Contrary to many UVa fan's beliefs, there are other spring sports other than lacrosse. Okay, I think I am done being a hater for this column. With the 2011 season kicking off on Friday I wanted to take a look at the schedule for this upcoming year like I did last year. I'm sure many of you know I was pretty darn close at my record prediction and made the bold prediction that the boys would reach 50 wins last year. They ended up with 51 wins on the season. Not too bad.
This year, the Hoos will have games against 10 of the 64 2010 NCAA tournament teams including all of the ACC squads that made the tournament. Three of the opponents are currently ranked in Baseball America's preseason top 25 including Clemson, Miami, and Florida State. Clemson and FSU you will remember made Omaha last year and are regarded as possibilities to make a return run.
So, without further ado, I give you my game by game breakdown and prediction of the 2011 Cavaliers baseball schedule:
UAB (@Auburn)- W
Auburn (@Auburn)- L
Arkansas St (@Auburn)- W
VMI- W
East Carolina- 2/3
William and Mary- W
Niagara- W
Cornell- 2/2
Rider- 2/2(Anyone tell me the last time we played Rider?)
Marshall- W
Clemson- 1/3 (preseason top 10
James Madison- W
FSU- 2/3
Towson-2/2
Maryland- 2/3 (Maryland will surprise folks with a boatload of JUCO transfers)
GWU- W
VPI&SU- 3/3 (Good team last year and lost 9/10 of team means they're back to being a terrible team)
Radford- W
GT- 2/3
Georgetown- W
Coastal Carolina- L (Still can't think we'll ever beat them)
Duke- 2/3
Radford- W
Richmond- W
NC State- 2/3
VCU- W
BC- 2/3
VCU- W
Miami- 1/3 (Not sure why but I just hate playing da U)
High Point- W
UNC- 2/3 (First time ever they won't have a stud SP but they'll still be a solid squad)
Entering the ACC Tournament I think the Hoos should be somewhere around 42-14 which will easily put them in the NCAA tournament and more than likely hosting a regional. Looks to be another great year for the better spring sport.