best defensive end in the ACC,” the NFL execs and scouts told us.

In their estimation, Long would have been selected somewhere between Nos. 15 and 40 in the draft, which bodes well for him next April because this should be his best year yet.

Final chance today

Normally I don’t plug a lot of things in this column, but I believe in this one so strongly that I couldn’t resist.

If you read our story in April about UVa basketball coach Dave Leitao endorsing local Brownies Troop 145 and its quest to collect new items for wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital in D.C., then you can still help.

The Brownies will be at the Girl Scout Center today (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) on Greenbrier (across the street from the 7-Eleven and beside the Super 8 hotel) to accept donations of items (they cannot accept cash or checks).

Commander John Chui from the National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville has received approval for soldiers to come down from D.C. to transport all items collected for their wounded comrades at Walter Reed, which Leitao and the Cavaliers basketball team visited in February.

Chui will be leaving for the Middle East on Sunday, so this would be a great going-away present in his honor as well.

So far, the second-graders have raised more than 400 items but would like to double that today.

Here’s what they need (remember, all items must be new except for CDs and DVDs): athletic shoes; slide-on slippers or shoes; electric or traditional razors; gas cards (for family); umbrellas; CDs and DVDs; soaps, cologne, shaving cream, toiletries (keep in mind there are also wounded female soldiers); loose-fitting sweats or pants with snaps or zippers down the leg; stationery items and stamps; international phone cards (500-800 minutes); food treats (must be prepackaged and non-perishable); gift cards to major stores, food chains, gas stations (the Brownies cannot accept cash or checks).

Coach Leitao and the Cavaliers thank you, the Brownies thank you, and I thank you.

 

June 4, 2007
Chris Wallace
CavsCorner.com Publisher

As discussed in a column on this site last month, the decision by Sean Singletary to submit his name for the NBA draft was the proper one. But now, the 6-foot, 180-pounder has just two weeks to make a more important decision – whether to stay in the draft or whether to return to UVa for his senior season.

Singletary spent last week competing in the NBA's Orlando Pre-draft Camp, and at this point, at least on the surface, his decision would appear to be easy.

By all accounts, it was a tough week for Singletary, who drew poor reviews for his play and whose draft stock has probably only dropped.

Heading into the week, most considered Singletary a player who would likely be taken in the second round, but he was also a guy who had been tagged as a player who could play his way into the first round with a strong showing in Orlando.

But now, being a second-round pick looks to be the best-case scenario, with a strong possibility existing that Singletary won't get selected at all.

According to sources close to the situation, Singletary hasn't decided what he will do, but one has to wonder what he's waiting for at this point.

Certainly several NBA teams will want to work Singletary out in the coming weeks, and those workouts could help him enhance his value in the eyes of some teams.

But there's a catch.

If Singletary wants to maintain the opportunity to return to UVa, the costs associated with attending any such workouts must be taken care of by him and his family. And traveling around the country can get expensive in a hurry.

I spoke with one source, who wished to remain anonymous, and they cited Singletary's decision-making and defense as his two biggest detriments. We're also told that NBA personnel have concerns about his size and the fact that he has been injury-prone in his college career.

There's no question that Singletary can shoot the ball, and he's as quick as they come. But those attributes alone don't equate to an NBA career.

The funny thing is that if Singletary returns to Virginia for his final season, he'll likely be named a first-team preseason All-American by more than one publication.

And with a solid senior year, he could achieve that lofty status, as well as have his No. 44 jersey retired by the Cavaliers.

But that still might not make him a first-rounder next season, which in some ways complicates the decision he'll have to make in the next two weeks.

As a college basketball fan, it continues to amaze just how different the pro game is, especially when it comes to guard play. But at this point it shouldn't.

ACC fans have seen conference greats like Rodney Monroe, Randolph Childress, Trajan Langdon, J.J. Redick and others fail to make even a remote impact in the "League."

Obviously Redick still has time, but I'm not holding my breath.

And now there's Singletary, one of the college game's most exciting players and twice a first-team All-ACC selection.

But he's earning reviews like: "He has a lot of intriguing tools, but he probably isn't an NBA point guard at this stage of his development," from draftexpress.com.

The harsh reality appears to be that the hope of being a first-round pick, which includes a three-year guaranteed contract worth millions, appears to have flown out the window.

So at this point, the question becomes what are the chances that Singletary can make an NBA roster right now?

Our source said, "Not that good."

With June 18 coming fast, Singletary has to lean on the people he trusts and dig down deep inside to decide what's best for his future.

And for a player who is as proud and confident as Singletary, the last week must have been a tough one.

As stated in the aforementioned column last month, I always hoped that he would return to school if for no other reason than to be in the stands when his senior night arrives next year.

But now I hope he returns for another reason, because I believe staying in the draft would be a terrible career move.

The clock is ticking … we'll see what happens.

 

Vick case: Silence is golden
David Teel
June 10 2007

Michael Vick and Gerald Poindexter. Davon Boddie and Clinton Portis. Tommy Reamon and animal- rights advocates.

All embroiled in Vick's latest legal scrape need to follow Larry Woodward's example and, for the sake of all concerned, hush up.

Woodward is Vick's Virginia Beach-based attorney, a gig that's sadly become 24-7. And bless his on-retainer heart, Woodward shuns the attention most celebrity lawyers crave.

No cable cameos with Nancy Grace to gin up business. No talk-radio chats with Dan Patrick to stroke his ego. Heck, Woodward rarely returns media phone calls, and when he does, it's usually to offer a polite "no comment," a brush-off we jackals can handle and occasionally appreciate.

Imagine that - having the patience and prudence to reserve comment until facts are clear. If only others acted similarly.

Start with No. 7 himself, the Atlanta Falcons quarterback from Newport News and Virginia Tech, one of professional football's highest-paid athletes.

In late April, Hampton police arrested Boddie, a cousin of Vick's, for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. Boddie's address was a Surry County home owned by Vick, and a subsequent search discovered evidence of dogfighting, a felony in 48 states, Virginia included, and a categorically grotesque practice.

Vick promptly told ESPN that he's "never" at the Surry site, a dubious claim best left unsaid. He denied any involvement in dogfighting but conceded a rash of bad publicity has reached critical mass.

"It's time for me to grow up," he said.

Perfect. Leave it there. But no, departing a team function a few weeks later, Vick spoke with an Atlanta television reporter.

Reporter: "Are you concerned at all that your image has been tarnished a little or do you feel like that reaction shows that you still got support?

Vick: "Man, I still got support. Everywhere I go all around the world people still support Mike Vick. So, regardless of what I go through, people still gonna love me, man. You know, it's all good. I ain't worried about that. My job is to win football games."

The smugness and stupidity oozing from those words defy belief, especially considering Vick's recent entanglements - see "Ron Mexico" and "airport security."

Not that Vick has the market cornered on imprudent remarks.

Poindexter, Surry County's part-time and sole commonwealth's attorney, continues to undermine his case and credibility.

In interviews with myriad outlets, he sounds like hard-boiled Eliot Ness one moment and bumbling Barney Fife the next.

This week Poindexter, who's running for re-election in November, shamelessly played the race card - he and Vick are black - when federal authorities intervened in the matter.

"There's something awful going on here," Poindexter told the Associated Press. "I don't know if it's racial. I don't know what it is."

Gracious, didn't Poindexter learn from the Mike Nifong-Duke lacrosse debacle? Trying cases through the media is a fool's errand.

As is defending yourself, sans attorney, in front of a television camera. Boddie's rambling 11-minute interview with WAVY this week ranged from tragic to comic.

"Everything's a conspiracy, man," he said. "There's no telling what they'll do to make my people look bad."

Asked about the dozens of pit bulls found at his residence, Boddie responded: "I got a little French poodle. That's all I know."

Then we have the periphery weighing in. Portis, a Washington Redskins running back, told WAVY that dogfighting "can't be too bad of a crime" and that if Vick wants to participate, "people should mind their business." He later apologized.

Reamon, Vick's high school coach, accused media of "trying to destroy" Vick, a tired, transparent and bogus claim. California congressman Tom Lantos, the Humane Society of the United States, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals mounted their high horses, demanding swift and harsh sanctions, with little or no regard to Vick's innocence or guilt.

The noise is enough to make you reach for the earplugs or jet off to tropical seclusion. Silence, in this case, truly is golden.