Six student-athletes from the Virginia baseball team have been named to the 2013 All-ACC Baseball Team, which was announced by the league office Monday. In addition to the league-high six all-conference honorees, head coach Brian O’Connor was named the ACC Coach of the Year, while Joe McCarthy (Fr., Scranton, Pa.) was tabbed the ACC Freshman of the Year.
The Cavaliers had four players on the All-ACC First Team: Kyle Crockett (Jr., Poquoson, Va.) at relief pitcher, Reed Gragnani (Sr., Richmond, Va.) at second base, Nick Howard (So., Olney, Md.) at utility and Mike Papi (So., Tunkhannock, Pa.) at outfield.
McCarthy was named to the second team at outfield, while Branden Cogswell (So., Ballston Lake, N.Y.) was a second-team honoree at shortstop.
O’Connor is the league’s coach of the year for the fourth time in his 10 seasons at Virginia. He also was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2004, 2010 and 2011. McCarthy is the second Virginia player to claim Freshman of the Year honors, joining Danny Hultzen, who won the distinction in 2009.
Crockett has gone 4-1 with a 1.97 ERA and 10 saves this year while anchoring the Cavaliers’ bullpen. Opponents have hit just .200 against him. He is on the watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award, presented to the nation’s top relief pitcher.
Gragnani is batting .310 this year while starting 52 of the Cavaliers’ 54 games at second base. Despite batting in the bottom third of the UVa batting order, Gragnani ranks 12th in the ACC with 48 RBI.
Howard has been a standout at the plate and on the mound this year. He is batting .325 with a pair of home runs and 34 RBI and has started 42 games in the batting order while spending time at third base, shortstop and designated hitter. He also was UVa’s Sunday starting pitcher for much of the year and owns a 5-4 record with a 3.43 ERA. Howard is on the watch list for the John Olerud Two-Way Player Award, which is presented to the top two-way player in the country.
Papi has had a sensational year, batting an ACC-best .406 with six home runs and 51 RBI. He was not a starter in the UVa lineup at the beginning of the year, but since being inserted into the Cavaliers’ lineup as a pinch hitter March 15 at Clemson, Papi is batting .438 (53-for-121) with 48 runs and 46 RBI (38 games). He leads the nation this year with a .546 on-base percentage and ranks fourth in batting.
Cogswell ranks 11th in the ACC with a .346 batting average and is fifth in on base percentage (.464) and sixth in runs with 55. He started Virginia’s first 47 games before suffering a broken finger and has missed UVa’s last seven games. Cogswell is on the watch list for the Wallace Award, which presented to the nation’s top shortstop.
McCarthy is batting .333 with 47 RBI and 65 hits this year while primarily serving as the Cavaliers’ three-hole hitter. He has started 52 games and has reached base safely in 49 of those contests.
O’Connor leads the Cavaliers into the ACC Baseball Championship with 45 wins, marking the eighth time in his 10 seasons Virginia has recorded at least 40 wins (the Cavaliers reached 39 wins each of the other two years). Virginia was picked to finish third in the Coastal Division in the preseason coaches’ poll, but currently ranks as high as fifth nationally, and the Cavaliers’ 22 regular-season wins were the most of any conference team.
Virginia (45-9, 22-8 ACC) opens postseason play at 3 p.m. Wednesday when it takes on Virginia Tech in the ACC Baseball Championship at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C. The Cavaliers are seeded third in the field.
2013 All-ACC Baseball Team
FIRST TEAM
- Zane Evans Jr. Catcher Georgia Tech
- Cody Stubbs Sr. First Base North Carolina
- Reed Gragnani Sr. Second Base Virginia
- Colin Moran Jr. Third Base North Carolina **
- Chad Pinder Jr. Third Base Virginia Tech
- Trea Turner So. Shortstop NC State**
- Mike Papi So. Outfield Virginia
- Daniel Palka Jr. Outfield Georgia Tech**
- Tyler Horan Jr. Outfield Virginia Tech
- Nick Howard So. DH/Utility Virginia
- Scott Sitz Sr. Starting Pitcher Florida State
- Buck Farmer Sr. Starting Pitcher Georgia Tech ***
- Bryan Radziewski Jr. Starting Pitcher Miami
- Kent Emanuel Jr. Starting Pitcher North Carolina**
- Carlos Rodon So. Starting Pitcher NC State**
- Kyle Crockett Jr. Relief Pitcher Virginia
SECOND TEAM
- Stephen McGee Jr. Catcher Florida State
- Tarran Senay Sr. First Base NC State
- Steve Wilkerson Jr. Second Base Clemson**
- Andy Perez So. Second Base Duke
- Jordan Betts Jr. Third Base Duke
- Branden Cogswell So. Shortstop Virginia
- DJ Stewart Fr. Outfield Florida State
- Kyle Wren Jr. Outfield Georgia Tech**
- Charlie White So. Outfield Maryland
- Skye Bolt Fr. Outfield North Carolina
- Joe McCarthy Fr. Outfield Virginia
- Shane Kennedy Jr. DH/Utility Clemson
- Daniel Gossett So. Starting Pitcher Clemson
- Luke Weaver So. Starting Pitcher Florida State
- Jimmy Reed Sr. Starting Pitcher Maryland
- Trent Thornton Fr. Relief Pitcher North Carolina
Player of the Year: Colin Moran, North Carolina
Pitcher of the Year: Kent Emanuel, North Carolina
Freshman of the Year: Joe McCarthy, Virginia
Coach of the Year: Brian O’Connor, Virginia
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