Virginia’s Carraway goes to slider school

DURHAM, N.C. — A pitch that had vanished from Andrew Carraway’s arsenal became an ace up his sleeve Thursday night.

After struggling to fool batters in his two previous outings, Virginia’s senior rediscovered a pitch that ultimately propelled the Cavaliers to a 6-5 upset over third-seeded Clemson at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the ACC tournament.

“The command of his slider is something that he struggled with the last few weeks,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “It has always been a good out pitch for him, along with his fastball. It was nice to have him back pitching like he is capable of.”

Relegated to the bullpen after recent struggles as the team’s No. 2 starter, Carraway retired 13 of the 14 batters that he faced, fanning seven batters in the process of boosting Virginia to 40-12-1 overall.

Credit some lengthy classroom hours that Carraway and pitching coach Karl Kuhn logged for the improvements in the senior’s mechanics.

“That [slider] has been the one that has hurt me the last couple of weeks,” Carraway said. “During finals, Coach K and I did a lot of work with it. I hadn’t had it all year and it is a pitch you need against right-handed teams.

“You are going to want that to move it away from right-handed batters, which is the advantage of being a right-handed pitcher against a right-handed hitter. I hadn’t had it so we sat there and talked about it.”

Even though Carraway was nearing the end of a career that includes a 17-4 record on the mound, Kuhn started from scratch.

“He completely revamped the pitch,” Carraway said. “We were doing a lot to fix it. After Virginia Tech, we probably did 20 hours worth of skill work on my slider and fine-tuning my mechanics.

“He put in all the work you could ever ask a coach to do.”

The story gets even better.

On Tuesday, after the team arrived in Durham, N.C., Carraway was summoned to a meeting room late in the night for one final lesson.

“He had me down there at 10 p.m. working on it,” Carraway chuckled. “We were doing a towel drill, just working on mechanics.

“He wanted me to get my glove up high and be able to continue forward with my body. He thought once I fixed that, my slider would come along with it.”

Kuhn said Carraway’s willingness to listen made it an easier task.

“Not only is he a tremendous worker, but what makes the work take on a new life is the way that he communicates with you,” said Kuhn, the tutor of a pitching staff that boasts an earned-run average of 3.34. “Andrew is a great communicator and that is because he is an intelligent kid.

“He lets you know what he is thinking and feeling. He will let you know if it is a little too much or not enough. It’s not just leaving all the work on you as a coach. He is taking such an active part with it and he takes responsibility for it.”

Carraway entered Thursday’s contest in relief of embattled starter Matt Packer with Virginia trailing 5-2 in the fourth inning.

After the Cavaliers added four additional runs in the fifth, taking a 6-5 lead, Carraway kept the margin exactly there until giving way to closer Kevin Arico in the ninth.

His willingness to approach the role as a reliever did not come without an uneasy feeling. When he was called into a meeting Monday with O’Connor, Carraway feared the worst.

“I thought that it might be happening so I had some expectations of what he might be telling me,” he recounted. “When he first said it, I was obviously disappointed. You want to end your career starting in the ACC tournament, and that always meant there was a chance that I wasn’t even going to pitch here.”

O’Connor told Carraway that Virginia needed to win its first two games, which included Friday’s late game with second-seeded North Carolina, to have a shot at playing for the title.

“It hits you — that’s not why you are here. You are not here as a Virginia Cavalier to start in the ACC tournament,” Carraway said. “You are here to win championships. You are here to do everything your team can do to win.”

Watching fellow captain Robert Poutier, in his fifth year, on a daily basis also brought a helpful remember for Carraway to remove any selfish feelings.

“Watching Poutier — I mean, that guy gets to the stadium an hour early every single day just to hit fungoes to infielders,” Carraway said. “He literally does everything he can even if he is not pitching.”

The outing by Carraway against Clemson, the Cavaliers’ lone meeting this year with the Tigers, required just 50 pitches and was greeted by numerous text messages and an e-mail from Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage.

“He said, ‘Huge relief effort,’” Carraway said with a smile.

Virginia will close out action in the pool-play portion of the tournament today at 8 p.m. against seventh-seeded Duke.