Cavs, Hokies set for big series

Thirty minutes before the first pitch was thrown last Friday night, the newest section of general admission seats at Davenport Field were all but full.

As Virginia coach Brian O’Connor found out, if you build it, they will, in fact, come.

Coupled with the program’s success this season, one that previously saw the Cavaliers climb into the nation’s top spot in multiple polls, the interest in the sport in Central Virginia has reached yet another all-time high.

Just 10 years after the

attendance for a Virginia-Virginia Tech contest drew an announced crowd of 135, the Cavaliers have averaged 2,584 fans per contest.

“The crowd that we had for the Georgia Tech series was really unbelievable,” O’Connor said. “Our fans have really responded and I have to thank them for that.

“Our players really feed off that and it’s important that they support this team.”

For the season, No. 2 Virginia (27-8, 10-5 ACC) ranks 23rd nationally in average attendance and that number has climbed with the addition of the 679 general admission seats down the first-base line.

It has helped the program double their attendance figures through 26 home games from where it stood at that point during the 2009 season.

O’Connor would like to see the massive crowds that witnessed the series against the Yellow Jackets duplicated this weekend against No. 20 Virginia Tech (24-11, 8-7).

“They are coming here after beating Florida State two out of three and Miami two out of three,” the skipper said. “They have a great club and it is going to be one heck of a series.

“It is important that our fans get out here early and get their tickets early.”

A limited number of tickets remain for all three games, including less than 200 for Saturday’s showdown at 4 p.m.

The demand has not gone unnoticed to the players.

Virginia senior infielder Tyler Cannon said he had goose bumps after witnessing the transformation made with the venue.

“It really looks like a stadium now,” he said. “We have seats in left, seats down the first-base line and it makes a world of difference.

“I remember playing games in the middle of the week my first year and we would be lucky to get a couple hundred. Now we get over 2,000 people and we really have a home-field advantage.”

University officials are currently exploring options of adding more seats for the Cavaliers’ final home series against North Carolina in May and potential NCAA tournament games, but a final decision has not been made.

With the increased crowds at Davenport Field has come an added level of pressure and extra ticket requests.

“Everybody wants a ticket now,” Virginia catcher Franco Valdes said. “I have certainly heard from a ton of people that want to come watch us play.”

For now, Virginia’s players and coaches have handled the new demands with relative ease.

“It has been a little bit different,” O’Connor said. “All of sudden we have 4,000 fans and the crowd is so involved with every pitch. That makes it all worthwhile.”