Virginia fans, being Virginia fans, are worried sick over the beatdown handed to their baseball team by Miami this past weekend, maybe rightly so, almost certainly more than they need to be.
Maybe rightly so, because the pitching staff has been getting beaten around the past couple of weekends now, first by Georgia Tech last weekend, then by Miami, to the tune of an 8.11 staff ERA over the six-game stretch.
Suddenly, Brian O’Connor and pitching coach Drew Dickinson have to have some doubts about ace Nate Savino (4-2, 3.89 ERA), who has been touched up for 11 earned runs in nine innings in his last two starts, Brian Gursky (5-0, 3.89 ERA), who has given up six earned in eight innings over his past two, and Jake Berry (4-1, 4.65 ERA), who has given up 10 earned runs in 8.2 innings the past two weekends.
That’s a 9.47 ERA for the rotation.
Yeah, yikes.
This after Oak and Dickinson decided to demote Opening Day starter Brandon Neeck (2-2, 4.82 ERA) to the bullpen after he gave up five runs in two and a third in an 8-2 loss to Wake Forest back on March 27.
Neeck took the loss in Game 2 at Miami, giving up a seventh inning homer to Yohandy Morales, before rallying to strike out five in two and a third innings of work out of the pen.
O’Connor said Monday that he’s starting his closer, Will Geerdes (2-0, 4.00 ERA) on Tuesday against Old Dominion to try to get Geerdes back on track after he gave up six runs, five earned, in a third of an inning in Sunday’s 15-5 loss at Miami, an appearance in which he walked four and hit a batter before getting the hook.
OK, so fans are rightly worried about the pitching staff, but O’Connor had noted a couple of weeks ago that he expected his team to hit a rough patch, to get punched in the mouth, and that’s happened now, and it’s time for the staff to adjust.
Oak and Dickinson have a track record that suggests that they’ll get the pitching turned around.
This is why it’s almost certainly more a case that fans are worrying more than they need to. Keep in mind, it’s not even mid-April yet. Last year at this time, Virginia was 16-15 overall, 8-13 in the ACC, and nobody had the ‘Hoos even getting an NCAA Tournament berth, much less winning their opening game in the College World Series.
Chalk this past weekend up to, Miami is hot right now – the ‘Canes have now won 13 straight – and baseball has a way of giving teams that have 26-3 runs comeuppance at some point in a long season.
O’Connor and Dickinson will use the next few weeks of regular-season play to get guys at bats, innings, maybe develop a fourth starter with the mid-week games, to be ready for a loss in either the regional round or the first round of the CWS, which are both double-elimination.
This isn’t Oak’s first rodeo. He knows what he has with this group, and that his job is to get it to Omaha.
Story by Chris Graham
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