Cavaliers learn lessons from in-state rival

Outwardly, Brian O’Connor was trying to put a happy face on winning yet another weekend series, taking two of three from state rival Virginia Tech. But this happy face came with an asterisk.

Inside, the Virginia skipper was stewing about the one that got away. His Cavaliers came within one strike of sweeping the visiting Hokies in the three-game set, but instead the Cavs came unraveled in the ninth inning and dropped an 8-5 decision.

In the process, his two most reliable relievers, Kevin Arico and Tyler Wilson failed in the clutch, allowing Tech to score five runs in the top of the ninth for the win.

Until then, the day had gone pretty well for the Wahoos. Playing before a third consecutive sellout crowd of 4,219, Virginia had found a way to beat the heat of Hokies starter Jesse Hahn, who hit the 96 mph mark with regularity on the day. Sunday starter Cody Winiarski had handcuffed Tech’s batting lineup, scattering four hits and issuing no bases on balls. Reliever Branden Kline gave UVa two flawless innings of relief and centerfielder Jarrett Parker seemed to have rediscovered his batting groove with a 3 for 4 (two RBI) day, including a home run.

Late collapse dooms UVa
All the Cavs had to do going into the ninth was hand it over to Arico, who leads the nation in saves, put it in auto-pilot and call it a day.

The Hokies had other thoughts.

Coach Paul Hughes talked afterward about how there wasn’t a single negative vibe in his dugout, unlike the past two seasons. This win, he hoped, would start something big for his team, ranked 20th in the nation coming into the weekend.

“To beat a tremendous team, against a kid who is leading the country in saves, is a character-builder, and we’ll see how far the momentum can take us,” the Tech coach said.

He felt like it just might have been the best win for his Hokies during his four years at the helm.

“To me [Virginia’s] as well-rounded and as deep a team as I’ve ever coached against,” Hughes said.

Except for the ninth-inning collapse, it was a good weekend for the Wahoos, who separated themselves in the ACC Coastal Division standings from the Hokies, and kept pace with red-hot Georgia Tech and Miami just ahead of them.

The Yellow Jackets (15-3 in the ACC) swept Clemson, while Miami beat North Carolina on Sunday to stay a game back of the Jackets. Virginia, now 12-6 has some work to do, but will have two weekend series on the roads coming up at Maryland (4-14) and Duke (6-12).

Georgia Tech’s next two league series are against the Hokies (in Atlanta) and at N.C. State, while Miami has to travel to rival Florida State before hosting Maryland. The Hurricanes still have a three-game set at Georgia Tech and hosts Virginia to end the regular season, so there’s still a lot of baseball to be played.

That’s why after the dust had settled Sunday that O’Connor, the loss still unrelentingly gnawing at him, had to search for silver linings from the weekend.

The Cavaliers have dropped only one weekend series all season (at N.C. State), so there were lessons learned against the Hokies.

His three weekend starters — Danny Hultzen, Robert Morey, and Winiarski — went 7, 7, and 6 innings against Tech, pitching deep into the games, sparing the arms of UVa’s bullpen. If those three can continue to last that long on the hill the rest of the way, the Cavaliers are going to be awfully hard to beat.

While Arico and Wilson surprisingly came up short, O’Connor knows it’s a temporary thing. Still, you can’t blame him for being hot under the collar over blowing the opportunity.

Parker’s bat was a good thing as well. He confessed afterward he had been stressed, trying to do too much, but just relaxed. Good news to O’Connor’s ears.

“If we’re going to have a great offensive ball club, Parker is going to need to fill his role,” the coach said.

Until next time, the Cavs will have to put the weekend into the perspective of rock singer Meat Loaf: two out of three ain’t bad.