May 24, 2003

CBI Live
Davidson, Seminoles eliminate Cavaliers
U.Va. waits to see if at-large bid looms
 

By Sean Ryan

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
 

SALEM, Va. – Virginia entered Saturday’s elimination game of the ACC tournament against top-ranked Florida State with a golden opportunity: to add a very quality win to help its NCAA tournament aspirations.

Daniel Davidson didn’t allow the Cavaliers to cash in.

Davidson worked into the eighth, allowing three hits and striking out seven, as the Seminoles squeaked past the Cavaliers 2-0 at Memorial Stadium. FSU (49-9-1) advances to play North Carolina State, while U.Va. (29-25) will wait until Monday’s selection show to see if they’ve done enough work to be invited to the field of 64.

“It was one of his better outings, and probably the best outing in his last four,” Seminoles coach Mike Martin said. “…It was a big lift for this baseball team.”

Davidson, a senior, improved to 9-0 this year and 15-0 in his FSU career by constantly changing speeds and getting ground-ball outs. He induced 15 groundouts, including six to shortstop Stephen Drew. He also retired 18 straight at one point.

“Around the third inning, when I was hitting with my curve ball and my change up and was locating my fastball,” said Davidson of when he felt he had good stuff.

The Seminoles didn’t do much against lefty Andrew Dobies (6-3), who allowed six hits and two earned runs in 6.2 innings. Tony Richie continued his solid tourney by stroking a two-out single for a 1-0 lead in the third. Chris Hart hit a deep fly to left field to score Blake Balkcom, who had doubled as part of his 2-for-3 day, in the sixth.

“Obviously, Andrew gave us a great opportunity,” Cavaliers coach Dennis Womack said. “Dobies just about matched Davidson pitch for pitch.”

Added Dobies: “I felt I pitched pretty decent…the other guy pitched great. I have to roll with the punches, I guess. I knew I had to keep the runs down. Davidson is a hell of a pitcher.”

Virginia threatened in the eighth and ninth innings. Kyle Werman singled to chase Davidson with two outs, and Matt Street singled off reliever Kevin Lynch. All-world closer Daniel Hodges entered and got Matt Dunn – one of Friday’s heroes for the Cavs – to ground out sharply to Drew, who was shading up the middle a bit and tagged second to get out of the inning.

In the ninth, Mark Reynolds and Chris Sweet singled with two outs before Eric Christensen grounded to short to end the game. FSU has now given up three runs in three games.

While the Seminoles’ bed is made for the NCAA tourney, Virginia likely will have a couple of restless nights.

“My gut tells me that things around the country would have to break for us,” Womack said. “I know most people we played would say: yeah, they’re one of the top 64 teams in the country.”

Martin argued that the ACC should definitely get five and said from seeing other regional teams, the Cavaliers fit the mold.

“I like Virginia; I wish we could get six,” Martin said. “I don’t like the odds right now.”

Working in Virginia’s favor is an RPI that should settle in the low-to-mid 20s in a league that is ranked as the best in the country. Couple that with the fact that of the Cavaliers’ 25 losses, 13 have been by two runs or less. And nine have been by one run.

“First of all, if you look at our schedule…and also, we haven’t really had a bad loss,” Womack said. “Most of our losses, a large percentage have come against ranked teams.”