Virginia Gets Lift From Bottom Of Order With Its 'No Easy Outs' Lineup

Despite a clean sweep of the NCAA Tournament Charlottesville Regional where the Virginia baseball team secured wins 4-2 over Penn and 5-4 plus 9-2 over Mississippi State, there remains some chatter and concerns about UVA’s top five offense. Or lack of UVA’s top offense to be more specific.

After a season full of lofty numbers, this weekend marked only the third time on the schedule that the Hoos scored 5 or fewer runs in back-to-back games. Before the Bulldogs melted down in the final inning Sunday, Virginia held a narrow 3-2 lead through it’s nine turns at-bat too.

It’s easy to forget that Virginia faced arguably Penn’s and Mississippi State’s best arms coming into the Charlottesville Regional. In the postseason, teams are going to be challenged potentially by better pitching than they normally contend with during the regular season. That means a good offense finds variable ways to get on base and do different things to score runs.

Basically, that means you can’t assume anything said Virginia skipper Brian O’Connor.

“Just because we’ve hit 100-and some home runs doesn’t mean that we’re going to hit a bunch of home runs when it comes to postseason play,” O’Connor said. “Look at the pitching we faced [Saturday night] - this time of the year, it’s not predictable. And so, you’ve got to use the talents of your team in different ways to win the ball game that’s in front of you.”

That was on display from the Hoos’ offense in the Regional’s three games. Against Penn, Virginia stole four bases. Against Mississippi State in the first meeting, the Cavaliers swiped zero but did put the runners in motion on several occasions, including the critical walk-off winning play.

Sometimes, maybe it means taking more walks, going to the opposite field, hit-and-run calls, or bunting when it’s not expected. Fans saw a combination of those things in the clinching game on Sunday night in the ninth inning. Harrison Didawick drew a full-count walk with 1 out and the score still a nerve-testing 3-2 in the Cavaliers’ favor. Henry Godbout then patiently took a walk too and the pressure was on the Bulldogs as they faced elimination.

Ethan Anderson put a ball in play and ended up with an infield hit. Luke Hanson singled to left field with the infield in to score 2 runs. Then Griff O’Ferrall stepped in and executed a surprise bunt that led to a throwing error on a fielder’s choice play and 2 runs came home again.

It’s executing all those little details in big moments that O’Connor sees as a separator in postseason play.

“I’ve always believed that if you prepare them the right way, put them in challenging situations in practice, practice with a feverish pace every day - and there’s days where we intentionally take the reins off a little bit - that when the lights are the brightest, when the moment’s the biggest, their heart rate slows down a little bit and they’re able to execute,” O’Connor said. “The details I believe are what separates teams this time of the year. You gotta do what you have to do to get there, but when you get there if you have prepared the right way all year long and you take care of the little details of the game - Griff O’Ferrall’s bunt there, the surprise bunt that created havoc; well, we practice that every day. So you do those things constantly in whatever phase of the game it is, they have this thing that is the most important thing called self-confidence and they believe because of their preparation every day that they can perform.”

That applies to anywhere in the lineup so UVA’s not relying on just one or two players in any given game. This weekend, for example, the bottom of the order turned in premium production to help the Hoos advance to their ninth Super Regional in the last 15 years.

In the first two regional games, Henry Godbout, Eric Becker and Bobby Whalen accounted for 8 of UVA’s 9 RBI, 2 of the 9 runs, 4 of the 12 hits, 2 of the 5 extra base hits, and 4 of the 10 walks drawn. They also accounted for both of the Wahoo sacrifices. On Friday, Godbout launched a 3-run home run that stood all the way through as the Hoos won 4-2. Saturday night it was Becker as the No. 8 hole hitter leading the way with 4 RBI on 2 hits, including a 2 RBI triple and a 2 RBI single. Whalen had the game-winning RBI in the walkoff thriller.

On Sunday with a lineup shuffle in play due to MSU starting a lefty on the mound, the 7-8-9 spots for Virginia came through again.

Godbout drew a walk and scored a run. Anderson, who flipped down to the bottom of the order while Whalen moved up to the No. 2 slot, went 2-4 with 1 run scored. Hanson, who subbed in for Becker as that duo platoons at third base based on the opposing pitcher, went 1-4 with the 2 critical RBI that put the big ninth inning in motion and a run scored.

This weekend was not the first time this season when the bottom of the order carried the team. Becker is hitting .420 with runners in scoring position, while Whalen and Godbout entered Sunday’s game at .380. Those are the top three numbers on the team.

“We just never panic. It’s always confidence and keep fighting until the last out and it paid off again.” Whalen said in his postgame interview with the ACC Network on Saturday.

Like Whalen, O’Connor said Becker trusted the approach when he came up in the bottom of the ninth on Saturday and big things happened. Becker reached base on a fielder’s choice play that set up the walkoff situation with Whalen up next.

“[His] first two swings in that ninth inning, I was so excited because I know he was going for it,” O’Connor said smiling. “He was just letting it rip. I love to see that. He was up there, I don’t know whether that was his intention but it looked like from the anger in his swings, he looked like he was trying to end the game himself. Then what a great hitter does is he adjusts with two strikes and he drove the ball the other way and didn’t try to do too much. Certainly, that was a huge moment in the ball game.”

When asked about how that whole ninth inning came together, Becker credited the preparation and accountability for the success. Again, back to the details. And self-confidence.

“I think it goes to our preparation and how the coaches prepare us as much as they do,” Becker said. “And then just being accountable toward each other. I think everyone in the lineup, everyone in the clubhouse, we hold ourselves to a certain standard and [Saturday night] we didn’t waver from it.”

“In this lineup, there’s no easy out,” Becker also said. “Like I said earlier, we hold ourselves to that standard and no matter who’s going up to the plate, I think everyone on the bench feels confident that that hitter’s going to get the job done so no easy outs in this lineup.”

O’Connor went a little deeper into the accountability factor. He said one key is that it’s not solely UVA’s coaches that are setting the tone. It’s the players.

“They’re held accountable to that and most importantly they hold each other to that standard and that’s I believe when you have something special and I believe we have something special in this program,” O’Connor said. “Other programs do as well, but I just see the insides of our program and when you have teammates saying the right things to each other, you know you have something built that when you’re in this moment and you work so hard for it, that they can take a deep breath and play because they know their preparation every day throughout the year has prepared them for the moment that they have in front of them. They have absolutely the highest level of belief in each other.”

Discuss it on the message board