The Cavalier Daily
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Step aside, Sean

No matter how excited we are about the potential of the Virginia basketball team this season (and deservingly so), Wahoos across the country can no longer afford to keep all their attention on Virginia hoops. We've reached one of those awkward periods in sports. It's just like in late November when Virginia sports fans are torn between keeping their attention on a struggling football team at the most dramatic point in the season and a budding basketball team playing schools like Morgan State and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

Mid-February brings an even greater conundrum. With the Cavalier hoops squad on a high in the middle of the ACC schedule, the sports world suddenly dumps high-octane Virginia spring sports in our lap. We are once again forced to make choices about whom to watch with bated breath. With the arrival of Virginia baseball, we suddenly have the opportunity to watch a team fight to be not only the best in the ACC, but the best in the whole country.

And just like we've been accustomed to all winter, Sean will be the team's top man.

Not Sean Singletary, the man who seems to carry the basketball team on his shoulders at times, but junior Sean 'Doc' Doolittle, the man who carries the team on both his left arm and his bat.

Day in and day out, he does an act simply not seen in the major leagues. Last season, Doolittle had an ERA of 2.38, tied for fourth in the ACC. His 11 wins were fourth best and his opposing batting average of .193 was best in the ACC. That means when an ACC hitter goes up against Doolittle, there's over an 80 percent chance he's not going to get a hit. Pretty good odds, don't you think?

When not pitching, Doolittle plays first base and occupies the third spot in the lineup. Last season, he put up a strong .324 batting average. He also walked 54 times, second most in the ACC, giving him a .454 on base percentage. Just as is the case with Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth (the players with the highest walk records in a season), when a pitcher is scared of you, he'd rather walk you than give up a double or homerun.

Since 1973, the year the designated hitter was introduced, only 16 pitchers have ever finished a season with a batting average above .300. None had more than 95 at-bats in a season, each batted at the bottom of his lineups, and each rested at least three days a week.

Doolittle gives his team a better chance to win when he's on the hill than almost any pitcher in the ACC. While other pitchers rest their tired arms, Doolittle hits the cages and works on his swing for his double-duty shifts.

The Cavaliers opened their season this past weekend in South Carolina, winning two out of three.

Doolittle started for Virginia in its first game of the season against Elon and helped the Cavaliers pick up an easy 10-3 win. He pitched five innings, giving up four hits and one earned run while striking out six. The next day, Doolittle went three for four, with two runs and two RBI's.

Today was scheduled to be opening day at Davenport Field against Longwood, but the baseball tea declared a preemptive snow day, and the game has been postponed. That makes the new opening day Friday against George Washington. Washington went 25-34 last season and should be a fun challenge for the Wahoos to start their home schedule.

Today's cancellation does leave us free to see Longwood's basketball team in action against the Cavaliers and that other Sean.

But don't give him too much of your attention -- you might miss something great across the street at Davenport.

I know, I know. You care 10 times more about March Madness than you do about out-of-conference baseball games at which you have to wear a ski mask to keep warm. I know Sean Singletary looks pretty exciting right now. And that's okay. Just promise you'll come back after March Madness. We'll still be here.

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