Young Cavaliers try to extend season

OXFORD, Miss. — When the 2009 season started, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor did not know what to expect.

With a host of freshmen and sophomores filling the Cavaliers’ roster, the sixth-year manager opened unranked and without great expectations.

Forty-six wins later, the last three in the Irvine Regional, Virginia has raised the bar in meteoric fashion.

Today, Virginia will look to add another chapter to the best season in program history — a Super Regional victory.

With a best two-out-of three format being employed, the Cavaliers (46-12-1) open play at Mississippi (43-18) at 2 p.m. in one of 16 Super Regionals to be played this weekend. UVa and Ole Miss will also meet Saturday at 12 p.m. and on Sunday at 3 p.m. if the programs split the first two games.

“We’re very excited to be here,” O’Connor said at a press conference Thursday. “We’re in the position that you work for all year long, to have a chance to win a series to go to Omaha.”

That quest picked up steam as Virginia won its final eight games, which included perfect records at the ACC tournament and in the regional hosted by top-ranked UC Irvine.

The steady play of late, which has been anchored by strong pitching, has come with little self-imposed pressure.

That will not change at Swayze Field, the players said, despite anticipated crowds of 10,000 fans per game.

“We have taken that approach pretty much every step of the way,” said Virginia sophomore Dan Grovatt, the MVP of the ACC tournament. “We are going to be away, we are going to be on the road, so the pressure will be on the home team to really put on a show for their crowd.

“We are just going to go in there and just play our game and everything will take care of itself.”

O’Connor agreed.

“When you play at home, all the pressure is on you because you are supposed to advance,” he said. “There was a tremendous amount of pressure on Irvine this weekend because they were No. 1 in the country, they were hosting their first regional and everybody just assumes because you host you are supposed to move on.”

There is an obvious advantage, however, to hosting a Super Regional.

“Are the odds a lot greater that when you do host a Super Regional that you move on? Sure, six out of eight teams every year in Omaha host Super Regionals,” O’Connor said. “But for this team, I think its good that we are going on the road.

“I think they have had that attitude all year long that they have something to prove, and I think they are comfortable away from [Davenport Field]. I don’t think there is anything that they are going to back down from, and this weekend is no different.”

Freshman Danny Hultzen will start today on the mound for the Cavaliers. The southpaw is 9-1 on the season with a 2.01 earned run averahe.

“Danny pitched great at Irvine against a really great baseball team,” O’Connor said. “He will give us a great chance to win that opening game and to get momentum for the weekend.”

Hultzen, who has 90 strikeouts in 80.2 innings, said he was excited for the chance to throw in the opener.

“It will be awesome,” the freshman All-American said. “Pitching at Irvine and in the ACC tournament against UNC were great experiences.

“I actually just realized that no other Virginia team has ever done what we have done. That is pretty special.”

Ole Miss will counter with its No. 2 starter, senior Phillip Irwin, thus holding top starter Drew Pomeranz at least one additional day after he pitched 17 innings in the Oxford Regional.

The Rebels, who are 17-13 this year in day games, have been in this situation before. In fact, Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco has led his team to a Super Regional in four of the past five years, but the program has not advanced to the College World Series since 1972.

“The goal has been the same every year. The goal is to get to the College World Series and win a national championship,” Bianco said. “There’s pressure with it. There is pressure when you play in a program like ours and in front of large crowds.

“It’s inevitable, but I didn’t feel this year is any different than any other year.”

Extra bases

Ole Miss All-American Scott Bittle (5-2, 2.17 ERA) was not added to the Rebels’ 25-man roster. Bittle, who was injured May 2, visited Dr. James Andrews and was diagnosed with a strained anterior capsule in his shoulder. … Virginia is 30-1 against non-conference foes this season.