No hurdle too high for Cavs

By Jay Jenkins

Published: May 24, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Virginia’s baseball team has a new favorite sound — or lack thereof.

After Michael Schwimer successfully retired Florida State phenom Buster Posey on a liner to short in the ninth inning, a hush fell over the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Florida State, clearly the fan favorite and ranked fourth in the country, had been humbled in stunning fashion.

Virginia, thanks to several game-changing circus catches by right fielder David Coleman and the newfound ability to deliver a clutch hit, upended the Seminoles 5-3 remaining undefeated in Bracket B at the ACC baseball tournament.

Top-ranked North Carolina’s 2-0 victory over Wake Forest late Friday night puts UVa in the title game regardless of the result of today’s game between the Cavaliers and the Demon Deacons. UVa will face the winner of today’s game between Miami and N.C. State on Sunday at 1 p.m., if Clemson upsets Georgia Tech at 10 a.m. If Georgia Tech wins, Miami advances to the title game.

“All year long we were searching for our identity and maybe down here now we are starting to find ourselves a little bit and getting some big wins,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “Obviously, this is another big win for us.

“We are sitting here now, 2-0 in the tournament, and it is obviously where you want to be as a coach and as a team.”

Virginia (38-19) slapped out 11 hits in the contest, pitched effectively on the mound with runners on base and weathered a 53-minute lightning delay in the middle of the contest to register the win against the nation’s leading offense.

Jacob Thompson, the school’s all-time wins leader, set the tone early as he scattered five hits and allowed just two earned runs over five innings.

Thompson (6-4) did not, however, survive the lengthy delay and did not attempt to talk O’Connor out of his decision to go to the bullpen.

“I didn’t give him the opportunity to,” O’Connor said. “It was the best thing for our team and the best thing for the player.”

Staked to a 4-2 lead after the Cavaliers scored a lone run in the fifth after the delay, reliever Matt Packer used 40 pitches to effectively scatter four hits over three runs.

Packer, who sports an ACC-best 1.29 ERA, did allow a run in the seventh on an RBI groundout by Jason Stidham.

Virginia answered — shortstop Greg Miclat, who also drove in a run in the Cavaliers’ three-run third inning on a sac fly, delivered an RBI single to right that allowed Franco Valdes to score a split-second before the ball arrived at the plate, giving the Cavaliers a 5-3 lead.

“Obviously, to have a two-run lead against a team like Florida State makes a big difference,” O’Connor said. “You can manage differently, be a little bit more aggressive on the mound.

“One run is not enough in this league. You have to capitalize on every opportunity you get. Fortunately, it was enough to get the win.”

The complexion of the game changed completely in the eighth.

After Packer allowed a leadoff single to Jack Rye, Florida State’s Dennis Guinn mashed an offering into the gap in right-center. Miraculously, Coleman emerged from out of the picture to make a diving catch.

“That was just a great catch,” said FSU coach Mike Martin. “Dennis hit the heck out of it and Coleman just made a tremendous play.”

Coleman added: “I just ran for it and I looked up and I was able to lay out and make the catch.”

It was not Coleman’s first highlight-reel play of the evening.

In the fourth, Florida State third baseman Stuart Tapley lifted a fly ball down the line in right field that appeared headed for the first row of seats. Once again, Coleman emerged at the last second to make a catch that sent him into the stands.

Florida State (47-10) scored a run on the play as the runner tagged from third and appeared to plate another as Tommy Oravetz attempted to score from second. The umpires, however, ruled that the play was dead after Coleman left the field, allowing the runners to advance one base each.

“I was just trying to get to the ball and all of a sudden the wall came up,” Coleman said. “I didn’t know it was there, I didn’t hear anything, and all of a sudden my legs got taken out from under me and I was in the seats.

“It was early in the game and I thought we needed the out to get some momentum and I really didn’t think about throwing. I tried to get back into play so I put my leg back into the field and threw it in.”

Thanks to both plays, O’Connor summoned Schwimer from the bullpen in the top-half of the ninth.

Schwimer sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a walk before retiring Posey, who entered hitting .471 on the season, on the liner to Miclat.

“It is just no question that the team in the other dugout deserved to win,” Martin said of the Cavaliers. “They played solid baseball, got great pitching, made quality pitches when they needed to … and every time we had a chance, they would do something quality, whether it was an outstanding pitch or a key hit.”

Virginia will close out pool play today at 8 p.m. against Wake Forest. O’Connor will start left-hander Jeff Lorick on the mound, holding ace Pat McAnaney until Sunday’s title game.