After sweeping three straight games from No. 2 Clemson this weekend, the Virginia men's baseball team continues its 10-game home-stand this afternoon when it hosts the Marshall Thundering Herd (8-7) at Davenport Field.
Though not on the team's original schedule, today's contest was added earlier this week to make up for last night's postponed matchup with Liberty, which was called off because of inclement weather.
The No. 21 Cavaliers (19-4, 4-2 ACC) have been on a tear through the first half of the regular season, winning 11 of their last 13 games and four straight in the conference. As a result of the team's stellar play, Virginia has earned a spot in several of this week's national top-25 polls for the first time this year.
Entering today's matchup with Marshall, however, the Cavaliers appear less concerned with the latest rankings than they are with finding a way to sustain the momentum of this weekend's wins over Clemson.
"I don't think rankings have anything to do with it," junior outfielder Tim Henry said. "We had a good weekend and have something to build on. It's early in the season, and rankings don't really matter -- it's just a bunch of guys voting on teams."
A more pressing concern for Virginia will be slowing down the Thundering Herd, which is currently riding a four-game win streak of its own after sweeping the Cleveland State Vikings this past weekend. Marshall is led by senior southpaw Chris Koutsavlis (3-1, 2.92 ERA) and junior infielder Brendan Murphy (6 HR, 27 RBI).
If the Cavaliers are able to produce a victory in this afternoon's contest, it may be largely because of the contributions of a talent-laden class of freshmen infielders. Second baseman David Adams, shortstop Greg Miclat and third baseman Jeremy Farrell have quickly acclimated themselves to the college game and have been able to play a substantial role in the team's recent success.
"I knew when we recruited [them] that they were very mature young men for 18-year-olds," coach Brian O'Connor said of the young trio. "Farrell grew up in a major league clubhouse, Adams played at the highest level in Florida and Miclat comes from good baseball as well, so they are not in awe of all of this. They proved that last weekend -- they're not backing down from anyone."
In addition to the impressive performances from the squad's younger players, juniors Casey Lambert and Brandon Marsh each garnered individual ACC accolades for their play last week. Lambert was the conference's Pitcher of the Week and Marsh was the Co-Player of the Week.
"People are going to have an eye out for us now," Lambert said. "We're trying to build ourselves up as 'the hunted' but after two weeks in a row of playing against the top teams in the country, I think people are going to see what we're capable of doing."
The first pitch for this afternoon's game is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Davenport Field.
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