Wahoo Wire

Thanks to a solid weekend at East Carolina and some help from New Mexico, Virginia sits atop a number of college baseball polls this week for the first time in program history.

The ‘Hoos were ranked 2nd and 3rd by many publications going into the year, but faced an extremely difficult test in the season’s opening weekend. Virginia went to Greenville and took 2 of 3 from the Pirates of ECU, ranked as high as 11th. The successful road trip, coupled with LSU’s cupcake scheduling of Centenary and Texas’ series loss to New Mexico, vaulted the Cavaliers to the top of the Baseball America and Rivals.com polls.

A solid start on the mound and performance at the plate from Danny Hultzen lifted Virginia to an Opening Day victory on Friday. Steven Proscia helped the cause with a homer in the 6-2 win.

On Saturday, ECU pitcher Kevin Brandt shut down the Cavalier offense and led the Pirates to an easy 6-1 victory, evening up the series at one apiece. Robert Morey picked up his first career loss in six decisions for Virginia.

The rubber match on Sunday was a long, ugly affair, but the ‘Hoos prevailed thanks to 19 hits, including at least one from every starter. After building a big lead and then weathering a late Pirate rally, Virginia finally escaped with a 14-11 win to improve to 2-1 on the year.

UVa’s next nine contests are at home, including the home opener (Wednesday at 3PM vs. George Washington) and a three game set this weekend against Rhode Island.