"Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year." --Og Mandino, the American essayist and Psychologist
"Today's opportunities erase yesterday's failures" --Gene Brown
Trust me when I tell you that these quotes exemplify the thoughts of the UVa baseball team today. Going into yesterday, many (including this guy and probably the whole team) felt pretty comfortable having to play a tired and thin-pitching St. John's team. Well, that was yesterday. It didn't go well. We know how it ended and it doesn't need to be rehashed.
Today the Hoos will play St. Johns at 6 pm to decide who will advance to the super-Regional. St. Johns will have their ace, Hansen, on the mound but in his start on Friday against Ole Miss he didn't last long and Ole Miss was able to score 10 runs in the game. The Rebels hitting was not as strong as the Cavs. As for UVa, I would expect Cody Winiarski to get the start on the mound. Coach O'Connor said he would have to think about who was going to start but since Cody has the most rest I would expect him to get the start. Unfortunately for Cody, his leash will be as short as the right field fence in Greensboro. Any trouble at all and Branden Kline will be up getting hot in the bullpen followed close behind by Neal Davis, Justin Thompson, Tyler Wilson, and Kevin Arico (who hasn't pitched all weekend).
Another factor to look at tonight will be the affect that the first year draft has on the game. The draft begins tonight at 7 and hopefully all the Hoo players will keep that out of their mind. The only player I could imagine would be drafted tonight would be Jarrett Parker. I am sure Coach O'Connor has talked to all the players about the situation and told them that the only thing to worry about right now is the Red Storm.
One final thing about yesterday: a '6-3 190 lb freshman out of guido country NY hits 24 Home Runs on the year and has 83 RBIs? I just hope he got randomly tested after the game.
I'll be live-tweeting the game @STLUVaBaseball. Go Hoos and WAHOOWA