This year, the Virginia baseball team was named pre-season No. 9 by Baseball America, an unprecedented honor for the team. The question now facing the team that has made regionals three years in a row -- hosting two -- only to collapse in the first round is, can they live up to the pressure?
Adding to the challenge facing the Cavaliers this year is the fact that three of the top five teams -- including No. 2 Clemson -- are from the ACC.
"You know that every weekend, whether it is one of those top ten teams or not, that it's going to be a team that's good enough to be a top ten team," junior Sean Doolittle said. "So we have to come ready to play every day."
For Virginia, there are two major keys to achieving success this season. The first is finding a way to fill the void left in the pitching staff by the departure of Mike Ballard.
Ballard started 16 games last year for the Cavaliers and had a total record of 9-3, including one no-hitter.
Offensively, Virginia will need to replace Tom Hagan. Hagan started in 61 games for the Cavaliers and had the second best batting average on the team with .357.
"Mike Ballard and Tom Hagan were both great players in our uniform for quite a while and key components," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "You're going to lose guys every year. We've been fortunate with our recruiting the last couple years that I believe we're going to be able to replace those guys."
Fortunately for the Cavaliers, they have one of the best recruiters in the nation in O'Connor. O'Connor pulled down the No. 8 recruiting class in the nation in 2005, his second year at Virginia. Additionally, Virginia welcomes 12 new players, three of whom are ranked in Perfect Game's top 100.
"They're doing really well," Doolittle said. "They've bonded really well with a lot of the older guys. They came in here, they started working hard and they're ready to learn, and that showed to myself and the old guys that they were really here to keep this tradition that we have going on."
While the freshmen will no doubt become key players on the team, Virginia's strength this season will probably lie more in who is returning than whom they have recruited.
Offensively the Cavaliers have senior Brandon Marsh, who holds the top batting average on the team (.380). They also return junior Brandon Guyer, who hit seven home runs last year -- the most on the team -- and David Adams, who hit the second highest number of home runs, even though he was only a freshman.
For pitching, Virginia will probably utilize Doolittle, who started 15 games last year -- one less than Ballard -- and won 11 of them. The only problem with putting Doolittle on the plate is that it leaves his other position, first base, open. Previously, Hagan would take his place.
Hagan "was great because Hagan was versatile," O'Connor said. "How we'll do it is Jeremy Farrell, as of right now, will play first base when Sean Doolittle pitches."
The Cavaliers also have an expert closer in senior Casey Lambert, who holds the record for saves at the University with 32.
With Virginia's strong roster and challenging competition, Cavalier fans can look forward to an exciting season.
"Handling adversity on any team is a big thing," O'Connor said. "I look forward to seeing how this team handles that, because this team has now got a target on its chest, rather than in the past the targets have been on our opponents."
Read More
Volleyball holds off Boston College in tight five-set win
By Lauren Halak | 11 hours agoSenior outside hitter Elayna Duprey led the team throughout the match with 22 points and 18 kills.
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | YesterdayThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
