Youthful Cavs ready for fresh start

Brian O’Connor has officially turned the page.

On Tuesday, Virginia’s baseball coach, 20 veteran players and 11 new faces took the first step at ensuring a magical run of NCAA Tournament appearances rolls on.

It will serve as O’Connor’s first glimpse at the dynamics of a roster that was ravaged by the Major League Baseball Draft and was adequately coined the most “youthful” of his tenure.

“This day is always special for our program because it starts a new chapter, a new year,” the skipper said. “We have a lot of new players that have joined the program and we are excited about those guys and we think they can make contributions, but equally with that, we have a lot of veteran players who had really outstanding summers.

“They really stood out in their summer leagues or on their teams, and it’s really important that they go out there and get after it. And we also had guys with successful summers in the weight room.”

After a nerving summer, O’Connor finally has reason to relax — the deadline to sign players selected in the MLB Draft passed August 15. UVa lost four underclassmen to the draft, and a pair of players (Pete Hissey and Tyler Massey) from the incoming class inked with professional for signing bonuses that will equal almost $2 million.

Five players drafted, however, did not sign with the professional teams that drafted them. The figure is the largest to shun the professional ranks during O’Connor’s six seasons.

“That shows to the ability of the players drafted and sure we lost a couple, but that happens in college baseball,” O’Connor said. “If you are going to recruit great players, you’re going to have a chance of losing them and they aren’t going to enroll, but that’s part of the business.

“You just have to move forward with the players that went to be here and want the college experience.”

Perhaps the prize of the class,

left-handed pitcher Danny Hueltzen, made his intentions known before the draft. Despite being viewed as a first-round talent, the high school All-American had a strong desire to play college baseball and slipped to the 10th round where he was picked by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

“I knew all along that this was where I wanted to be. I wanted to come here all along,” Hueltzen said. “Now that I am here, it’s real exciting. It’s going to be great once this gets started. I am just going to work hard and try to get a spot on the field.”

Six of the incoming players did not get drafted for myriad of reasons. One of those was former Lake Braddock High standout Shane Holley, who is an outfielder and a pitcher.

“On my official visit, I fell in love with the campus, the superior academics and the great athletics,” said Holley, who was also a quarterback. “I had to choose a school and I didn’t think it was going to get better than this, especially with the baseball program they have.”

“I took a couple of summer classes and we’d come out and look out at the field. I just can’t wait until the fans are in the stands. It’s going to be awesome.”

O’Connor also announced that RHP Robert Poutier was recently granted a fifth year of eligibility stemming from a medical redshirt landed after he appeared in just four games in 2006.

The news was not as good in regards to a pair of rising sophomore pitchers who were on the roster last year. Right-hander Jake Cowan transferred to a junior college in Texas to ensure eligibility this season, and southpaw Sean Tierney transferred to James Madison but will be forced to sit out the 2009 season per new NCAA rules.

Due to lingering arm problems, reliever Jake Rule will not return for his final year of eligibility.

With only two players back that registered 200-plus at-bats last season, O’Connor knows that his new faces will be asked to contribute out of the gate.

“In college baseball, because of the nature of the sport and the professional draft, you have to rely on freshmen to come in and make immediate contributions,” he said. “I like our new recruits and I think they can come in and help us right away.

“This will be, by far, the most youthful team that we’ve had in six years. That youth makes it exciting. Every job on the field is open for competition. That’s going to make it an exciting fall.”

Virginia will play the Ontario Blue Jays in an exhibition game on Sept. 19 at Davenport Field at 4 p.m. The Orange & Blue World Series, boasting a seven-game format, will be played starting the first week of October.