University Ball

Hard to fathom how we could go from giving up 17 runs to Georgia Tech one day and shutting out the best team in the conference on the next, but that’s baseball. Kudos to Artie Lewicki, who was superb (surrendering just three hits and two walks in seven innings), continuing a trend that’s been going for quite a while now (over his last five starts: 34 IP, 19 hits, seven walks, 17 strikeouts and just six earned runs). He’s been our most consistent starter down the stretch, and deserves to be bumped up to the Saturday spot where Scott Silverstein has been hapless and helpless for a while now.

Anyway, moving on: we’re hosting Oklahoma, Army, and Appalachian State in the Charlottesville Regional. I’ll have more on these foes this week, but we all remember (including BK, who started the clincher) getting hammered by the Sooners in the 2010 Cville Super Regional, a series that constitutes our only meetings with any of these opponents during the BOC era.

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Some games don’t merit discussion, as in lieu of being swung to one direction or the other by a couple strategic moves or individual plays, they’re instead just decided from the get-go when one team just cannot miss the baseball. This was yesterday.

Scott Silverstein continued his doo doo second half by allowing four runs on four hits in just 2.1 innings, but he was just the tip of the iceberg in this one: Nick Howard (who was allowed what felt like three throws to warm up) was shelled for six more in just two-thirds of an inning (four hits, four total walks — it played out just like on MLB 2k5 when you don’t properly warm up your relievers) and Austin Young was thrown out as a white flag and gave up six more in his 3.1 inning outing. Beyond Shane Halley magically healing or us getting desperate and throwing Artie out there, there wasn’t much we could do — those were our best available guys, as Howard and Young have been following Crockett and Halley all season and doing well. It just wasn’t their day.

It didn’t really matter what the bats did, and they were OK, though gagging on some early opportunities with runners on base wasn’t going to help BOC  sleep last night.

We play FSU today, with Artie (our most consistent starter through the stretch run of this season) on the hill. If we can win, and Clemson beats Georgia Tech (which is currently not happening, as the Jackets lead Clemson 5-1 in the bottom of the 7th), we advance to the championship game tomorrow. Let’s all put rally caps on for Clemson, then.

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Weird game: both starting pitchers were lauded for excellent performances by the media afterwards, but both teams drew more walks than they had hits and stranded double-digit runners on the basepaths, so was it really as much good pitching as it was good luck?

I’m glad Lady Luck smiled on us — particularly since the left side of the infield each recorded an error and Nate Irving a passed ball, things that could easily have killed us in this kind of offensively limited game. BK worked seven, giving up just four hits (nice), but walking five and hitting a guy (not so much) while striking out five.

Justin Thompson didn’t work long enough to assure me that he’s back off the schneid, and he did contribute to the parade of walks in his 0.2 inning stint, but he also induced a double-play grounder to end things, so hopefully walking off the field with a positive conclusion will help him.

Our offense came via gifts from Clemson’s staff and patience from our hitters. King and Fisher combined to draw four of our eight walks, and the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth came in via walks (two) and HBP (two) following a Cogswell single.

We’re playing GT right now, with Silverstein on the hill. More tomorrow.

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I’m going to brush our collective shoulders off one last time with this first sentence: Virginia, winner of two of the last three ACC Tournaments and defending champ, opens their title defenseat 11 am on Thursday against Clemson. The ‘Hoos, seeded 4th overall after an uneven (sweeping Miami, sweeps at the hands of UNC and FSU) 18-12 mark in regular season conference play, reside in Pool A alongside top-seeded FSU, fifth-seeded Clemson, and eighth-seeded Georgia Tech. The Clemson game is followed by Georgia Tech at 11 am Friday, and a grudge match with FSU on Saturday afternoon that could quite possibly decide who represents Pool A in the championship game.

let's get gritty!

Vs. Clemson (Thursday, 11 am)

Regular season results Swept the Tigers 6-3, 5-1, 5-3 in C’ville.
Likely starter: Branden Kline, who pitched a complete game two-hitter (K’ing six) in his first encounter with Clemson this year.
Who had Clemson’s number: The Werm went 6-10, Jared King reached on six of 12 plate appearances, Colin Harrington went 5-13. The starting pitchers threw 21 innings, allowing 13 hits and just four earned runs.
Who really didn’t: Mike Papi went 0-9 (but that won’t be an issue), Nate Irving went 1-7 (but he’s come a long way as a hitter since then), and Mitchell Shifflett went 2-10 (but he should mostly just be a defensive sub with a healthy Gragnani and an emergent Brandon Downes).
Likely Clemson starter: Daniel Gossett (6-3, 4.83 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, .231 BAA, 73 K in 63.1 IP)
Who had our number: Leadoff man Steve Wilkerson went 5-13. He was the only Tiger with hits in all three games.
Who didn’t: All-ACC 3b Richie Schaffer went 0-9, 1B Phil Pohl went 2-11, and Clemson’s starting pitchers went just 10 innings in three games, allowing nine earned runs on 13 hits.

Vs. Georgia Tech (Friday, 11 am)

Regular season result: ‘Hoos took two of three in C’ville: winning 6-5, and 4-2, and losing 5-4.
Likely starter: Scott Silverstein, who had one of his better outings of the second half, surrendering two earned runs on three hits and and no walks in a relatively long four inning stint.
Who had GT’s number: Bruno went 4-10 and homered twice. Chris Taylor went 4-12 and scored three times. Kyle Crockett pitched 4.2 shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk and striking out six.
Who really didn’t: Jared King (0-12), Colin Harrington (2-8), Justin Thompson (4 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K)
Likely GT starter: Jake Davies, who surrendered four runs on five hits in 4.2 innings in his Saturday start against us, and struggled all season (0-3, 6.17 ERA, .337 BAA)
Who had our number: Outfielder Daniel Spingola went 5-11, shortstop Mott Hyde (4-11), RP Alex Cruz (7.2 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 3 K)
Who didn’t: GT 1b/DH Jake Davies (1-11).

Vs. FSU (Saturday, 3 pm)
Regular season result: an FSU sweep in Tallahassee: 12-3, 4-3, 7-5.
Likely starter: Artie Lewicki, with plenty of help on deck. Artie went 2.1 against the ‘Noles this season in relief, surrendering a run on three hits and striking out three.
Who had FSU’s number: Branden Kline, who struck out six in 6.1 IP while allowing just four hits and one unearned run, Reed Gragnani (5-13), Jared King (4-9), and Werman (3-8).
Who really didn’t: Chris Taylor (2-12), Mike Papi (1-10), Derek Fisher (2-12), the bullpen (10 IP, 14 ER)
Likely FSU starter: Mike Compton (10-1, 2.96 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, .239 BAA, 50 K in 70 IP), two runs on three hits in 6.1 against us in March.
Who had our number: 2b Devon Travis (4-8), 3B Sherman Johnson (4-12), Jayce Boyd (4-12), the FSU bullpen (14.1 IP, zero ER)
Who didn’t: DH John Nogowski (2-9), the FSU starting pitchers (12.2 IP, 16 hits, eight ER).

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Full story from the mothership. It’s funny that an inconsistent Branden Kline can be an all conference selection, but that our cut-and-dried best player is nowhere to be found, but that’s what happens when our best player occupies the same spot on the field as Richie Schaffer (.344/.470/1.060, 10 HR) and Trea Turner (.340, .449 OBP, 54 steals).

Props to the Werm, who has put together an improbably solid career here. That .991 fielding percentage at second this year is just outstanding.

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