Following a much-needed road win against VCU Tuesday, the No. 5 Virginia baseball team returns home this weekend to take on ACC rival Georgia Tech. The series is vital for both teams, as the Cavaliers sit one spot ahead of the Yellow Jackets in the ACC Coastal Division standings.
In preparation for what is likely to be a large turnout, Virginia has added about 300 seats to Davenport Field beyond the left field fence.
Since starting the season ranked No. 13 in the nation, Georgia Tech (21-13, 9-6 ACC) went 8-10 in the first five weeks of the season and fell out of the top 25. The team has rebounded, however, winning 13 of its last 16 games, including three of its last four ACC series. A series win could very well propel the Yellow Jackets back into the top 25.
In addition, Georgia Tech is known across the country as a perennial baseball powerhouse. The Yellow Jackets have made appearances in 21 of the last 22 NCAA regionals, and have been to the College World Series three times since 1994, including last year. With the Yellow Jackets heating up in the last month, the Cavaliers are getting ready for an intense weekend.
"We're going to be psyched to play," junior Sean Doolittle said. "Anytime that you've got a team with a name like Georgia Tech and the tradition that theyhave, that automatically gets you ready to play."
The key to Georgia Tech's success in the last month has been its starting pitching. The team's ace, redshirt sophomore Eddie Burns, is 3-0 with a 1.37 earned run average in his last four outings. Sophomore David Duncan, the staff's No. 2 starter, has also been outstanding, going 2-0 with a 2.12 ERA in his last four games.
The starters for Virginia (30-7, 10-5 ACC) have also thrown well of late. Sophomore Jacob Thompson, last week's ACC Pitcher of the Week, continues to dominate opposing hitters with a record of 8-0 and an ERA of 1.49 on the season. Doolittle is also hitting his stride after a brief mid-season skid, winning each of his last two outings. With both teams' starters at the top of their games, the performance of the bullpen may determine which team emerges victorious.
"I like our starting pitching and I think they've got good starters," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "I think it's going to come down to the back half of the game and getting the job done out of the bullpen."
One concern for the Cavaliers in recent weeks has been their defense. Virginia has made eight errors in its last five games, including two back-to-back errors in last Saturday's loss to Duke that cost the team four runs. The Cavaliers must sharpen up their defense to be successful for the remainder of the season.
"That's a little bit of a concern of mine, the errors that we've been making," O'Connor said. "In order to really have a championship team at the end of the year we've got to play better defense than we're playing."
The pitching staff, however, must not let errors affect its mindset. A hallmark of Virginia's pitching is to force hitters to put the ball in play and let the defense make the outs behind them. The team's hurlers will have to continue to trust the Virginia fielders to make plays when called upon.
"The pitchers, regardless of the errors, need to keep pounding the strike zone, keep putting the ball in play," Doolittle said. "The more ready our fielders are, the more into the game they are, and that's when they're going to start making big plays."
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