After last night's wild, woolly 13-7 win over Ole Miss, Virginia Baseball is now poised to win the Charlottesville regional and advance to the super regional. Ole Miss plays St. John's (who beat VCU yesterday, 8-6, to eliminate the Rams) at 1:00 PM today. The loser is eliminated, the winner advances to play the Hoos tonight at 6:00 PM.
Whichever team we face, they would need to beat us tonight and then again tomorrow in order to slip past us to win the regional. An interesting fact: the Hoos haven't lost back-to-back games all season.
Last night, staff ace Danny Hultzen pitched six innings and was credited with the win, but he struggled through most of those innings. Freshman Branden Kline relieved Hultzen and surrendered a home run on his first pitch... but then dominated the rest of the night. Robert Morey is set to take the mound tonight against the Ole Miss / St. John's winner, and Tyler Wilson is ready to pitch again after a short stint on Friday. Closer Kevin Arico has yet to see action this weekend, so he's ready to go, too. If we lose tonight and have to play tomorrow, Cody Winiarski and Branden Kline should both be ready to eat up a few innings.
The big advantage right now is that tonight's game will be our 3rd in three days, while our opponent will be playing their 4th. In other words, their bullpen will be much more chewed up than ours.
Meanwhile, the Cavalier bats remained hot last night. The Hoos stroked 17 hits in scoring the 13 runs. John Barr led the Virginia offense by going 4-for-4 with four RBIs. Jarrett Parker and Tyler Cannon each scored three runs as every starter had at least one hit for the second straight day. Impressive stuff.
Tonight's game could be the one in which we slam the door shut against our regional opponents. Let's get it done. GO HOOS!
In other ACC action...
-- Virginia Tech stayed alive in the loser's bracket of the Columbia regional by shelling Bucknell, 16-7. The Hokies get a rematch with the Citadel for the right to take on South Carolina for the regional crown.
-- Miami crushed Texas A&M, 14-1. The Canes are now sitting pretty in the Coral Gables regional, just like the Hoos in CVille.
-- Florida State slipped past Oregon, 6-4. The Noles are also at 2-0 and in the command position in their regional.
-- Ditto Georgia Tech, who beat Alabama, 5-2.
-- North Carolina lost a heartbreaker to Oklahoma, 7-6. The Heels play Oral Roberts in an elimination game today, with the winner facing the Sooners for the right to advance out of the Norman regional (and face the winner of the CVille regional in the super regional.)
-- NC State was eliminated by Stony Brook, 6-2.
-- Clemson took charge in the Auburn regional by beating the host Tigers, 5-2.
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