Sean Doolittle showed Tuesday that he was not affected by his struggles at the plate this past weekend.
Despite going only one-for-10 at the plate against Towson, he played a huge role in the Cavaliers 7-1 victory over Virginia Commonwealth University yesterday. At the plate, Doolittle went two-for-four with a run scored and an RBI triple. On the mound, he pitched five innings, allowing just one run and two hits while striking out seven and walking only two. Virginia coach Brian O'Connor believes that a solid start by the pitcher is necessary for a strong outing.
"VCU has a very good baseball program," O'Connor said. "I think their coach does an outstanding job. It was a great win. This shows what can happen when you go out and get a strong starting pitching performance."
The lefty also proved that he was ready for his first start of the year. As he showed against the Rams, Doolittle learned from his struggles at the plate as well.
"I was excited to go out there and have the chance to start and have an impact on the starting rotation," Doolittle said. "I knew [the hitting] would come around. I realized that I don't need to press as much and I can just go out there and get some hacks and put the barrel on the ball."
O'Connor was also confident in Doolittle's ability to overcome the small slump at the beginning of the season.
"Sean is a talented player at the plate and on the mound," O'Connor said. "You can't hold that talent down. You can go out there on the mound and change the game in a hurry and [also] going out there and hacking like he did."
Even though he only pitched five innings, Doolittle was pleased with his performance in the limited time.
"At this point in the year, throwing 81 pitches, I was getting up there in the pitch count," Doolittle said. "It was probably smart by the coaches to get me out of there and let [Michael] Schwimer and Casey [Lambert] get a couple of innings in there so they are ready for Charleston this weekend," Doolittle said.
After three runs in the third inning, the Cavaliers blew the game open on a key VCU error with runners on second and third and two outs in the fourth inning. First baseman Jared Bolden took his foot off the bag when receiving the throw on a Tim Henry ground ball, allowing both Beau Seabury and the speedy Greg Miclat to score. Doolittle's triple allowed Henry to come around later in the inning. All three runs were unearned.
"That's what happens when you put pressure on the other team," O'Connor said. "You see our coaches yelling at our players all of the time about giving us a hard 90 feet all of the way to the bag. When you do that, panic can set in when you have speed. When you have guys in the lineup that can run and you put the ball in play it can create things."
The Cavaliers also practiced with more intensity Monday than they did before the Old Dominion game, O'Connor said, adding that he has no doubt that it showed on the field.
"We had a good practice [Monday] and our intensity was good," O'Connor said. "I talked to the players before the game about coming out today in an attacking mode and [to] come right after them and we did."
The Cavaliers will need to stay in this attacking mode this weekend when they play in the 2006 Charleston Challenge in South Carolina. Virginia plays George Mason Friday, Gardner-Webb Saturday and College of Charleston Sunday.
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