The UVA baseball team dropped only its 4th game of the season last night, 9-8 to Radford when a 9th inning rally fell short. However all is not lost as the Hoos are now 30-4 on the season and ranked 4th in the country. Radford is also a very good team, improving to 20-11. Is this the time to panic? Of course not. That being said, there is something that we should all become very aware of.
It was pointed out on the Wahoos247 message board that Friday night ace Brandon Waddell seems to be hitting some sort of freshman wall. While this is not the end of the world, it is certainly something to pay attention to moving forward. The freshman wall is a real thing everybody, you need to prepare to be able to deal with it. Just like the basketball team would leave you with befuddlingly bad performances this past season, occasionally you are going to see the baseball team do the same. However, the pure talent on the staff should be able to overcome what could turn out just to be a speedbump, rather than a wall.
It's not all bad news though! Kyle Crockett has emerged as a force at the back end of the bullpen. Artie Lewicki is back (though he got roughed up)! Josh Sborz continues to impress. And Nate Kirby continues to show great improvement. This team has a plethora of arms, and is built to handle these kinds of issues. Silverstein and Howard have been rock solid on Saturday and Sunday. And of course the offense continues to surge.
This is the season where Oak earns his money. Having too much talent can often make it difficult to manage. However Coach Oak is handling this beautifully. I suspect you might see attempts to get other pitchers stretched out just in case Waddell continues to struggle, but one thing is certain. This loss to Radford is nothing more than a speedbump on the road to Omaha.
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