After reeling off eight wins in eight days, No. 9 Virginia (10-1) looks to remain unbeaten at Davenport Field as they take on VMI (5-2) tonight. This game marks the ninth of a 12-game home stand for Virginia.
After the Cavaliers' three weekend starters dominated the Bucknell lineup in the last series, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor will have to decide between freshmen southpaws Jeff Lorick and Neil Davis for the start tonight. Each pitcher has made one start for Virginia, and both came away with victories. They were aided by a potent Cavalier offense on both occasions, as the team combined to score 29 runs in the two wins.
Whoever gets the nod Tuesday will have the delicacy of a 1.03 team ERA in his hands. The freshmen must not be fooled into thinking that this miniscule average is obtained by tallying a lot of strikeouts. As the weekend starters showed against Bucknell, the most important element to the starter's game plan is to throw strikes.
"We really put an emphasis on no walks [against Bucknell]," sophomore pitcher Jacob Thompson said. "We did great, we only walked three or four all series, and that helped us out a lot."
Virginia's starter will have to perform well, because VMI will likely give the ball to its ace, junior lefthander Trey Barham. In VMI's last series against Niagara, the team started two freshmen out of the usual rotation as it split the first two games before the series finale Sunday was cancelled due to inclement weather. This change allows VMI to match the experience of Barham with the explosive Cavalier lineup. Barham has a stellar ERA of 2.53 and leads the team with 11 strikeouts after two starts for VMI.
"Where I think they've really improved in their program is they've got really good arms now on the mound," O'Connor said. "They'll be a scrappy ball-club, and we're going to have to play very well to win."
What is most impressive about VMI is the manner in which they have won thus far. The Keydets took two out of three games from Florida, a perennial SEC powerhouse, to open the season and then made their debut at home by giving a 10-2 whipping to Bucknell, the same team that took Virginia down to the wire in two straight games last weekend. Unlike other opponents the Cavaliers have faced, VMI will field a starting nine Tuesday that the Cavaliers cannot afford to take lightly.
"You don't go down to the University of Florida and beat them the first two ballgames unless you've got a tough team," O'Connor said. "They're competitors, they're scrappy, they'll put the ball in play, they'll do the little things."
Leading the charge for the VMI offense will be outfielder and designated hitter Thane Smith. After missing all of last year and the first three games this year due to injury, Smith has emerged as the team's hottest bat. His .479 batting average and his astronomical slugging percentage of .714 both lead the team. Smith also leads all Keydets in stolen bases with three steals on three attempts, despite the delayed start to his season.
The Cavaliers will look to make this their ninth straight win in 10 days before getting a couple of days to recuperate. The team then wraps up their home stand with a series against Delaware this weekend, their last series against a non-conference opponent.
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