The Virginia baseball team is confident coming into this weekend's home series against the North Carolina Tar Heels. Despite their 5-4 setback at Old Dominion Wednesday evening, the 19th ranked Cavaliers (17-3) are coming off a weekend road sweep at Georgia Tech.
In the past two years, the Cavaliers hold a slight 4-3 advantage over the Tar Heels. Yet, over the past 10 years at home, the Cavaliers have struggled against North Carolina, dropping 12 of the last 21.
Several Tar Heels come into this weekend's series hot. Four Carolina players sport hitting streaks of at least six games, led by the 12-game streak of junior Marshall Hubbard. The Virginia pitching staff, owners of the best ERA in the ACC, look to slow down these trends. The four Cavalier starters have compiled an 11-2 record so far this season.
At the plate, the Cavaliers look just as stellar. Hitting at a .327 clip, Virginia ranks first in the ACC in batting.
The Cavaliers are led by the power of Joe Koshansky and infielder Mark Reynolds. Koshansky has belted eight home runs to go along with his 29 RBIs, while Reynolds has hit five bombs to go with his 21 RBIs.
With two of the three wins against No. 17 Yellow Jackets coming by only one run, the Cavaliers proved they can win the close game.
"The difference between good college baseball teams and championship teams are the teams that find a way to win the games -- the close games, the one-run ball games," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said.
The road sweep of Georgia Tech also showed off the abilities of freshman left-handed closer Casey Lambert. Although only picking up one save, the southpaw's pitching was key throughout the whole weekend. In five innings of work, he was able to hold the Yellow Jackets to just one run.
"He's a bulldog," O'Connor said. "You have to have somebody out there at the end of the game trying to get those final three outs. He goes out there with all the confidence in the world. It's impressive to watch."
The weekend's work added to Lambert's already impressive statistics, as he now is tied for the team lead in appearances with eight and sports a miniscule 1.32 ERA.
These certainly are heady times for the Cavaliers as they hold their first national ranking since 1996. But O'Connor said that not national rankings, ERA leaders or 3-0 ACC records are needed to spark this team when Carolina comes to town.
"It's Carolina-Virginia -- it's awesome," O'Connor said. "How do you not get fired up for that?"
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