Baseball purists claim the key to winning championships is through pitching and defense. The Virginia baseball team has taken this assertion to heart by dominating the pitching and defense departments this year. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, runs are not scored by nice defensive plays or a pitching staff holding an ACC opponent to five earned runs over three games. Virginia struggled at the plate this past weekend and only tallied a meager two runs over the weekend series with NC State, losing the pivotal series 2-1.
Halfway through the ACC season, the Cavaliers sit in eighth place with a conference record of 5-8. The young team has yet to fulfill the expectations brought on the program after last year's second-place finish in the ACC. In a tough league such as the Atlantic Coast Conference, the schedule does not let up any time soon.
"We have some tough games ahead; we go down to Clemson who has a storied history," coach Brian O'Connor said. "Then Georgia Tech comes here, who is No. 1 [in the ACC], and then we go to Florida State."
For a team desperately in need of some wins and confidence, the upcoming schedule does not look particularly enticing. This week the Cavaliers play Norfolk State Tuesday, a double-header with Maryland Eastern Shore Wednesday and a three-game weekend series at Clemson. With a tough stretch ahead -- six games in as many days -- the team is at a crossroads of the season.
"It's as tough a week as I've ever coached," O'Connor said. "We will find out what the team is made of this week."
If the team hopes to turn things around, it must begin with the bats. While Ryan Zimmerman is hitting at a torrid pace with a batting average of .414 and a slugging percentage of .633, nobody else in the starting lineup is hitting above .320. The recent hitting slump put the Cavaliers in eighth place in the ACC in runs scored. These numbers stand in stark contrast to the defense and pitching which are first and second in the conference respectively.
"I've always said pitching and defense wins ballgames," O'Connor said. "Now we need a few guys to step up offensively."
With Clemson on deck this weekend, who touts the third best runs-allowed in the league, Virginia must rally the troops at the plate. Freshman slugger Sean Doolittle said he does not envision a letdown in the future.
"We're going to get it together at practice on Monday," Doolittle said. "We want to use these midweek games to get our confidence up before rollin' into Clemson this weekend. We will be alright."
Coach O'Connor echoes the same upbeat mindset of his players.
"These kids chose to put this uniform on and play at this school because they wanted a challenge," O'Connor said. "They will get a challenge."
This week should prove every bit of the challenge the head coach wishes to see. If the bats wake up and perform at last year's level, Virginia may once again prove O'Connor's formula for success can be effective in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
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