Brian O’Connor got a taste of international baseball this summer in a 22-day stint with USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team. The experience whetted his appetite for more. O’Connor, Virginia’s longtime baseball coach, was the pitching coach on manager Paul Mainieri’s USA team that went 11-3 in series against Chinese Taipei, Japan and Cuba. The USA swept its five-game series against Taipei, won three of five against Japan, and went 3-1 vs. Cuba, with the final game rained out. Brian O’Connor Makes A Visit To The Mound For Team USA Certainly, O’Connor’s pitching staff did its job. The USA arms were […]

Mike Cubbage (right) with UVA baseball Coach Brian O’Connor during Cubbage’s induction into UVA Hall Of Fame Fasten your seatbelts. We’re stepping into Hootie’s Way Back Machine, and remember that we have to hit 88 mph on the keyboard before the flux capacitor will start. Also, try not to interact with yourself or others as it will upset the space-time continuum … July 27, 1978 Charlottesville native and current resident, Mike Cubbage, known to friends and former baseball players and coaches as “Cubby,” accomplished one of the most rare feats in Major League Baseball. As a member of the Minnesota […]

At the beginning of the Major League Baseball season, Mark Reynolds didn’t even have a team. Eight weeks ago today, he was called up from the minors to play his first game of the season for the Washington Nationals. Last night he made history. The former UVA star went 5 for 5 last night against the Miami Marlins including 2 home runs, two singles and a double while driving in 10 runs. That not only tied the Nationals’ team record for RBI in a game (with Anthony Rendon) but put him in elite company as he became only the 15th […]

Mark Reynolds is on fire heading into today’s Washington Nationals’ home game against the Miami Marlins. Reynolds, who is UVa’s all-time home run king, tied a Nationals’ record record with a 10-RBI night on Saturday in Washington’s 18-4 win. He blasted two home runs in a 5-for-5 night that continued his spectacular weekend, which included a walk-off home run on Friday night also against the Marlins. “Yeah, that’s like a good two weeks,” Reynolds quipped to sportswriters after Saturday night’s performance. “These things don’t happen often. “I’ve been playing a long time and I’ve only had five [RBI in a […]

Brian O’Connor has worked wonders for the University of Virginia baseball program and at the same time enhanced the ACC’s national reputation in the sport by giving the conference its first national championship (2015) since Wake Forest’s in 1955. Now, it was time for O’Connor to do something for his country, and a little bit for himself. When the National Anthem played at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., on Thursday night, prior to the U.S. game versus Chinese Taipei, O’Connor felt the spine-tingling chills any American coach or athlete has felt for his country. Standing alongside […]