Things UVA learned out in Texas; Wahoos host VMI

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Brian O’Connor wanted to challenge his baseball team to start the season, so he scheduled the No.-2 ranked Cavaliers into a pair of talent-loaded tournaments. He wanted his players to face quality pitching against high-caliber competition rather than loading up on softer opponents at home.

O’Connor certainly got his wish, facing top-10 competition in Michigan and Oregon State, losing two games in extra innings, including Sunday night to Oklahoma out in chilly Texas, leaving UVA at 3-3 heading into Tuesday’s home opener against undefeated VMI (3 p.m. ACCNX, WINA Radio AM 1070).

Virginia will start left-hander Evan Blanco against VMI southpaw Peyton Dhein at Disharoon Park. Blanco, returning from injury, will be on a pitch count with plans to pitch him once a week in building him up to par.

Blanco will face a 7-0 VMI team that leads the nation in runs per game (14) and steals (67), which averages out at 9.57 steals per game. The closest teams in the country to the Keydets have only 25 steals. VMI is also second nationally in runs scored with 98. The Keydets are off to their best start since 2010.

Despite the three losses in Puerto Rico and Texas, O’Connor’s Cavaliers remain in the nation’s top 10, according to D1 Baseball.

Coming off back-to-back tournaments against outstanding competition, O’Connor and his staff learned a lot about their team that should help them prepare for the ACC.

“Overall, we need more productive at-bats,” O’Connor said Monday afternoon at The Dish. “We’re just not stringing enough productive at-bats together.

“We had a nice second inning against Oklahoma yesterday, where Luke Hanson had a nice hit to the right side and drove in two runs. That was a productive inning with a lot of productive at-bats, and we just need more consistency of that throughout the lineup,” O’Connor said. “You’re not going to roll out and hit four home runs every day and get 20 hits. It’s about having good, consistent, productive at-bats, and that’s where we need to improve on.”

The Virginia skipper pointed out that playing Oklahoma, Oregon State and Minnesota was like facing pitching in the ACC, one of the reasons he wanted to play in the early-season events, in order to challenge his players.

“We got challenged for sure,” O’Connor said.

Overall, he was pleased with the defense his team played out in Texas and that UVA’s starting pitching has been solid.

“You look at what Bryson Moore (sophomore RHP from Fairfax) and freshman Tomas Valincius (freshman left-hander from the Baylor School in Chattanooga, Tenn.) did [Sunday] was impressive,” O’Connor said. “Drew Koenen (sophomore RHP transfer from Dartmouth) out of the bullpen against Oklahoma was really impressive. So there’s some real bright spots we can build on.”

While UVA’s 3-3 start has drawn some criticism after opening the season ranked No. 2 nationally, O’Connor isn’t worried.

“It’s two weekends on the road,” Oaks said. “Look across the country and there are teams that are 6-0, 7-0, 6-1, and they’ve played all their games at home. It’s good to be back here, playing on our own field, and I believe that we’ll get into a groove and start being more productive.”

Valincius has made quite an impression on O’Connor in the early season. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound pitcher, originally from Illinois, where he was rated the No. 1 left-handed pitcher and No. 4 overall player in the state, has given Virginia two quality starts.

“I mean, this kid is really talented,” O’Connor said. “He had Oklahoma locked down the first three innings. He got into a 3-2 count against one of their really good power hitters and the guy hit a fastball out of the ballpark.

“What I was most proud of was even though they got three runs off Valincius, was then he went out there in the sixth inning and saved an inning for our bullpen. That’s something you see out of a 21-year-old. So, his stuff is really good. His competitive spirit is great. I love what he’s doing and I think he’s going to have a very bright future in our uniform, and that he’s going to have a great year.”