As June 30 gives way to July 1...

...I feel the need to say this:

Adios, Maryland.  Get the fuck out of our conference.  Go stink up the Big Ten, you filthy losers.

Welcome aboard, Louisville!

Black.

My dear friend Ben said it best:

My heart is black.

One Win Away

I'm at the beach, shitty wifi, close to zero computer time and opportunity for blogging.  But I couldn't let this moment pass without underlining the significance of tonight's game.

National championships in soccer, lacrosse, tennis, polo, bowtie rugby, foxhunting, twiddly winks, and midget tossing are great... but this is our first really good crack at a natty in a sport that actually matters since Ralph Sampson was in the Final Four.

The pitching sets up great for us, I think.  Sborz is on short(ish) rest, but Artie is ready to rock, and Nick Howard should be able to go three strong to close it up.  I really like that we're about to forcefeed them a strict diet of power pitching after they got to experience 9 innings of surgical precision from Bulldog Brandon Waddell.  Big advantage for the Hoos in the "keep 'em off balance" department, I'd say.

The offense has been in a groove against the Dores.  More than in a groove, it's been on fire.  TWENTY-EIGHT hits and 15 runs scored in two games.  No reason to think it'll slow down in game three, other than for the weight of the occasion and the pressure of the situation.  But are you betting against Kenny Towns and company?

My main worry is that Vandy somehow finds a chip for their shoulders after Papi bumped the 3rd baseman who was blocking the basepath last night.  But even if they have that chip, we still have them outclassed on all fronts.  We have the momentum.  We have the "team of destiny" feel.

So here we go.  Huge night, huge game, huge moment.  One win away.  Get it done tonight, and it's my favorite season in any sport ever, and probably the most important national championship Virginia has ever won.

GO HOOS!!

Championship?

Well holy crap. What a sports weekend we just had. In case this is the only UVA-sports related website you read (as if that person exists. My mom, maybe. Hi Mom!): The Wahoos beat Ole Miss 4-1 on Saturday to secure a spot in the final round of the College World Series. They'll play Vanderbilt in a best-of-three series for the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP and it starts TONIGHT. at 8. ON THE TV.



I'm certainly of the opinion that our world-class overall athletics department should be bringing home at least one natty a year - and the baseball team is (unfortunately?) the last chance the Wahoos have for '13-'14 to do so. But oh what a chance it is. Virginia entered the CWS as the highest remaining seed and did everything enough of what was expected of them in their first 3 games in Omaha: great pitching, walk-off wins, just enough timely hitting to secure 3 Ws. Yes, they hit 1-for-435 with RISP, but they Mike Papi came through when it mattered.

Now, with the starting rotation perfectly in place, the Wahoos simply need to continue their strong play for 2 more games. All-word starter Nathan Kirby will take the mound tonight and Brandon Waddell will start game 2 and both are, let's say, super awesome. Especially considering the Hoos are playing in a ball park that refuses to surrender home runs, the strong-pitching small-ball-bunting strong-defense team set up fits perfectly into Coach O'Connor's master plan. Certainly, the Vanderbilt Commodores are also well coached and well positioned to play to their strengths, but here's the thing: We're way better than they are. In every single facet of the game. This isn't hyperbolic homerism I'm slinging, either. Let's approach it academically:

• Starting pitching? Hoos: top tier. Vandy: Good, but not as consistent.
• Relief pitching? Um, Nick freaking Howard.
• Hitting? Well maybe not with RISP recently, but overall, still Hoos. The two teams share similar stats offensively, but we have Mike Papi.
• Defense? Both teams are great. Statistically, you could give it to the 'Dores, but most preview articles I've read by people smarter than me say UVA gets the edge here. Boom.
• Coaching? Brian O'Connor is the best coach in America. It's science.

See? You can't argue with science. 

That all being said, baseball is fickle. Anything could happen. Blah blah blah Championship or bust still best season in UVA baseball history. Go Hoos. Go America.

Wait, what's this doing here? BECAUSE AMERICA, THAT'S WHY.

Raking the Coals

Man, what a game.  I mean, just incredible.  At one point, I felt the momentum swing almost completely in TCU's favor, and started to kind of give up hope.  I'm glad the guys (especially Nate Irving and Artie Lewicki) didn't do the same thing!  And how awesome was it to see Daniel Pinero atone for those two errors with that clutch-as-fuck sacrifice fly?  Wow.

It's a celebration, bitches.

The Hoos are now 2-0 in the CWS.  30 of the last 33 national champions started 2-0 to float along in the winner's bracket, so if you use your maths to extrapolate, it means that Virginia and Vanderbilt combined (call it "Virginanderbilt") now have a 91% chance at winning a natty in Omaha.  I'll take our half of that 91% - 45.5% - and run.

TCU faces Ole Miss tomorrow (Thursday) night at 8:00 PM.  The winner advances to play us on Friday at 8:00 PM.  The loser is eliminated.

UC Irvine and Texas are playing the same loser's bracket elimination game tonight at 8:00.  So the loser of that game and the loser of TCU/Ole Miss will join Louisville and Texas Tech as teams expelled from Omaha.  Which means, in essence, the next time the Hoos take the field, we'll be one of the last four teams alive.  We are [un]officially in the College Baseball Final Four!

I don't have a good plan for the structure of this post, so I'll now just awkwardly ask myself a few questions, and answer them.

Who are we pulling for in that TCU / Ole Miss game?
Well, the good news is that these teams will be playing an extra game, one more than we'll have to.  So arms will be that much more taxed when the winner advances to Friday.  Ole Miss has the better offense, so I'm pulling for TCU to survive the elimination game.  Facing a pitching-reliant team after they've played one more game during the week than you have is a pretty good situation.  So... go Frogs!

Except for this big, dumb redneck.  He can pound sand.

Who will we pitch on Friday?
I think it's obvious that Josh Sborz will take the mound as the starter on Friday.  Great spot for the young man -- riding high on the wave of confidence from his excellent start in the clincher against Maryland, and enjoying the safety net of a Saturday game if we lose on Friday.  He'll be able to just reach back and let it rip.

Can you give an inventory of the pitching staff when Friday rolls around?
Here is who we've seen so far...

SUNDAY
Nathan Kirby -- 84 pitches
Artie Lewicki -- 22 pitches

TUESDAY
Brandon Waddell -- 101 pitches
Nick Howard -- 60 pitches
Whit Mayberry -- 28 pitches
Artie Lewicki -- 24 pitches (46 total)

Lewicki has two wins in two games in the CWS.  Artie party.

At this point, I'd say the only arm off the table is Waddell.  But I'm sure Oak will want to save Kirby for an elimination game OR the first game of the championship series.  I'm also not sure how quickly Nick Howard can bounce back from that extended outing, or how well Artie will respond to so many multi-inning outings in a row.  My guess is that Artie and Whit are available, but only for 25-30 pitches, each.  That leaves some other arms in our bullpen that we have not seen in a while: Austin Young (2.01 ERA, but a rocky appearance in game 2 against Maryland), Connor Jones (3.13 ERA, talented freshman fireballer who has been all sorts of shaky late in the season), David Rosenberger (2.82 ERA, pitched very well in the 2013 postseason), and potentially our secret weapon out of the bullpen, Alec Bettinger (1.23 ERA, a perfect 6-0 in games started this season).  Bottom line, we need Sborz to pitch well in this start, or we'll be forced to delve into some uncharted territory with some of these other guys.  Bettinger could be the key if we need looooong relief.

Again, the good news is that the Ole Miss / TCU winner will be waaaaay worse off, having burned pitchers on Thursday night while our guys are resting and mowing down on chicken fingers and cheese fries.

What is up with our offense???  Why aren't we scoring more runs, dammit?
Well, we hit .308 against Ole Miss, we just had bad cluster luck.  Against TCU, we hit a pretty dismal .234, including an agonizing coldsnap in the last half of the game.  Of course, Mississippi's Chris Ellis and TCU's Brandon Finnegan and Riley Ferrell are elite pitchers in college baseball, so they had some things to say about how our offense performed.  I'm not especially concerned at this point, especially considering the fact that Branden Cogswell, Kenny Towns, and [most surprisingly] Nate Irving are hitting so well.  Mike Papi swings a big stick to match his massive dick, and you know he's got another few key hits in him this postseason.  We really need Joe Mac and Derek Fisher to get going, however.  Once they do, we'll be unstoppable.  I think we'll see a lot more runs scored this weekend, now that we're into the softer parts of these pitching staffs.

Stone cold killer.

National Championship or bust?
Nope.  Win one more game, and it'll be our most productive trip to the College World Series.  As a college baseball fan, you have to be happy with just making it to Omaha.  That being said, I'll take our 45.5% chances to win the whole damn thing.

GO HOOS!!

Quick Hoops Sidebar

Considering the baseball team is playing their biggest game of the year tonight, I figured it's a great time to talk some basketball!

With the NBA draft just 9 days away I found this interview with Joe Harris where he discusses all sorts of things, including the benefits of playing at UVA. Obviously no one is expecting Joe to light the NBA on fire next season, but the ultimate success of guys like Joe and Mike Scott in transitioning to the NBA game from the Bennett system will be a big factor in our ability to recruit the top shelf guys moving forward. While I don't necessarily think we will ever be huge in the one and done game, getting an occasional superstar could go a long way towards getting the program into national title contention. A proven track record of NBA talent is key in demonstrating to those players that even without the monster stats, you can still be successful at the NBA level if you come here.

Right now I have seen Joe projected as high as 36th overall. I think he will most likely end up somewhere in the mid to late second round, but will certainly be on a roster if he goes undrafted.

Juggernaut Virginia Peaks At Perfect Time

From Baseball America's Aaron Fitt:

Juggernaut Virginia Peaks At Perfect Time

Brian O'Connor and Virginia Baseball in the Postseason

All of us are over-the-moon excited about the Hoos heading back to Omaha.  I'll break all of that down, plus more, in another stream of consciousness baseball post later in the week.  But before we get to that, here's this...


When Maryland beat us on Saturday, a post began to take shape in my mind, detailing how Virginia Baseball under Brian O'Connor was a miserable 2-for-5 in Super Regional performances; about how he was similar to Pitt basketball's Jamie Dixon --- frustratingly spinning wheels, stuck in a rut at the Sweet Sixteen level.

Well, as you know, the bats got hot (and by 'hot,' I mean scalding, face-melting HOT -- our Hoos hammered out a .435 team batting average, good for 30 hits and 18 runs across the 2nd and 3rd games) and we won two to take the Super Regional and head to Omaha for the College World Series.  Wahoowa.  Eat a dick, Maryland.

So now, this post is a course correction.  I'm not bemoaning the idea that he's presiding over a program stuck in neutral.  Instead, this post is a celebration.

BOC has been UVA's baseball coach for 11 seasons now... let's take a look at his postseason record during that span.


BOC's Hoos in the Regionals
2004 -- 2-2 (eliminated by Vanderbilt)
2005 -- 0-2 (eliminated by Ohio State)
2006 -- 1-2 (eliminated by Evansville)
2007 -- 2-2 (eliminated by Oregon State)
2008 -- 1-2 (eliminated by CS Fullerton)
2009 -- 3-0
2010 -- 3-1
2011 -- 3-0
2012 -- 1-2 (eliminated by Oklahoma)
2013 -- 3-0
2014 -- 3-0

Thanks to an awesome 16-3 (.842) run over the last six years, O'Connor is a zesty 22-13 (.629) overall in the Regionals.  But prior to 2009, he was scuffling with a 6-10 (.375) record, with five straight eliminations at the Regional level.  Learning how to win in that format (and recruiting / developing better players, allowing for better regular season records and earning more hosting privileges) took some time, but it's obvious that we've "arrived" and that he's figured things out when it comes to managing a team (especially a pitching staff) in the postseason.

If you're any other program in the nation, I think it's a safe bet that seeing your name called as part of the Charlottesville Regional makes your stomach drop out of your asshole.  It's like hitting a brick wall.  As in, we've advanced from five of our last six Regionals, which means we've littered the highway to the Super Regionals with 15 broken and abused also-rans over the course of the last six seasons.  You visit Charlottesville for a Regional, you don't live to see the light of day in a Super Regional (unless, of course, you're Oklahoma).

BOC's Hoos in the Super Regionals
2009 -- 2-1 (@ Ole Miss)
2010 -- 1-2 (vs. Oklahoma)
2011 -- 2-1 (vs. UC Irvine)
2013 -- 0-2 (vs. Mississippi State)
2014 -- 2-1 (vs. Maryland)

7-7 (.500) under O'Connor in the SRs. Three series wins, two series losses.

This year's Super Regional was a pivotal one --- losing to Maryland would have kind of cemented us as [at least somewhat] "weak" at the SR level.  After we lost game 1 to the Turdles and all Hoofans everywhere were assuming disaster, one Wahoos247 poster even went so far as to say: "Choking again. It is what the baseball team does."

But instead, we came back and won the series, and emerged as very, very solid at the SR level under BOC.  As Maryland's coach John Szefc (pronounced "chef") said it: "Virginia [under Brian O'Connor] is a college baseball monster."  Roar.

BOC's Hoos in the College World Series
2009 -- 1-2 (eliminated by Arkansas)
2011 -- 2-2 (eliminated by South Carolina)
2014 -- ???

Here's where BOC gets the golden opportunity to establish himself as the best college baseball coach in the country.  All it takes is a national championship, just one national championship, to get there.  His 3-4 record in the CWS is not spectacular, but it is solid, and every win in Omaha should be savored like a fine aged Scotch.  Every win in Omaha is rare, unique, and special.  It takes at least five of them to claim that national championship, and the worst record you can have and still emerge as a champion is 5-2 (one loss in bracket play and one loss in the championship series).

This is only our third trip to Omaha, and the first two appearances, while solid, were not spectacular.  A recap:

2009
9-5 loss to LSU
7-5 win over CS Fullerton (Fullerton eliminated)
4-3 loss to Arkansas in 12 innings (Virginia eliminated)

2011
6-1 win over California
7-1 loss to South Carolina
8-1 win over California (Cal eliminated)
3-2 loss to South Carolina in 13 innings (Virginia eliminated)

Danny Hultzen's golden arm wasn't enough to gun us past the Gamecocks.

We didn't show particularly well against LSU in our first-ever CWS game (I blame nerves), and we got skunked by the Gamecocks in that winner's bracket game in '11 (I blame South Carolina's awesomeness).  Otherwise, we've either won or gone to extra innings in the other five games.  To me, that equates to showing pretty damn well in the College World Series.  At worst, it is grinding.

This season, the proverbial "next step" would be to emerge from CWS bracket play and make an appearance in the championship series.  Despite so many national seeds already being eliminated, we have a tough draw -- but we'll break that down later this week.

For now, rest easy knowing that after a five-season run at the beginning of Brian O'Connor's career at Virginia in which his Hoos struggled in the postseason, we've solidified into a program that is totally comfortable under the bright lights and big pressure of the postseason.

Confidence, Hoofans.

Secret Weapon: #4 starter Josh Sborz

Fuck it, some early-ass predictions on our story in Omaha:

Sunday, 6/15: Virginia (Kirby) over Ole Miss -- The Rebs are a great team... very similar to Virginia in terms of program composition. What I do think we'll see, however, is the Rebs being a bit wide-eyed and blinky under the big lights, this being their first trip to Omaha in like 400 years.  They'll be happy to be there.  We'll be focused on winning a championship.

Tuesday, 6/17: Virginia (Waddell) over TCU -- I think the Frogs beat Texas Tech to earn this showdown with us in the winner's bracket.  Our superior pitching (read: bullpen) wins a relatively easy 6-3 type of game.

Friday, 6/20: TCU over Virginia (Lewicki) -- We dump them down into the loser's bracket, but they knock off Ole Miss (who eliminates TTU on Tuesday) to climb back to this point.  With that momentum, and with their backs against the wall, the Frogs take this game.

Saturday, 6/21: Virginia (Sborz) over TCU -- At this point, TCU has burned up all of their arms, and we have not.  Simple math.  Hoos advance to the CWS championship series.  (I think we pitch Sborz in this game in a balls-out move to save Kirby for the championship series.  All-in for a championship.)

Monday, 6/23: Vanderbilt over Virginia (Kirby) -- Vandy didn't need to play on Saturday (after cruising through their side of the bracket after beating Louisville in an über-pivotal game 1), so they are rested, relaxed, and confident.  We get a good performance from Kirby, but it's not enough.

Tuesday, 6/24: Virginia (Waddell) over Vanderbilt -- Just because.  Just because there's no way we don't force a decisive game 3.

Wednesday, 6/25: ??? -- I'm not stupid enough to jinx us by predicting a national championship!  But I'm also not sadistic enough to say we'll lose.  Either way, if we get this far it was another great season.

GO HOOS!!

CVille Super Regional & MLB Draft Updates!

I'll update this post as information trickles in...


Charlottesville Super Regional -- Maryland vs. Virginia, Best 2 of 3 Format

Game 1: Maryland 5, Virginia 4 (Terps up 1-0)

Game 2: Virginia 7, Maryland 3 (tied 1-1)

Game 3: Virginia 11, Maryland 2 (HOOS WIN!! Virginia advances to the College World Series!)

Maryland cumulative season stats

Virginia cumulative season stats

Super Regional Preview: Maryland's Offense

Super Regional Preview: Terrapins' Staff

Super Regional Scores

Vanderbilt 11, Stanford 6 (Vandy up 1-0)
Texas 4, Houston 2 (Horns up 1-0)
Louisville 5, Kennesaw State 3 (Cards up 1-0)
UC Irvine 8, Oklahoma State 4 (Eaters up 1-0)
Maryland 5, Virginia 4 (Terps up 1-0)
Texas Tech 1, College of Charleston 0 (TTU up 1-0)
Texas 4, Houston 0 (Texas advances to the College World Series!)
Stanford 5, Vanderbilt 4 (tied 1-1)
TCU 3, Pepperdine 2 (Frogs up 1-0)
Louisville 7, Kennesaw State 4 (Louisville advances to the College World Series!)

LA-Lafayette 9, Ole Miss 5 (Cajuns up 1-0)
UC Irvine 1, Oklahoma State 0 (UC Irvine advances to the College World Series!)
Virginia 7, Maryland 3 (tied 1-1)
Vanderbilt 12, Stanford 5 (Vanderbilt advances to the College World Series!)
Texas Tech 1, College of Charleston 0 (Texas Tech advances to the College World Series!)
Pepperdine 3, TCU 2 (tied 1-1)
Ole Miss 5, LA-Lafayette 2 (tied 1-1)
TCU 6, Pepperdine 5 (TCU advances to the College World Series!)
Virginia 11, Maryland 2 (Virginia advances to the College World Series!)
Ole Miss 10, LA-Lafayette 4 (Ole Miss advances to the College World Series!)

Hoos in the MLB Draft!

Nick Howard (Jr.) -- 1st round, #19 overall, Cincinnati Reds

Derek Fisher (Jr.) -- competitive balance round A, #37 overall, Houston Astros

Mike Papi (Jr.) -- competitive balance round A, #38 overall, Cleveland Indians

Brandon Downes (Jr.) -- 7th round, #213 overall, Kansas City Royals

Branden Cogswell (Jr.) -- 7th round, #222 overall, Oakland Athletics

Artie Lewicki (Sr.) -- 8th round, #250 overall, Detroit Tigers

Whit Mayberry (Sr.) -- 21st round, #640 overall, Detroit Tigers

Nate Irving (Jr.) -- 34th round, #1020 overall, Arizona Diamondbacks

Undrafted:

Kenny Towns (Jr.)

MLB Draft Tracker

WahoozeCast - June, 5th

Hello hello, friends of Wahooze. Get excited - we're back with a podcast for the first time since November! We're terribly sorry we've been away from your ears this long and we've got nearly an hour for you of the three of us rambling PLUS a SPECIAL GUEST.

Click below for a lot of lacrosse/Tony Bennett/baseball insight, technical difficulties, "ums," and the Hartford Whalers: 

Definitely leave comments - we've got plenty of hypothetical questions to discuss, and would love to hear some other answers/opinions!

Say Hello to the Charlottesville SUPER Regional!

It's Maryland.  Oh God, of course it's Maryland.

Replete with horrendous bullshit Bay-area camo.

So now we get to either suffer the humiliating fate of losing to these camouflaged assholes from this clown college, or bask in the joy of slam dunking them the fuck out of the NCAA Baseball Tournament and the ACC altogether.  It's either lose huge or win big.  Fall woefully short of meeting expectations, or meet our expectations and advance - as one of the presumptive favorites - to the College World Series in Omaha.  There is no middle ground.  There is no amiable compromise.  Win... or disaster of epic proportions.  We're carrying the banner for the ACC this weekend, in many, many ways.

Yeah, Maryland is hot right now.  Red hot.  WHITE hot.  But fuck it, dude. We've been building this program for a decade, and we're too freaking loaded with talent and experience to lose to a team of hacks like the Terps.

I think Maryland will have a lot of "just happy to be here" going on this weekend, while we come out ready to go to work. That can be a real positive for us... but it can also quickly degrade into unwanted pressure on the favorite, if, say, we fall behind early with Kirby on the mound in game 1.  Maryland's "happy to be here" could also help them play slick and loose; to drive fast and take chances... which can make an already-dangerous offense that much more dangerous.  It's a tricky situation for the Hoos, no doubt.

Kirby is ready.

Ultimately, I think the cream rises to the top and we sweep 'em on to the garbage bin where they belong.

We banged out 10 hits on [Maryland ace] Jake Stinnett in Greensboro. We lost the game, but we got into him. His 130 Ks this season is an impressive total, but his stuff is hittable. It's good that we've already seen him once this season - and recently!  (Plus, it's not like our bats are ice cold or anything, rolling out of the Regional.  We plated 22 runs on 29 hits against some damn fine Bucknell and Arkansas pitching.)

I think Maryland's #2 starter Mike Shawaryn is more ace-like than Stinnett, but he doesn't scare me either.

Their hitters have been white-hot, but our pitchers are ready for the challenge.  These games will be different than the Arkansas games, but I'm comfortable with us winning a 7-4 type of game.

Maryland's ACC series wins came against NC State, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Pitt.  They took series losses against FSU, UNC, Clemson, Wake, Virginia Tech, and Boston College (who swept them).  They had a good season, but let's not go crazy.  They didn't have a great season.

The more I look at it, the more I love this matchup for the Hoos. The Terps are less talented and less experienced, and new to this stage.  They're hot right now... but so what?  Are they going to win the national championship?  Of course not.  So they're going to lose at some point.  Let's steamroll these punks on our way to Omaha, and send Maryland on their way out of the ACC with the toilet bowl *plop* they deserve.

Read more about the Super Regional here:

fov -- series preview: Maryland

There's also Jeff White's piece from yesterday:

NCAA Super Regional Notebook

I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself with all of this commentary!  Here's the damn Super Regional schedule for this weekend...

• Saturday at 12:00 noon (ESPN2)
• Sunday at 12:00 noon (ESPN2)
• If necessary -- Monday at 4 PM (ESPN2)

The format is simple -- win two of the three games, and advance to Omaha.

Let's just make it a bit easier on ourselves than we did last time...

Earlier, I mentioned that we might be one of the presumptive favorites in the College World Series.  Here's where I'm getting that radical idea.

In a topsy-turvy, upset-heavy Regional round, national seed #1 (Oregon State), #2 (Florida), #4 (Indiana), #5 (FSU), and #8 (LSU) were dumped from the postseason.  Now it's only #3 UVA, #6 LA-Lafayette, and #7 TCU left standing.

Remaining teams (and their final USA Today Rankings):
#1 Louisiana-Lafayette
#4 Virginia
#7 Oklahoma State
#9 Louisville
#10 TCU
#14 Vanderbilt
#15 Houston
#17 Ole Miss
#20 Texas
#23 Texas Tech
#24 Pepperdine
Others Receiving Votes - Maryland, College of Charleston, Stanford
No Mention - Kennesaw State, UC Irvine

There are still a lot of very talented teams floating around out there --- but Virginia has to be considered one of the MOST talented.

Nothing can suss that out any better than taking a look at the MLB Draft, which begins today.  Give me one more click and visit:

Virginia MLB Draft Preview

It looks like we'll see Mike Papi, Derek Fisher, and Nick Howard drafted pretty early, with Branden Cogswell, Brandon Downes, Artie Lewicki, Nasty Nate Irving, Kenny Towns and Whit Mayberry lingering to the middle/late rounds.  That's a load of upperclassmen talent we'll be shuttling off to the professional ranks... but not before the nine of them have their say in this Super Regional and [hopefully] in Omaha.

Am I forgetting anything?

Oh, let me take a stab at predicting our rotation for this weekend.

Saturday -- Nathan Kirby.  For obvious reasons.  We need to get off on the right foot, take that 1-0 series lead and give ourselves two chances to claim the second win.  Plus, we need an über-ace like Kirbs to throw some cold water on that Maryland offense, and hopefully cool them off a bit.  I assume UMD will pitch Stinnett, which gives us a huge advantage since we've already seen that dude.

Sunday -- Brandon Waddell.  Would be good to go ahead and close the door in two games, since the Terps shelled Artie Lewicki in Greensboro.  I obviously like Kirby's chances to win game 1, and I similarly like [former UVA ace] Waddell to win game 2.

Monday -- Josh Sborz.  This is just a guess.  I don't think we'd give Maryland another crack at Lewicki, and reports are that Sborz has been killing it in postseason practices.

Add in a liberal scoop of Nick Howard and Whit Mayberry, then shake until smooth.

Bring on the Terps.

GO HOOS!!

Bonus Section!  Kendall's picks for the Super Regionals!

• Stanford over Vanderbilt in 3
• Texas over Houston in 3
• Louisville over Kennesaw State in 2
• Oklahoma State over UC Irvine in 2
• Virginia over Maryland in 2
• Texas Tech over College of Charleston in 3
• TCU over Pepperdine in 3
• Ole Miss over LA-Lafayette in 3