RALEIGH, N.C. -- The baseball gods are fickle. During the first half of the season, everything seemed to go right for the Cavaliers as they built an impressive 24-5 overall record, including a 6-3 ACC mark. Coach Brian O'Connor's squad traveled to N.C. State this weekend looking to solidify its position in the upper tier of the ACC Coastal Division.
Nothing, however, went right for the Cavaliers in Raleigh as Virginia suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of the Wolfpack. Maryland's 8-5 victory over Georgia Tech Sunday in College Park, however, helped the Cavaliers out as it kept Virginia tied with the Yellow Jackets for third place in the Coastal Division at 6-6.
The series got off to an inauspicious start for Virginia Friday evening when N.C. State scored seven runs in the fifth inning, driving Virginia starting pitcher Sean Doolittle from the game. N.C. State right-hander Andrew Brackman, who is also a heralded forward on N.C. State's basketball team, pitched six solid innings and struck out 10 Cavaliers to notch his first victory of the season.
After Wednesday's victory over Norfolk State, O'Connor expressed optimism about the upcoming N.C. State series due to his faith in Virginia's late-inning relievers. Those words would come back to haunt him Saturday as Virginia's closer, Casey Lambert, blew a five-run eighth inning lead. N.C. State scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth, then two in the bottom of the ninth to complete the comeback win.
Lambert usually works only an inning or two in relief but entered Saturday's game in the seventh inning, showing the monumental importance that Virginia's coaching staff had placed on the outcome of that contest. Lambert was also well-rested, making the decision easier for O'Connor. Lambert's poor performance was an example of when a smart coaching decision turns out for the worst. O'Connor and his staff should not be faulted for placing a critically important game in the hands of their most trusted reliever.
Before Sunday afternoon's finale, the crowd at Doak Field was buzzing and it was not about N.C. State baseball. Late Saturday evening, it became known that N.C. State basketball coach Herb Sendek was leaving Raleigh for the open job at Arizona State. As someone who covered ACC basketball this season, I must say that Sendek has been the conference's most underrated coach for many years and N.C. State will come to regret allowing him to escape to Tempe.
The series finale turned out to be a listless affair that saw the Cavaliers struggle to muster any sort of significant offensive attack against N.C. State starting pitcher Eryk McConnell. Virginia's sole run came on a Tim Henry blast to right-center field in the top of the eighth, well after the game had been decided.
The Cavaliers are blssed to have a softer portion of their schedule coming up. Virginia's next two conference series are against Duke and Boston College, both conference cellar-dwellers. The next formidable opponent on the schedule is division leader Miami, which Virginia will visit April 21-23. If the Cavaliers can beat up on these lesser foes over the next two weeks, this weekend's sweep at N.C. State will not seem as disastrous. In contrast, if this is the beginning of a prolonged slide, these three losses may prove to have been a pivotal moment. I am inclined, however, to view this sweep as an aberration rather than a foreboding of things to come.
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