The Cavalier baseball team will travel to Coastal Carolina this weekend for the Springmaid Beach Resort Tournament, where it will face Elon, North Florida and Coastal Carolina. Today's game against Elon marks the season debut for last year's ACC Player of the Year, senior starting pitcher Sean Doolittle. Though the Cavaliers are favored against Elon, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor is not taking the matchup lightly.
"I don't care who you play the first weekend, it's going to be a challenge," O'Connor said. "I've got a lot of respect for all three ball clubs. Elon won about 45 games last year and are pretty consistently in the NCAA tournament."
The Phoenix lineup is led by senior Robert Rodebaugh, who hit .340 with 11 home runs last year in leading his team to the Southern Conference championship. Virginia's experienced returning players should do well against junior starter Jesse Lewter, who went 5-1 with a 3.43 earned-run-average last year. Sophomore pitcher Jacob Thompson will start Saturday for the Cavaliers against North Florida. The Ospreys are coming off a second-place finish in the Atlantic Sun Conference in their first year of Division I baseball competition.
In addition to senior pitcher Brad Johnson, North Florida returns junior second baseman Chad Knight and junior designated hitter Travis Martin.
"North Florida is a school that beat LSU and Florida last year," O'Connor said. "They've got very good players. They play a very aggressive style, and anytime you're in Florida you're going to get good players."
Sunday's game against Coastal Carolina will provide Virginia with its first opportunity to audition a starter for the third slot in the rotation left by graduating starter Mike Ballard. Freshman Matt Packer is scheduled to make the start. Packer comes to the Cavaliers after a productive career at Christian Brothers High School in Germantown, Tenn., where he was named to the Louisville Slugger National High-School All-American team. Packer also excelled in the classroom; he was a member of the National Honor Society and Latin Honor Society.
"These first couple of non-conference weekends are going to be somewhat of a tryout," Doolittle said. "You're going to see guys like Andrew Carraway get a start, and maybe some freshmen like Matt Packer, Jeff Lorick, Neal Davis; they're all going to get a substantial amount of innings here early, trying to prove themselves and establish themselves so that when we get into the ACC season, we have an established number three guy."
Coastal Carolina will start senior John Mariotti, who had an up-and-down season last year, going 5-2 with a 5.19 ERA. Senior Adam Vrable returns after leading his team in hitting last season with a .324 average. Virginia defeated Coastal in last year's Springmaid tournament.
"I wanted to put our team in this kind of tournament environment because next weekend is very similar to what it's going to be like in our league in a three-game series," O'Connor said. "Coastal Carolina two years ago had one of the best teams in the country, so it's going to be a challenge."
Read More
Virginia baseball has an ace up its sleeve and in its bullpen — Dean Kampschror
By Xander Tilock | 17 hours agoThe senior pitcher is exactly what the Cavaliers need to succeed in 2025.
Wrestling gets blown out 34-9 on long road trip to Stanford
By Ryan Weiner | 2 days agoSolid performances from its most reliable trio were not enough for Virginia.
Freshman excellence powers No. 5 men’s tennis past Boise State, No. 19 Alabama
By Thomas Baxter | 2 days agoVirginia, unlike many other regional hosts, held serve as its quartet's top seed.
