By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia baseball team scored runs at a prodigious pace last season, averaging 8.6 per game, and many of its top hitters are back this year, including Jake Gelof, Griff O’Ferrall, Casey Saucke and Kyle Teel.
It was not shocking, then, that the No. 19 Cavaliers totaled 49 hits and 39 runs in their first three games this season, defeating Navy 24-5 (in seven innings) on Friday, Ohio 8-4 on Saturday, and UNC Wilmington 7-0 on Sunday.
“From an offensive standpoint, we just returned so much experience,” UVA head coach Brian O’Connor said Monday at Disharoon Park.
Come watch No. 3️⃣ swing it in person on Tuesday. We host Longwood at 3 p.m.
#GoHoos | @KyleTeel9 pic.twitter.com/o4euWV9qLx
— Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) February 20, 2023
More noteworthy to O’Connor was his team’s excellence in other areas. “I thought our pitching and defense was spectacular this weekend,” he said.
The pitchers who collected victories over the weekend were all elsewhere last year. Brian Edgington, who started against Navy, is a graduate transfer from Elon. Nick Parker, who started on Saturday, is a grad transfer from Coastal Carolina, and Jack O’Connor, who started against UNCW, was a senior at Bishop O’Connell High School in Arlington last spring.
From a team that advanced to the NCAA tournament last season, UVA lost most of its proven pitchers. And so the biggest question mark about O’Connor’s 20th team at Virginia is its pitching staff.
More answers will come when ACC play begins next month, but the early signs are promising for the Hoos.
“I thought our starting pitchers all went out and did a terrific job,” O’Connor said. “We did a nice job out of the bullpen, and to play three games and to only have one error is impressive, and that’s what shows up every day, that pitching and defense. That’s what has to be consistent day in and day out to be a championship club.”
Jack O’Connor (no relation) is a 6-foot-5, 235-pound right-hander. Against UNCW, he combined with Jake Berry and Jay Woolfolk on a two-hit shutout. O’Connor, in his UVA debut, allowed only one hit in five innings.
“He earned the opportunity he had [Sunday] in the start,” Brian O’Connor said, “and it didn’t surprise me that he went out and pitched really well against the host team down there in Wilmington … He was really good in the fall….