In facing St. Joseph's it would be very easy for the Virginia baseball team to look ahead of the schedule past this weekend to the next, when they are facing a consensus top-five team in the country in Georgia Tech. But the Cavaliers know that is something they cannot do.
"In this game you really can't look past anyone and take them lightly," Virginia starting pitcher Mike Ballard said. "Otherwise it can sneak up and bite you. We can't look past this weekend and ahead next weekend to Georgia Tech. We really just have to take it one game at a time and just look forward to coming out Friday with a lot of enthusiasm and be ready to play."
When the Cavaliers play St. Joseph's this weekend at home, they must have better starting pitching than they had in Charleston, S.C. On Sunday against the College of Charleston, Pat McAnaney went only three innings and allowed six hits and four runs while only striking out three. Friday against George Mason, Ballard went only four and a third innings while allowing seven hits and six runs -- including five in the first inning -- and striking out five while walking two.
"I came out there not hitting my spots too well and it kind of showed the first inning," Ballard said. "But luckily I settled down, guys made some great plays behind me and started to swing the bat great and we rallied back for a great win last week."
St. Joseph has yet to earn a win this year in six tries. However, the Hawks have not played terribly this season. In their last four games, the Hawks have lost by just a combined five runs. Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said he knows how to keep his players focused for the task at hand.
"You keep them mentally sharp by stressing to them that we need to continue to play the game the right way and continue to get better no matter who our opponent is," O'Connor said. "You must have respect for every opponent you play. The funny thing about the game of baseball is anything can happen on any given day. You can run into a tough pitcher, you can have a bad day and you can get beat. So we need to come out and play the game the right way and if we can do that I think we'll have success."
The Cavaliers did that in their 11-5 victory against George Washington last Tuesday. However, there are things to improve on from their victory Tuesday for the upcoming weekend. One such thing is closing the door on opponents in the end. George Washington's last five runs came in the last two innings.
The Cavaliers need to "play all nine innings ... not giving up a bat or pitches or innings or anything like that," Ballard said.
Another thing the Cavaliers are focusing on is their fundamentals. Two of the five runs allowed against George Washington were unearned due to an error by third baseman Patrick Wingfield.
"We just need to continue to progress," O'Connor said. "The season is still young, we're only 20 percent through the season, but we just need to keep working on our skills so that we are improving up to the start of the ACC season against Georgia Tech."
Ballard will be starting Friday's game. Freshman Jacob Thompson will start Saturday while Sunday's starter is yet to be determined.
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