Henry Godbout and Henry Ford have a lot in common. They were no strangers when they arrived in Charlottesville. Both played at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, and they both enrolled at Virginia in 2023.
The other thing they have in common is a strong bond.
“He’s the hardest worker I know, and just to see it pay off for him and see him have success is the best feeling ever as a team,” Ford said. He’s been great for me and helping me through stuff, and I feel like I do the same for him. We have a special relationship, and it’s super cool to see him have success for all the work he’s put in.”
Apparently, another common trait that Ford and Godbout have is hassling the operation people at Disharoon Park with their late-night batting cage visits.
“I know how hard he’s worked, even at Baylor in high school when we were roommates, some late nights in the cages.” There doesn’t appear to be any deceleration in the cage work. “We go pretty late, pushing midnight sometimes. We have to nag them to keep the lights on for us sometimes.”
The cage work does seem to be in full swing seeing that Godbout and Ford are in the top three in hitting and the top four in slug for Brian O’Connor’s Cavaliers. Godbout led Virginia in hitting last season with a .372 average that ranked sixth in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
O’Connor said Saturday following UVA’s 22-16 win over Boston College that Godbout had the best day he’s had all year. Not only that, he had a career day, scoring five runs, knocking out four hits and plating four RBI – all career best.
“I could even tell in BP that Godbout was ready to go today and locked in. He took the best BP he’d taken all year. He’s got a lot of pride. That kid spends a lot of hours at night in those cages working on his craft and you do that, it pays off if you stay patient and stay with what your approach is.”
“I was seeing the ball better, having better at bats and hit the ball pretty well,” said Godbout. “It’s great when everyone is hitting.”
That was certainly the case on Saturday when hitters 1-4 went 14-for-21, collected 15 RBI and scored 14 of the ‘Hoos’ 22 runs.
“It kind of started with coach [Matt] Kirby in our meeting. He was talking about playing together and playing for each other and I feel like we did that pretty well today,” added Godbout.
“Henry led us in hitting last year average-wise, and he had a great year, but I think he’s even better this year,” O’Conner noted. “We expect these guys to be so great, every game coming out of the gate, and the game doesn’t work that way. You’ve got to stay levelheaded, stay calm and continue to work and let your ability play out.”
The Baylor Boys also have some pretty good defensive numbers in common. Ford is shagging at a stellar .986 and Godbout is manning second base we with a .984 clip.
Godbout and fellow middle infielder Eric Becker have been sharp this season. The pair combined for three double plays in the ‘Hoos’ 7-6 victory over Maryland Tuesday evening.
What was even more amazing was the fact that Saturday against Boston College, Godbout turned two 4-3 double plays.
I asked him when the last time was he turned two 4-3 double plays, and he said, “That’s probably the first time.”
What really impressed me about Godbout was the sincere and matter-of-fact way he answered my last question.
“Obviously in the right spot, balls hit to me, pitcher did their job. It’s pretty easy when you just step on the base and throw it to first.”
BOOM! I love it! He’s Yogi Berra, but he makes perfect sense.
Chris Arroyo closed the night with great tribute to Godbout and Becker.
“It’s awesome! It’s awesome,” Arroyo couldn’t get the words out fast enough. “It’s very, very nice to say that you trust that when they get a ground ball, they’re going to turn it, they’re going to give me a good feed at first base. Trust in your teammates. Everything on that side, we know if they can get to it, they will and they’re going to make a good play on it. It gives you more confidence as a team.”
Bottom line, there is a lot of respect and a lot of guys on this Cavalier squad who care for No. 2. The best part is, he has truly earned it.
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