#1 UVa. falls in 13: SC ends Cavs run in CWS
Virginia had the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 13th inning. South Carolina was the team dogpiling in the bottom of the inning.
Adam Matthews ran home from third after the second of two throwing errors by UVa. relief pitcher Cody Winiarski, and South Carolina advanced to the College World Series finals with a 3-2 win over the top-seeded Cavs.
Virginia (56-12) had loaded the bases with one out in the 12th before centerfielder Shane Halley, in as a defensive replacement and with one hit all season, hit into a double play on a 2-0 pitch by SC closer Matt Price (7-3).
Price somehow wiggled out of another bases-loaded jam in the 13th, this one with no outs, striking out Super Regionals hero Chris Taylor and getting John Barr, who had three hits on the night, to line into a double play.
Winiarski (6-4) came in relief of closer Branden Kline, who threw 107 pitches in five tense innings out of the pen. Brady Thomas led off the inning with a single, and was replaced on the basepaths by Matthews. Peter Mooney bunted back to Winiarski, who had time to get Matthews at second but threw the ball into center, leaving the Gamecocks with runners at first and second with no outs.
Robert Beary followed with a bunt that Winiarski fielded. He tried to cut down Matthews again, but the throw got past third baseman Stephen Proscia, allowing Matthews to scamper home.
Virginia had ace Danny Hultzen on the mound with an early 1-0 lead, and Hultzen was dealing at the outset, posting eight strikeouts through three innings. But UVa. coach Brian O’Connor lifted Hultzen, who was suffering from un undisclosed illness.
Kyle Crockett gave up a pair of runs in relief in the fourth but settled down to keep the Cavs close. Virginia tied it in the eight when Chris Taylor reached on an error and scored an out later on an error by Mooney on a ground ball off the bat of John Hicks.
South Carolina (53-14) will face SEC rival Florida (53-17) in the best-of-three CWS final beginning Monday night.
Gamecocks knock #1 UVa. to elimination game in CWS
Fourth-seeded South Carolina scored three times in the first inning and never trailed in a 7-1 College World Series win over the Virginia baseball team Tuesday evening in front of 22,027 fans at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. The top-seeded Cavaliers will play California at 7 p.m. Thursday (ET) on ESPN2 in an elimination game. The winner of that contest will advance to face South Carolina (52-14) on Friday evening.
Virginia (55-11) tied a season low with five hits, with Chris Taylor racking up a pair of knocks as he extended his career-best hitting streak to 14 games. He is 15-for-34 (.441) in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
Will Roberts took the loss for Virginia and fell to 11-2 this season after allowing six runs (three earned), eight hits and a walk in 3.1 innings. UVa’s bullpen limited the Gamecocks to five hits and a run over the final 5.2 innings.
South Carolina reliever John Taylor (7-1) worked 4.1 shutout innings, allowing just a hit and a walk to earn the win. USC starter Colby Holmes worked 4.1 innings, giving up a run, four hits and a walk while fanning seven.
After a 68-minute rain delay to start the day, South Carolina took advantage of uncharacteristically sloppy UVa defense to score three times in the first inning. Roberts worked quickly in the inning by retiring the first two hitters on five total pitches, including striking out leadoff hitter Evan Marzilli on three straight strikes. Roberts looked to be out of the inning on eight total pitches when Christian Walker hit a 1-1 offering toward third base, but Steven Proscia bobbled the ball for an error.
With Walker on first base Jackie Bradley Jr. deposited Roberts’ first offering into the right centerfield gap for a run-scoring double. Adrian Morales hit a high chopper that bounced over Jared King’s head at first base, scoring Bradley Jr. South Carolina capped the scoring spurt when Brady Thomas doubled off the centerfield wall, plating Morales.
South Carolina added another run in the top of the third inning with two outs. Morales started the rally with a single up the middle and advanced to second on a Thomas single to centerfield. Morales came around and scored on a Peter Mooney single to right field, giving the Gamecocks the 4-0 advantage.
The Gamecocks plated two more in the top of the fourth inning, storming out to a 6-0 advantage. Jake Williams led the inning off with a triple into the right-centerfield gap. He scored when Marzilli doubled to left-centerfield on the following pitch. Scott Wingo advanced Marzilli to third on a sacrifice bunt, which spelled the end of the night for Roberts. UVa head coach Brian O’Connor went to the bullpen and brought Cody Winiarski into the game, giving Roberts his shortest start of the season at 3.1 innings. Winiarski’s first offering of the game to Walker was tagged down the left field line for a RBI double, capping the run for South Carolina.
Virginia broke through in the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run by John Hicks, his eighth of the season and the first hit of the game for the Cavaliers. UVa threatened in the bottom of the fifth inning, loading the bases with one out on a David Coleman hit, followed by a Keith Werman walk and a single by Taylor. South Carolina went to the bullpen and brought in Taylor, who induced John Barr to hit into an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play, silencing the UVa threat.
South Carolina added another run in the top of the eighth inning off UVa reliever Justin Thompson. Robert Beary walked to lead off the inning and advanced to third after back-to-back groundouts. Wingo was hit by a pitch and Walker then singled through the right side, scoring Beary and giving the Gamecocks the 7-1 lead.
VaSportsOnline.com: London-Choices to make at running back
A hundred twenty teams in I-A. Virginia was 118th in total offense in 2009. A key reason for that – the Cavs were 112th in the nation in rushing (99.1 yards a game) and 114th in yards gained per rushing attempt (2.9 yards per attempt).
Remember the old line about three yards and a cloud of dust – yeah, the ‘Hoos couldn’t muster the three yards.
Mike London has a lot to work on with the 2010 Cavs. A focal point has been reviving the running game at UVa., which has in the past featured future NFL starts in the likes of Barry Word, Terry Kirby, Tiki Barber and Thomas Jones.
Don’t get too excited just yet. The leading returning rusher from a year ago is redshirt freshman Dominique Wallace, who ran for 49 yards in three games before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Southern Miss.
Link to story on VaSportsOnline.com.
London: Choices to make at running back
A hundred twenty teams in I-A. Virginia was 118th in total offense in 2009. A key reason for that – the Cavs were 112th in the nation in rushing (99.1 yards a game) and 114th in yards gained per rushing attempt (2.9 yards per attempt).
Remember the old line about three yards and a cloud of dust – yeah, the ‘Hoos couldn’t muster the three yards.
Mike London has a lot to work on with the 2010 Cavs. A focal point has been reviving the running game at UVa., which has in the past featured future NFL starts in the likes of Barry Word, Terry Kirby, Tiki Barber and Thomas Jones.
Don’t get too excited just yet. The leading returning rusher from a year ago is redshirt freshman Dominique Wallace, who ran for 49 yards in three games before suffering a season-ending knee injury at Southern Miss. Read more
VaSportsOnline.com: Training Camp Report-UVa.
The news from Virginia football camp: UVa. is still trying to figure out its running-back situation, and how stud offensive-line recruit Morgan Moses will fit in this fall.
Chris Graham has the latest from ‘Hooville.
Link to story on VaSportsOnline.com.
Training Camp Report: UVa.
The news from Virginia football camp: UVa. is still trying to figure out its running-back situation, and how stud offensive-line recruit Morgan Moses will fit in this fall.
“He came here to play, and he will play,” coach Mike London told reporters on a conference call Wednesday morning.
It’s T-minus 17 days until the Sept. 4 season opener with Richmond. Moses, a 6-6, 350-pound true freshman, is competing for the starting left-tackle slot with sophomore Oday Aboushi.
London said Aboushi has the advantage right now in terms of experience, but even raw, Moses has impressed.
“Big Mo is reaching the point where now he’s getting lined up correctly right now. He’s been doing it just on sheer size and mass alone. It’s hard to run around a guy that big,” London said. Read more
Will UVa. D be better in 4-3?
Depending on how you account for things, around half of the NFL uses a 3-4 defensive front – featuring three down linemen and four linebackers. The scheme is popular with pro coaches looking for ways to slow down West Coast offenses that rely on timing in the passing game and quick hitters on the ground. Teams employing the 3-4 need to have guys with size to play in the front seven, and especially on the line, where the three down linemen need to be able to take on blocks that free up linebackers and safeties to make plays behind them.
The problem with trying to use the 3-4 in college, as former Virginia coach Al Groh found out, comes in recruiting players to fit the scheme.
“I like the 3-4. I think it is a great defense, but it is a little harder to recruit to because of the size of the guys that you’ve got to get,” said Anthony Poindexter, a former All-America at safety and holdover from the Groh regime now on staff with new UVa. coach Mike London.
Poindexter played at Virginia when head coach George Welsh employed a 4-3, which emphasizes speed over size. Think Poindexter in his heyday, Chris Slade, a smallish defensive end in the early 1990s under Welsh who ended up playing linebacker in the NFL.
“The 4-3 gives you the flexibility to take one of those safeties, move them down to linebacker, or take one of those linebackers and move them down to defensive end. I think a lot of that has helped us in our recruiting efforts. Guys that we had to not recruit because of the way we were set up in the past years, now we can recruit them. It will add a little bit more versatility to our team,” Poindexter said.
Versatility may be the operative word for London, also a former Groh assistant, with the switch to the 4-3 this year. The current crop of Cavalier defensive players was recruited to play the 3-4.
“We’ve taken the approach of taking the big safeties and making the big safeties outside backers, taking the outside backers who were standup guys, example, Cam Johnson, who was 228, 232, when he played standup outside linebacker, now he’s like 260, 265, and how he has his hands down on the ground, take a guy like Matt Conrath, who lined up over the tackle, two-gapped the tackle, and move him inside as a tackle – the whole aspect of getting faster and getting more athletic guys on the field is the focus,” London said.
Which is to say, yes, the Cavs could be better on defense this year with the injection of some much-needed speed on that side of the ball. Depth could be an issue, aside from the obvious issue of guys knowing what to do out there.
“I made one small mistake. First meeting, I told them, Don’t worry about making mistakes, just go as fast as you can. So when we made mistakes, and we made a lot of them, it was, You said not to be afraid to make mistakes,” defensive coordinator Jim Reid said of the experience that was spring football.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Virginia: Wild West for athlete agents
Virginia is one of seven states without laws on the books regulating athlete agents. What we do have here – the ability to tell student-athletes who are considered pro prospects to, you know, stay away from big, bad agents who try to steer them down the wrong path.
“What they tell us as far as agents go is don’t talk to them until after the season that you’re eligible. It’s something that I don’t think we have to worry about, because our coach stresses it to us, and we have guys come in to talk to us and tell us how not to get in trouble,” said Tyrod Taylor, the star quarterback at Virginia Tech, which routinely sends players to the NFL.
The issue has come to a head with the recent investigations launched by the NCAA and North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Austin into possible illicit dealings between agents and two star players in the UNC football program, wide receiver Greg Little and defensive tackle Marvin Austin.
North Carolina is among the 42 states with laws on the books regulating agent-athlete relations. The NCAA has its own rules in place regarding when student-athletes can be in contact with agents or agent representatives, but the main sanction that the NCAA has is removing a player’s eligibility.
UNC football coach Butch Davis, at the epicenter of the ongoing recent controversy, thinks the key might be stricter state and federal laws.
“It may be part of the solution – that anybody that does co-opt or get kids into any kind of situation like that, maybe they do need some jail time, maybe they need some fines, maybe they need to lose their license, maybe they need to lose the ability to represent clients. That might be one of the best deterrents,” Davis said.
Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford joins Davis in advocating for stricter laws.
“Having been an AD for 17 years before being in this job for 13, the problem has been there. Believe me, as an AD, or as a coach, you feel vulnerable, to an extent, because it’s not an easy situation to control from an institutional standpoint,” Swofford said.
Swofford also thinks the players associations with the NFL and NBA need to give the NCAA help in dealing with agents and runners who act outside the bounds of NCAA regulations and relevant state laws.
“We as a collegiate community have no (sway) with that group of people,” Swofford said.
University of Virginia senior defensive back Ras-I Dowling, a projected first-round NFL draft pick next spring, is taking the sway out of the process.
“I don’t even buy into it. I’ll wait until after the season to deal with agents. If anybody contacts me, I tell them to contact my father,” Dowling said.
The reason why might make him more valuable to NFL draft-room czars next April.
“What are we talking to agents for? We’ve still got a season to play. You don’t know how that season is going to go,” Dowling said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
UVa. third in Directors’ Cup
Edited by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Virginia finished third in the final 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup competition for Division I schools. The final results were announced Thursday by the National Association of Directors of Athletics (NACDA).
The finish is the best for the Cavaliers in the 17-year history of the Directors’ Cup program. Virginia’s previous best finish was eighth in both 1999 and 2009.
Other ACC schools in the rankings included Florida State at #5, North Carolina at #7, Duke at #10, and Virginia Tech at #40.
UVa.’s rank marked the 17th consecutive year that the Cavaliers recorded a top-30 finish in the Directors’ Cup. Read more
A sad end to a stellar season: OU stuns UVa. in Super Regional finale
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Cody Reine hit two more home runs, including a three-run shot in the first on the heels of a controversial call on a 3-2 pitch to Tyler Ogle by home-plate umpire Chuck Lyon that extended that inning, and Bobby Shore pitched eight strong innings for Oklahoma as the Sooners punched their ticket to Omaha with a surprisingly easy 11-0 win over Virginia in the finale of the Super Regional best-of-three Monday night in Charlottesville. Read more
Two out of three
Column by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Win another weekend series. That’s all Brian O’Connor’s UVa. baseball has to do to get back to the College World Series.
TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com has the column.
The World According To ChrisGraham.com: Two out of three
Posted by afp on June 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Win another weekend series. That’s all Brian O’Connor’s UVa. baseball has to do to get back to the College World Series.
“We’ve won every series we’ve played in this season except one, and it comes down this weekend to a three-game series. We’ve got to approach it the same way, and if we do, hopefully we have a chance to advance on,” O’Connor said yesterday.
Only N.C. State, now out of the NCAA Tournament itself, can claim any sort of conquest over the Cavs, taking two of three from Virginia earlier in the spring in Raleigh.
Link to column on TheWorldAccordingToChrisGraham.com.
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