It was a pretty productive weekend for the Virginia Cavaliers on the road to the College World Series, as the Hoos put together 42 strikeouts and 29 runs, while only walking four and allowing three runs en route to sweeping the Charlottesville Regional. After shutting Navy out 6-0 and rolling over St. John's 10-2, Virginia destroyed ECU last night, 13-1. The Cavaliers improve to 52-9 on the season and are the only team to have more than 50 wins.
Junior LHP Danny Hultzen was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player. In addition to his 12 strikeouts in 7.0 innings, Hultzen batted .636 (7-11) and batted in five runners over the weekend. Joining Hultzen on the All-Regional Team are John Hicks (C), Chris Taylor (SS), Steven Proscia (3B), John Barr (OF), David Coleman (OF) and Will Roberts (P).
The Hoos will host UC Irvine, who was the No. 3 seed in the Los Angeles Regional. The Anteaters defeated No. 2 Fresno State 12-6, No. 4 San Francisco 4-3 and No. 1 UCLA 4-3.
Cal-Irvine, huh? That sounds familiar. Oh that's right. Just two years ago, in the historical 2009 season that kicked off this three-year Super Regional appearance string, Virginia traveled to the Irvine regional that was coined the "Regional of Death," where the Cavaliers defeated nationally-6th seeded Irvine twice en route to the Super Regional.
Hultzen, by the way, pitched 7.1 scoreless innings against Irvine in 2009. As a freshman.
It's going to be a great weekend in Charlottesville next weekend. Will, I'm sure, will give the full scouting report on Irvine this week.