Virginia baseball won its 65th game in 96 tries against in-state rival William & Mary yesterday night, cruising to an 11-1 victory. The win also improves Virginia coach Brian O’Connor’s record against the Tribe to 4-1.
Freshman pitcher Will Roberts highlighted the mid-week affair, facing only 18 hitters in five innings to complement Virginia’s early offensive surge. Robert said he “was a little bit nervous,” but after appearing in relief against Bucknell during the weekend he felt like he had “kind of been there before. It wasn’t too much different.”
The team’s four- and five-run second and third innings helped to ease the tension of making a start at the collegiate level, Roberts said.
“I’m just glad the team came out and played well,” he said. “We scored some runs and took a lot of pressure off of me.”
Roberts played high school baseball in Richmond, where he developed the precision and level-headedness that drew the attention of the Virginia program, O’Connor said. Roberts showcased both qualities yesterday.
“We were really excited when he decided to come to school here because he’s been known in high school as a strike-thrower, somebody who really attacks the bat on the mound,” O’Connor said. “And he proved that tonight in his first college start.”
Roberts settled in his rhythm right from the first pitch, sitting down the first three Tribe hitters he faced on three groundballs. Roberts gave up only three hits and one walk on the night while striking out eight.
Roberts “was down in the zone the entire time he pitched,” O’Connor said. “He was in complete command the entire time, and whether you’re 18 or 22 years old, [if] you do that on the mound, you’re going to give your team a chance to win.”
The defense for Virginia (5-0) showed some early-season rust, committing two errors, one of which — a mishandled ground ball and errant throw by junior shortstop Tyler Cannon — contributed to the lone William & Mary run. The score came too late for the Tribe, however: after Roberts and the Virginia offense staked a 10-1 lead.
“Basically, I just hit my spots with my fastball the whole day,” Roberts said. “I was just trying to keep them off balance [mixing speeds and location]. Once we got the big lead I could just hammer strikes and they really didn’t have a choice but to swing.”
Unlike the first four games of the season, in which the Cavaliers spread six home runs, Tuesday’s game against the Tribe (3-2) featured other aspects of what O’Connor called Virginia’s “opportunistic offense.”
“We did hit quite a few home runs this weekend,” O’Connor said. “But we’re still going to have that kind of attitude offensively where we’re going to take the extra base, we’re going to bunt a guy over when we need to.”
Though Tribe sophomore starting pitcher Tim Norton retired the first three Virginia batters in the first inning, he struggled after sophomore right fielder Dan Grovatt flied out to start the second. Norton proceeded to walk the bases loaded before sophomore left fielder John Barr lined a two-run single to left center. Sophomore second baseman Corey Hunt laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Barr and junior catcher Franco Valdes to second and third, respectively. Two infield singles by sophomore center fielder Jarrett Parker and sophomore DH Phil Gosselin scored Barr and Valdes.
Five Cavaliers recorded two hits each, and four of those five players batted in 10 of the team’s 11 runs.
“It’s all about the team,” Gosselin said. “It’s just contagious — for the second and third inning, everybody was getting up there and having good at-bats for the team, and put the team first. Like coach always says, good things are going to happen.”
After struggling through the team’s first four games, Gosselin had two hits in four at-bats, driving in three runs, including a two-run outfield single to cap off the five-run third inning.
“It felt great to finally be able to contribute,” Gosselin said. “The team did great this weekend; I would have liked to help out, but we won. That’s all that matters. Tonight I was able to come through in the clutch a couple times — it felt good.”
O’Connor said Gosselin will be one of the team’s best offensive players, and an 0-16 slump “can happen in the first four games.” He also explained, though, that it’s not nearly the kind of production the team expects from Gosselin as the season progresses.
“He got himself into a little bit of a funk; sometimes you lose your confidence, but I have complete confidence in [Gosselin] and his teammates do too,” O’Connor said. “So no question he’s going to do some great hitting for us this year. [His hitting against William & Mary] was great to see because he needed that.”
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