At a school where the biggest news was Jerry Falwell's steadily improving condition and a nearby sign said "Go Tar Heels," it would be fairly easy to overlook a baseball game going on in a small field tucked away just behind the entrance to Liberty College in Lynchburg, Va. At the end of nine innings, two teams feeling vastly different emotions walked off the field: the noticeably disappointed Liberty Flames (18-9) and the deservedly proud Virginia Cavaliers (20-9, 4-6 ACC), who just claimed a 10-2 victory.
Although the game started off well for the Flames, who got an initial two run lead, things soon turned in favor of the Cavaliers. Virginia sophomore Josh Darby led off the second inning with a homer before both Scott Headd and Joe Florio scored to bring the score to 3-2. It was a lead Virginia never let go with the Cavaliers' side of the scoreboard looking like the winning number to this week's lottery. By the time yesterday's game ended, almost half of the team -- Joe Florio, Sean Doolittle, Josh Darby and Matt Street -- saw a ball they hit sail over the Liberty fence for a total of four home runs.
"We really swung the bats very well," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "Joey Florio got his first college home run, Josh Darby got his first home run of the year. After a long weekend where we played so many games, it was really good to see the guys come out with a lot of energy."
Tuesday's decisive win especially was important in light of last weekend's series against North Carolina. The Cavaliers were swept in a three-game stand in which two games went into extra innings. The stark contrast between Virginia's home record (16-1) and its away record (4-8) is viewed by many as a major weakness for the team.
"This was a great win for us," O'Connor said, "This was our 20th win of the year -- That's a good mark to hit. They are all important, but this gets us back and thinking positive about ourselves going into the weekend."
The win especially was beneficial for the Cavaliers because it was a mid-week away game, which can cause more problems than weekend away games.
"A mid-week away game you have to balance with school, you can't just skip out on classes or anything," Darby said. "It's a little different. It's a lot more contained. In the middle of the week, you have other stuff going on. You're driving on the same day you're playing."
Still, the Cavaliers know that winning the occasional mid-week away game on top of their frequent home wins is not going to be sufficient to get them to where they want to be in the ACC.
"[Wins] are all important," O'Connor said, "but a weekend game is the most important. The league is the most important."
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