Road lightens pressure for U.Va. baseball team

U.VA. AT MISSISSIPPI
NCAA baseball

Game 1:Friday,2 p.m., ESPN2
Game 2:Saturday, noon, ESPN2
Game 3:Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPN (if necessary)

By Jeff White

Published: June 3, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The trip to Blacksburg didn't go so well, though it ended on a high note for the visitors, but the University of Virginia baseball team thoroughly enjoyed its recent stays in Durham, N.C., and Irvine, Calif.

Small wonder, then, that the Cavaliers are looking forward to the next stop on their postseason odyssey: Oxford, Miss.

"I think we prefer to play on the road," Steven Proscia said yesterday at Davenport Field. Asked why, the freshman third baseman answered, "I just think that it's going out there and wanting to make a statement."

In an NCAA tournament super regional, Mississippi (43-18) hosts U.Va. (46-12-1) in a best-of-three series that starts Friday afternoon in Oxford. The winner will move on to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series, a storied event in which only one school from this state has participated: James Madison University, in 1983.

The Cavaliers haven't played at home since May 12, when they beat Virginia Commonwealth University 4-1, and they won't play another game in Charlottesville until February. But the road has been good to Virginia, which is 17-6-1 away from Davenport Field this season.

After losing the first two games of the series in Blacksburg, U.Va. beat Virginia Tech in the regular-season finale. Then came a 4-0 run for Virginia at the ACC tourney in Durham, followed by three wins in three nights at the NCAA regional in Irvine.

"I think we're a great road team," said freshman John Hicks, a graduate of Goochland High. "We love going to places we haven't been to. It's a lot of fun."

Had Western Kentucky defeated Ole Miss on Monday night, Virginia would have hosted the Hilltoppers in a super regional. And that would have been fine with Cavaliers coach Brian O'Connor, whose team went 29-6 at Davenport this season. Still, O'Connor knows from experience that playing at home is no guarantee of success.

Virginia hosted opening-weekend regionals in the 2004,'06 and'07 NCAA tournaments. Each time the Cavaliers were eliminated.

"When you play at home, all the pressure is on you, because you are supposed to advance," O'Connor said yesterday. "There was a tremendous amount of pressure on [UC] Irvine this weekend, because they were the No. 1 team in the country, and they were hosting their first regional, and everybody just assumes, because you host, you're supposed to move on.

"Are the odds a lot greater, when you do host a super regional, that you move on? Sure. Six out of eight teams every year at Omaha hosted super regionals. But for this team, I think it's good that we're going on the road. I think they've had that attitude all year long, that they have something to prove, and I think they're comfortable away from here."

Ole Miss' stadium is one of the largest in college baseball, and the Rebels drew nearly 8,300 fans Monday night.

To play in front of a crowd that size, O'Connor said, is a "real advantage for Ole Miss. But with that comes pressure, and our team this whole year, I've never sensed from the players that they've really felt pressure.

"Quite frankly, I think they've been a lot more relaxed than their coach has, and they're the ones that need to do the playing. Hopefully going on the road and continuing to try to prove ourselves is something that will be beneficial to us."
 

Road assignments offer opportunities for Cavaliers
By Paul Woody
Published: June 3, 2009

Everyone knows you need to be careful what you wish for because you just might get it.

Few realize you also need to be careful about your complaints. You might look a little silly when all is said and done.

When the University of Virginia baseball team received its bracket pairing for the NCAA tournament, the Cavaliers' supporters listed complaints that outnumbered compliments.

The Cavaliers had to travel to California to play in the Irvine Regional. They were going to face the best pitcher in college baseball, Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State, in the first game.

They had to face the No.1-ranked team in the country, UC Irvine, at some point in the double-elimination event.

Plus, the players' parents were upset. You can't get to California from the East Coast on a moment's notice.

Virginia coach Brian O'Connor called it an "unbelievable opportunity."

O'Connor knew what he was talking about.

The Cavaliers went 3-0 at Irvine. They advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament for the first time.

When they flew home from their West Coast weekend, they were so buoyant they really didn't need a plane.

But it helped to have one.

"It was a very, very good thing being sent [to California]," O'Connor said.

Virginia beat Strasburg. They beat UC Irvine twice, thus eliminating the team with the best nickname, Anteaters, in the field.

The Cavaliers have become the team to watch in the tournament.

"There is no question we believe in ourselves and that we can accomplish anything," O'Connor said.

The Cavaliers could be a team of destiny. Stranger things have happened.

Now, the Cavaliers must travel to Oxford, Miss., to play the University of Mississippi this weekend in a best of three-game super regional. This is Virginia's first trip to a super regional.

At stake is a berth in the eight-team, double-elimination College World Series in Omaha, Neb., which begins June 13.

Normally, it would be bad news to be back on the road. But the Cavaliers thrive in difficult circumstances.

There is no reason to think they will falter in the land of William Faulkner and Archie and Eli Manning.

Nothing bothers the Cavaliers.

"In previous years, when things haven't been going our way, you could sense panic and frustration," O'Connor said. "I haven't sensed that at all. There is an aura of confidence we haven't had here.

"The kids have a lot more confidence in their teammates. Things are centered around the team rather than individuals."

One thing can't be underestimated or overemphasized. O'Connor adjusted and did something very hard for a coach. He sat back and let his players play.

If O'Connor had been tightly wound or frustrated, it would have been easy for his freshmanand sophomore-dominated roster to be just as tightly wound and frustrated.

"Maybe it's experience," he said. "Maybe in the past, with more experienced clubs, I got frustrated and disappointed when we didn't have success immediately within a game.

"I'm more relaxed than I have been. I haven't screamed and hollered as much. This team has earned that."

The Cavaliers earned their spot in the super regional. Now their hope is for a trip to Omaha.

They needn't be careful about wishing for that.
 

U.Va.'s Cavs feeling confident over streak of baseball wins
Posted to: Sports
The Associated Press
© June 3, 2009
By Hank Kurz Jr.
CHARLOTTESVILLE

Unbeaten phenom Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State, touted as perhaps the best pitching prospect in college baseball history? Beaten.

Top-ranked UC-Irvine? Swept in two games on its home field.

Virginia's "regional hump" in the NCAA tournament, growing seemingly larger in each of the past five seasons as the Cavaliers failed to get past the first weekend? Gone.

For the first time in school history, the Cavaliers (46-12-1) are heading to the super regionals this weekend, playing a best-of-three series against host Mississippi at Oxford, Miss. The winner gains a spot in the eight-team College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

"Confidence-wise we're sky-high," said sophomore Phil Gosselin, who delivered the calling-card shot against Strasburg to get a magical weekend going for Virginia last Friday night.

Gosselin said the hardest part is waiting until Friday to play again, but when they do, pitcher Andrew Carraway said the confidence gained by recent victories will come along.

"These teams that we've already played, there's not going to be anything that we haven't seen. No surprises," Carraway said Tuesday as the Cavaliers worked out at home after returning from California on Monday night.

Besides, Carraway added, "we know what we can do as a team."

They've shown everyone else by winning eight straight, including four in a row to take the ACC title, sealed with a victory against top-seeded Florida State. They took the momentum to California in a 5-1 victory against Strasburg.

The stage and tone were set early when Cavaliers leadoff man Jarrett Parker made Strasburg throw more than a half-dozen pitches before striking out on a 3-2 changeup. The at-bat gave Gosselin a good look at the righty's stuff, and Gosselin hit the first pitch he saw for a home run.

"It just gave everybody a little confidence that we can hit this guy," Gosselin said.

They managed only one more run in Strasburg's seven innings and he struck out 15, but with Virginia Beach's Robert Morey going six shutout innings and the bullpen just as effective, Strasburg lost for the first time in 14 decisions this season, and Virginia had showed itself something.

"We got off the bus after the game thinking we just beat Stephen Straburg," Carraway said. "It's kind of been a running joke about how good he is. I mean, 'Who can beat us now?' "

As it turned out, UC-Irvine couldn't either as first Danny Hultzen (9-1) handcuffed the Anteaters over 7 1/3 innings in a 5-0 victory, then Carraway (7-1) worked the first seven innings Sunday, allowing just four hits as the Cavaliers advanced with a 4-1 victory.

Now, it's on to Mississippi, where the homestanding Rebels (43-18) beat Western Kentucky 4-1 on Monday night to reach their fourth super regional in five seasons.

Each victory during the winning streak has come away from Charlottesville, and coach Brian O'Connor said heading back out to play another powerhouse program is just fine with him.

"I think it's good that we're going on the road," said O'Connor, who has led the Cavaliers into the postseason in each of his six seasons as coach. "I think they've had the attitude all year that they have something to prove, and I think they are comfortable away from here.

"I don't think that there is anything that they are going to back down from."

Virginia feels the pressure is on Ole Miss, just like it was on UC-Irvine to advance at home as the host, while the Cavaliers will arrive as an underdog on a roll.

"We're playing our best baseball at the most important time of the year, and our confidence is at all all-time high," O'Connor said. "And it's not misplaced confidence because of what we gained coming out of the ACC tournament, and what we gained coming out of Irvine."

Virginia catcher Franco Valdes Jr., who guided a pitching staff that allowed just two runs in three games, and went 5 for 11 to be named the most outstanding player of the Irvine regional, said each success makes the Cavaliers want to experience the next one even more.

"Hopefully every step coming will feel better and better," he said.
 

ACC again proves its baseball clout
David Teel
June 3, 2009

For a conference that hasn't produced the national champion since the Dodgers played in Brooklyn, the ACC sure plays gripping baseball.

From Boston College's dispiriting demise to Virginia's impression of the '71 Orioles, from Florida State's T-ball outing to Clemson's comeback, the league owned the NCAA tournament's opening week.

"I've been blessed to be here for 35 years, and I can honestly say I've never seen anything like that," Florida State coach Mike Martin said.

Martin was speaking about his team. But his sentiments echoed conference-wide.

Seven ACC teams earned tournament bids, and four advanced to this weekend's Super Regionals. Can the league match its 2006 haul of four College World Series qualifiers? Or last season's three?

What about the ACC's first national title since Wake Forest in 1955?

Regardless, good luck approaching the suspense — King or Hitchcock would squirm — we've already survived.

Our discussion must start with Boston College. Making the program's first NCAA appearance since 1967, the Eagles lost two of the most excruciating one-run games imaginable at the Austin Regional.

The first, against top-seeded Texas, began Saturday night and ended Sunday morning, seven hours and three minutes later. The Longhorns prevailed 3-2 in the longest game, 25 innings, in NCAA history.

"I've never been part of anything like that," BC coach Mik Aoki told the Boston Globe. "But then I guess no one else has. It was almost surreal."

The most extraordinary character was Texas relief pitcher Austin Wood. He threw 13 scoreless innings, the first 12 1/3 hitless.

Can you say Harvey Haddix (look it up, kids)?

For his work, which included 169 pitches and 14 strikeouts, Wood got a no-decision.

"It was fun to be a part of," Eagles catcher Tony Sanchez told the Globe.

Less than 10 hours later, Boston College faced an elimination game against Army. The Eagles lost 4-3 when the Cadets turned a 6-4-3 double play on Mickey Wiswall's one-out, bases-loaded grounder in the ninth.

Aoki thought Wiswall beat the relay, and had the umpire agreed, the game would have been tied.

Eyeing its fourth consecutive World Series, North Carolina encountered no such drama in sweeping its regional. But the Tar Heels face a grudge-match Super Regional against East Carolina, which rallied for a 10-9 victory Monday over South Carolina — Devin Harris hit a tying three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth and drove in the winner with a 10th-inning single.

Another World Series staple, Florida State, advanced to the round of 16 with a 37-6, baseball-needs-a-slaughter-rule thrashing of Ohio State.

"Everything that they did was right, and everything that we did was wrong," Buckeyes coach Bob Todd said during the postmortem. "It was almost like an intrasquad game."

The 37 runs are Florida State and NCAA tournament records, as are shortstop Stephen Cardullo's seven hits. The Seminoles, who host Arkansas this weekend, led 32-0 after 41/2 innings.

"There's definitely truth that hitting is contagious," Cardullo said.

"When you have a 32-run lead or whatever I had when I was in there, it's tough to kind of get focused and make good pitches," Florida State pitcher Mike McGee said.

Georgia Tech ace and former Peninsula Pilot Deck McGuire had no such safety net in Monday's elimination contest versus Southern Mississippi. Working on two days' rest after a 121-pitch outing, he endured the worst night of his career, yielding nine runs in the second inning of a 12-8 defeat.

Only four of the runs were earned — a two-out error by third baseman Matt Skole prolonged the inning — but McGuire compounded the damage with a bases-loaded walk and hit batter. Southern Miss freshman B.A. Vollmuth doomed McGuire with two home runs and five RBI in the inning.

Conversely, Virginia didn't allow any home runs during its three-game sweep in Irvine, Calif. In fact, the six pitchers employed by coach Brian O'Connor yielded a paltry two runs in 27 innings as the Cavaliers advanced to a best-of-three series at Mississippi.

It was stinginess worthy of the 1971 Orioles, the last big-league staff with four 20-game winners. (Extra credit for trivia nerds who can name all four.)

The ACC's fourth survivor is Clemson, which Monday overcame a four-run, seventh-inning deficit to defeat Oklahoma State 6-5 and earn a trip to Arizona State. In a fitting cap to the conference's week, the Tigers scored all of their runs with two outs.

 

Valdes takes charge as Cavs travel to Mississippi
By Jay Jenkins
Published: June 3, 2009

Every team needs one. But not every team has one.

What is it?

“Everybody needs a loud Cuban,” Virginia catcher Franco Valdes joked. “Somebody to just lighten the mood and keep it interesting.”

During Virginia’s meteoric rise over its past eight games, Valdes has been a mainstay behind the plate.

Pitchers love throwing to him. Fans chuckle at his antics. Opponents have learned to fear him.

As Virginia (46-12-1) prepares for today’s trip to Ole Miss for Friday’s Super Regional opener against the Rebels (43-18), the importance of the third-year catcher stretches beyond his jovial personality and team-first mentality.

From inside the team and out, Valdes remains a natural leader.

“Most of your catchers are guys that are running the field, so to speak, and they’re running the game,” said Virginia associate head coach Kevin McMullan, a former catcher in the professional ranks. “If they’re not in control, you are in trouble or you better have a shortstop that is very vocal.

“A catcher is a guy that commands the field. He commands the tempo of the game. Franco has done a nice job game-wise; he has nice energy and he plays pretty dang good defense.”

Valdes, who started at Broward Community College in Florida, arrived at Virginia prior to the 2008 season and was forced to watch the opening game from the dugout after losing a preseason battle to former catcher Ryan Smith.

It crushed Valdes to watch as an innocent bystander.

“It took some time to get used to [pitching coach Karl Kuhn] and the system,” Valdes said. “It was hard at times.”

Valdes caught the second game of the season and essentially never looked back, starting 45 games in his first year as a Cavalier.

“Smith had won the job and Franco got an opportunity and guys really liked pitching to him,” McMullan said. “That’s probably the most important quality that a catcher has to have —those guys on the mound have to believe in him 100 percent and I think our guys did that in Franco and that’s when he started playing a high percentage of the time.

“It is important for that guy on the bump to feel great about the guy catching.”

With a rotation that likely will include a rookie (Danny Hultzen) and a sophomore (Robert Morey) this weekend in Oxford, Miss., the hurlers will often lean on the veteran.

“He is the loudest one in this bunch. We have a lot of guys who are not like Franco,” said Morey, who upstaged San Diego State’s Stephen Strasburg in the opening game of the Irvine Regional on Friday. “I think that brings a lot to this team. He is loud on the field and loud off the field, and it allows us to have confidence.

“If he wants to tell me something, he is not going to sugarcoat it.”

Hultzen added: “When I have been in tough jams, he comes out all smiles and just relaxes me a little bit. It is great having a guy like that.”

It starts long beyond the first pitch. Will Campbell, a reserve catcher, and Valdes make every attempt, while in different fashions, to get the team pumped for games.

“We are always yelling,” Campbell said. “Franco always tries to keep everything light and he will even throw in some Spanish in there that nobody understands, but it is always funny.”

Valdes, the MVP of the Irvine Regional, said it comes with the territory.

“I am the loudest guy out here and I push guys,” said Valdes, a streaky hitter who has a .292 batting average and 17 extra-base hits. “It is what I love to do. I push them until they can’t take it.

“It helps them and it helps me control the game.”

His next opportunity comes on Friday in the biggest game in program history.

“I am so ready,” Valdes said. “This is why we play this game.”
 

From first team All-Tidewater to Virginia to first-year ODU?
Posted to: College Football Norfolk Sports
By Rich Radford
The Virginian-Pilot
© June 3, 2009
NORFOLK

When Jason Fuller approached Old Dominion coach Bobby Wilder with the idea of transferring from Virginia to ODU to play one year of football, Fuller wasn't the least bit shocked by Wilder's response.

"He wanted to know why," Fuller said. "Why would someone who'd played in the ACC want to join a first-year program?"

Fuller had an answer, and it was simple: "Coach, I can work for the rest of my life. I can play football now. I want to play football."

A standout at Virginia Beach's Kempsville High, Fuller signed with Virginia in 2005 after being named a first-team All-Tidewater defensive end. Actually getting to play at Virginia proved to be a lot tougher than signing on that dotted line.

Four years at Virginia resulted in Fuller making it onto the field for 24 plays. The fact that he played the same position as All-American Chris Long was a deterrent. That Fuller didn't get much bigger than he was in high school - he's 6-foot-5, 255 pounds - also didn't help. And in the ACC, Fuller was viewed as a step slow.

None of that should hold him back at the Football Championship Series level, formerly Division I-AA. He could step in and provide ODU with a level of experience and maturity it needs.

Fuller played in two games for the Cavaliers last season, totaling 11 plays. After the season, Fuller was told his scholarship would not be renewed for the fall. On schedule to receive his undergraduate degree in commerce, he was cut loose, even though he had redshirted and had a year of athletic eligibility remaining.

Instead of hanging up the pads, Fuller shopped himself to the Monarchs, using his old high school coach, Jeff McGowan.

McGowan is now an assistant coach at Virginia Beach's Green Run High, which is quickly becoming a pipeline to ODU. ODU signed two Green Run players in February and already had a Green Run player on the roster from its first recruiting class.

In Fuller's case, NCAA rules allow student/athletes to transfer from one school to another upon graduation if they enroll in a graduate program not offered at their previous school.

Fuller has been tentatively accepted into ODU's public administration program. He still needs a qualifying score on the Graduate Record Exam and approval of the NCAA for the transfer to be complete. But he's already itching to race out onto Foreman Field on Sept. 5 in front of a sellout crowd of about 20,000.

While that crowd will be a third the size of what greeted Virginia last fall for the Cavaliers' home opener against Southern Cal, Fuller thinks his chances of actually contributing to ODU's performance against Division II Chowan are multiplied tenfold.

The Monarchs have a nascent program. And while they've recruited hard for two years and signed some junior college players to increase their maturity, they are still going to be young by any standards.

"My experience at Virginia was great in nearly every aspect," Fuller said. "But in football, not so much.

"For me, there's a lot of potential fulfillment that could come out of playing even one year at ODU. And the energy surrounding ODU's start of football is amazing. The facilities are as good as most I-A schools. It will end up down the road being one of the best programs around."