The No. 1 Virginia baseball team will head to Durham, N.C. this weekend to face the bottom-dweller of the ACC Coastal region, Duke (24-18, 7-14 ACC), which will try to score its first series win against a top-10 team this season.
As the Cavaliers (36-9, 15-6 ACC) head into this season's final stretch of ACC play, various players have begun to emerge on a team looking to earn its second-ever trip to the College Baseball World Series. Junior second baseman Phil Gosselin, who earned first team All-ACC honors last year, has become one of the ACC's premier leadoff hitters, leading the ACC with 67 hits.
"That's why I love Gosselin in the leadoff spot," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said, "because we've got a good back half of the lineup - if they can scratch and get on base, you've got a high quality hitter coming up," O'Connor said.
That back half consists of sophomore John Hicks, junior Kenny Swab, freshman Stephen Bruno and sophomore Keith Werman. Werman leads the team with a .453 batting average.
Bruno, along with fellow freshmen Chris Taylor and Reed Gragnani, will be instrumental to the Cavalier team as it heads into tournament play. Taylor's three hits out of the leadoff spot in last Saturday's game against ACC foe Maryland has really caught O'Connor's eye, he said.
"I think those young freshmen are doing really well. Stephen Bruno has swung the bat for us real well all year long; Chris Taylor is starting to emerge," O'Connor said. "Reed Gragnani was hurt for three or four weeks - before he got hurt, he was a [designated hitter] for us against right-handed pitchers ... He's really stepped up recently since I've given him some opportunities."
Although Virginia has seen an influx of young talent at the plate, the starting rotation has remained stable all year. Sophomore Danny Hultzen, junior Robert Morey and junior Cody Winiarski boast a combined record of 17-3. Hultzen has the lowest ERA of the three - 2.00 - and has pitched more innings than any other pitcher on the team at 67.2. Hultzen said he believes that late-inning pitching - which was on display last weekend as all three pitchers pitched into the seventh inning or longer - is crucial to getting late season wins.
"Especially at this point in the season, you got some tired arms, tired bodies, so to get those guys a good rest, get them ready for the back half of the season is really important," Hultzen said.
Another key to the Cavaliers' late season success will be two-out hitting. Virginia has excelled in that category all year long and continued to show its prowess with a grand slam from Gosselin against Coastal Carolina last Tuesday.
"Our team has done that a lot this year - where we've started rallies with two outs and nobody on and capitalized on them," O'Connor said. "That's just another great quality I think this club has - to where the first guys get out in the inning and the guys don't pack it in."
The Cavaliers built on their 6-3 win against No. 10 Coastal Carolina with a 10-5 win against Georgetown Wednesday. Virginia got off to a hot start, scoring all 10 of its runs during the first five innings. Gosselin was a major part of the victory, recording four hits and three RBIs. Sophomore Justin Thompson posted the win, allowing only two hits and no runs in 3.1 innings pitched, improving his season record to 3-0.
Taylor and Gragnani stepped up again Wednesday night, combining for three hits and two runs scored. They will look to bring that momentum into this weekend's series with Duke.
The series will be played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, home of the triple-A Durham Bulls. The first game of the series begins at 6 p.m. this afternoon and will be followed by games this Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
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