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.

The Cavaliers are returning nearly all key contributors from last year’s ACC championship and College World Series run, and have been ranked as high as #2 nationally going into this season. This weekend’s series poses a large challenge, though. The Pirates are ranked 11th, and due to the horrendous weather in Charlottesville lately, the Cavs haven’t had much of a chance to play outdoors–which is precisely why spring training for Major League Baseball is just starting this week. Why does college baseball have to start so soon?

Regardless, it’s great to have a powerhouse Virginia team in a mainstream sport back in action again after a miserable football season and a recent men’s basketball slump. This fall’s soccer title all of a sudden feels a long way off, so let’s hope the baseball team can bring some more hardware home this season.

Junior midfielder Sinead Farrelly was named ACC Player of the Week on Tuesday. Farrelly scored the game-winning-goals in Virginia’s wins over Florida State and Miami this weekend. Later in the day, Farrelly recieved another honor: first-team All-ACC. Her Cavaliers head to the ACC Tournament (in Cary, NC) as the 7th seed, and will face Boston College on Wednesday at 5 PM.

Women’s Basketball

Senior guard Monica Wright was named to the AP’s All-American preseason team Tuesday afternoon. Play begins on Friday, Nov. 13 at UMBC.

Men’s Soccer

Junior keeper Diego Restrepo was named ACC-Co-Player of the week Tuesday afternoon. Restrepo recorded a shutout at No. 6 Maryland on Saturday.  He added another zero to his resume tonight, as the 7th ranked Cavs knocked off American 3-0 Tuesday night.

Baseball

Assistant coach Kevin McMullan won the 2009 ABCA/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year Award. McMullan helped lead Virginia to an ACC tournament title and, of course, a College World Series berth. Manager Brian O’Connor took home Coach of the Year honors earlier this offseason.