After a disappointing midweek loss to a strong VMI team, the Cavs look to rebound and defeat a rather hot Virginia Tech (I hate saying those words) baseball team. The Cavaliers will look to continue their ACC weekend dominance (NC St doesn't count since their bats are made of kryptonite). Many think this could be the best VT team that they have fielded in about 10 years and will look to reach the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000.
What is making this Hokie team so good is their experience. A majority of their position player starters and pitchers are upperclassmen so they are looking to strike while the iron is hot. At the plate the Hokies are lead by Junior infielder Austin Wates. Wates comes into the game batting .416 with 35 runs and 30 RBIs. At the plate, this will be the one player that the Hoos will have to pitch carefully to. He is their star player and a dangerous one at that. Wates will more than likely be a top-5 round pick this upcoming June in the draft and is trying to lead his team this year to a postseason appearance.
On the mound, they have some pretty good weekend starting pitchers with none of them being really weak. They are lead by their Sunday starter(which is a bit weird) Jesse Hahn. Hahn will be another draft pick in June and is carrying the Hokies on Sundays. In 8 starts, Hahn is 5-2 with a 2.28 ERA....not too bad. It seems a little weird to me that they put Hahn on Sunday but I guess the Hokies are trying to get wins anyway they can.
For this weekend I think the Hoos will take 2 of 3 and win the series. This is a surprising Hokie team and it will probably be a harder fought series that anyone would have imagined at the beginning of the year. I will be there covering the game and tweeting with updates so you can tune your twitter to @STLUVaBaseball if you need them. Anyone sees and wants to talk a little UVA baseball I am always willing. Also, when they play the "Love is Gone" song we are instituting a little jig that we picked up at Ole Miss last year in the Regionals. So, if you hear the song and can find me in the crowd join in so we can make it look awesome with 4000 people doing the same thing.