Virginia won’t come home empty-handed

OMAHA, Neb. — Much was made of Virginia coach Brian O’Connor’s return trip to Rosenblatt Stadium and the College World Series.

There is, however, another interesting angle to go with the Cavaliers’ first trip to the Nebraska-based baseball gala.

That is where Ryan Briggs enters the picture.

An unknown in Virginia circles, Briggs strolled out to the Cavaliers’ practice session Tuesday afternoon at Creighton University sporting a Virginia baseball hat.

He smiled throughout. He let thoughts dance in his head of being on that field.

It could happen soon. Like real soon.

Briggs, a recent graduate from Creighton Prep in Omaha, signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Virginia next year.

That process will start in August with an arrival at Virginia, but with a magical postseason ride that included numerous stunning feats, the Cavaliers (49-14-1) made their way to Briggs.

“As a guy growing up here and watching all the teams play in the College World Series and asking for autographs when players got off the bus and asking for memorabilia, it is unreal to see Virginia here,” said Briggs, a two-way standout at Creighton Prep. “It really is crazy. It is just really surreal that I could be the guy on the field at Virginia or in the dugout at the College World Series.”

It would be easy to assume that O’Connor, a native of nearby Council Bluffs, Iowa, played a huge role in the recruitment of Briggs.

That is only partly true.

Briggs, a bookworm of sorts who scored 32 on the ACT and has a 4.0 grade point average, went to baseball camps at Oklahoma State, Princeton, Stanford and Virginia as a junior.

When he told his coach, Pat Mooney, that he was going to UVa, Mooney chuckled. It was at Creighton University that Mooney played alongside and later coach O’Connor.

The two coaches talk regularly.

“I didn’t really know about their connection until I talked to our coach about it,” Briggs said. “When I was going to camp in the fall of my junior year, I said, ‘Hey, I am going to this camp in Virginia.’”

O’Connor, with a personal endorsement provided by Mooney, quickly impressed the right-handed pitcher and outfielder.

“He seems from the outside to be a player’s coach,” Briggs said. “All the players really respect him and he seems like a great guy to be around. He is always happy.”

As a sophomore and junior, Briggs impressed offensively.

Later, still hitting in the clean-up spot, Briggs struggled at times offensively as he became the ace for the team on the mound.

Leading Creighton Prep to the state title game as a right-hander that touched 93 miles per hour, Briggs went 7-0 and worked deep into the championship before the game turned wild.

After a three-run, inside-the-park homer for Westside, Creighton Prep’s top rival, Briggs was drilled with two pitches in the final inning only to be told that he leaned into the pitch.

At Virginia, at least initially, Briggs is likely to be used as a pitcher in assistant coach Karl Kuhn’s complex system.

“Briggs has an excellent arm, has a lot of talent, is a bright kid and I don’t think Brian will have any problem with him,” he said. “He has great parents and he is going to be a good kid. He will probably get a chance on the mound for Brian and eventually he might be one of those two-way players for Brian that will help with the roster limits in place.”

For now, Briggs is excited to watch another College World Series game that will include a host of future teammates. Yet he has tried to keep his distance from the players and coaches, merely taking in practices to get a feel for what 2010 will entail.

“I don’t want to be a nuisance,” Briggs said. “I feel a little uncomfortable being here. This isn’t my team. It is them. I didn’t earn any of this.”

That will change in weeks when he arrives and officially joins the program. Landing a return trip is the mission.

“It has always been a dream and I wanted to go to school where I could go back to Omaha as a player,” he said. “I felt like they were going to do it seeing what they had and what they were doing. Going to regionals six years in a row, I knew they were going to make the jump at some point.”

“They have a great ERA and great hitting and just needed to put it all together late in the year. We can keep that up with what we have in place.”

Going a long ways

During a planned social outing this week, Virginia’s players were allowed to hit golf balls at a driving range in Iowa.

One player stood out for reasons outside of his imposing 6-foot-6 frame.

Danny Hultzen, the starting pitcher today against Arkansas for Virginia, admitted he was not headed for the PGA tour.

“You can ask Scott Silverstein about that,” he chuckled. “He can hit a ball 300 yards for you.”

Silverstein, unable to pitch this year due to a labrum injury suffered as a senior in high school in 2008 and limited to hitting duties, said he hoped to play golf upon his arrival back to Charlottesville.

He has one flaw.

“I have no short game,” he joked.

The power of Eddie

Virginia improved to 5-0 in coin flips since the arrival of assistant coach Eddie Smith and will bat last and wear white uniforms today against Arkansas.

A former player at Notre Dame, Smith has won four coin flips with correct calls to determine the home team in postseason contests and watched as Ole Miss lost a coin toss for the right to bat last in the final game of the Oxford Super Regional.

“O’Connor may have to keep Eddie around forever just because of that,” one unnamed member of the traveling party joked.