University of Virginia Library

Glovemen Experienced, Hope For ACC Championship

By Tom Sansonetti

The Virginia baseball team's
1968 edition definitely had its ups
and downs.

The season opened with eight
games in late March on a southern
road trip. The Cavaliers promptly
dropped the first six contests.

Quickly rebounding, the Virginia
batmen turned around and took
seven of the next eight games.

First year men Ed Kihm and
Hunter Hollar along with old timers
Bill Kelley, Stan Owens, and David
Greer pitched extremely well.
Captain Yates Hall, Rowdy Yates,
Steve Bryant, and Joel DeBo
started to hit the horsehide-covered
sphere over the heads of enemy
outfielders.

But alas, a doubleheader loss to
Duke and a 20-0 shellacking at the
hands of the well-nicknamed
Gobblers of Virginia Tech broke
the Cavaliers momentum.

Throughout May victories were
sporadically sprinkled between
losses, as the tea finished
disappointingly below season
predictions.

But looking forward to the 1969
slate (which is jammed with over 34
games) Coach Jim West is
understandably enthusiastic. He has
lost but one regular starter and two
fourth-year pitchers from the squad
which is just loaded with potential.

Yates Hall, the hard hitting
outfielder, plus pitchers Jeff
Gordon and David Greer are the
graduation casualties.

Returning infielders are: DeBo
at first, Buzzy Schultz at second,
Dickie Hopkins at short, with Bruce
Boger and Dave Counts at third.

The outfield has an experienced
look with lettermen Steve Bryant,
Lou Paulson, Bubba White, and
Rowdy Yates scheduled to once
again roam the pastures of Lambeth
Field.

Calvin Moore will be the
backstop and battery mate for
hurlers: Kelley, Owens, Kihm, and
Hollar.

There are supposedly some
bright prospects in the incoming
first-year class who should make
the team even more formidable.
Coach West urges anyone interested
in trying out for the team to get in
contact with him in his Memorial
Gym office during the fall.

The ACC race this season should
be closer than in past recent years.
According to Coach West there "is
no one powerhouse anymore that
can just run away from the rest of
the conference. There is certainly
no shoe-in this year."

Maryland, Clemson, and
defending champion N. C. State
should all be at or near the top as
the season progresses.

The long schedule will e a big
factor in deciding just how well the
Cavaliers do, in that it will put a
terrific strain on the pitching staff.

The great number of
doubleheaders called for in
collegiate play is the biggest load of
all. Last spring the Cavaliers were
faced with eight two-game
afternoons.

May required Virginia to play 10
games in 11 days.

What with most of the team
returning, Virginia partisans should
be looking forward to March when
the first cracks of the bat will be
once again echoing in the ancient
confines of Lambeth Field.