After emphatically nipping any prospect of a losing streak in the bud Tuesday with a 10-1 stomping of James Madison, Virginia looks to build momentum in a three-game series against visiting Seton Hall this weekend.
The Pirates (0-3) are in the midst of a six-game ACC tour to open their season. They dropped the first three against North Carolina last weekend, collapsing in the opener in 11 innings after leading in the eighth inning.
Like Virginia in their series at North Carolina A&T, Seton Hall put on a power display in their opening weekend, with three different players belting home runs. Senior shortstop Santiago Chi is off to a fast start in 2004. After three games, he has a .455 batting average and is slugging .727 with an on-base percentage of .500.
"Seton Hall is a very scrappy and tough team," Virginia third baseman Ryan Zimmerman said. "I think these early season games do a whole lot for our confidence, which will determine how good we do in the conference."
What must have helped Virginia's confidence from the JMU game was junior shortstop Mark Reynolds' best game of the year. He went three for five with a home run, three RBIs, two runs scored and one strikeout. Coming one triple away from hitting for the cycle, Reynolds' first bomb of the season kept him from falling too far behind senior captain Joe Koshansky (3 HRs) in the rematch for the home run title. Koshansky shared the feat with Reynolds last year, going deep nine times.
The most daunting task awaiting the Cavaliers in the series should be talented sophomore Tim Sabo, a 6' 3", 215-pound right hander drafted straight out of high school in the 28th round of the Major League Baseball draft by the Cleveland Indians. Sabo shut down the Tar Heels in the first five innings of Seton Hall's opening game, allowing no runs on two hits, walking none and striking out five. He left the game with the Pirates nursing a 3-0 lead, but Carolina tied the game in the eighth, going on to win in extras.
Koshansky got back on track against JMU after a poor showing in the finale of the Penn State series two days before. After striking out four times in the 8-3 loss to the Nittany Lions, Koshansky regrouped and channeled his frustration into focus on the mound, where he made his second start of the year. He pitched six strong innings, allowing four hits and only one run, before switching to designated hitter and knocking one base hit.
"You don't win anything in this game and you have no chance to win championships unless you have quality starting pitching," head coach Brian O'Connor said. "I think Joe is a mature player and is going to handle both [pitching and hitting] very, very well."
With five players from Seton Hall's starting lineup averaging more than a strikeout per game and five batting under .240, Virginia's starting pitching should get the job done against the Pirates.
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