Best Pitcher to Come OUt of State of Maryland Since Brett Cecil

He is now a front runner for "Golden Spikes Award"

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia's Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) was tabbed Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Week on Monday after a sensational outing Friday night against East Carolina. He also earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors.
Hultzen pitched seven innings of dominant baseball Friday. In seven innings he racked up a career-high 15 strikeouts while not walking a batter. He allowed just a run in the seventh inning as well as three hits.

The 15-strikeout effort was the most by a Cavalier since Seth Greisinger racked up 16 strikeouts against North Carolina on March 23, 1996. After giving up a single to start the game, Hultzen retired the next 19 batters from the first into the seventh innings, with just one ball leaving the infield in that span. He went to a three-ball count just two times and struck out the side on three occasions.

In addition to his pitching outing, Hultzen also went 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI.

This marks the fourth time Hultzen has earned ACC Pitcher of the Week honors. He took home the honor once as a freshman and twice last season.

Through two games in 2011, Hultzen is 2-0 with a 1.32 ERA. In 13.2 innings he has struck out 25 batters and walked just one. He also is batting .333 with a team-high 10 RBI.

Virginia returns to action at 4 p.m. Tuesday against William and Mary.

Hultzen Named Collegiate Baseball National Player of Week
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/14/2011


Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com

Danny Hultzen

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Virginia left-handed pitcher/utility Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) has been named one of Collegiate Baseball's National Players of the Week after another big outing at then-No. 4 Clemson last Friday. Hultzen joins Baylor RHP Logan Verrett and Georgia Tech RHP Mark Pope in earning the honor from Collegiate Baseball. It marks the second time in three weeks that Hultzen has gleaned this honor from Collegiate Baseball.
Hultzen improved to 4-0 on the season after firing 6.2 shutout innings Friday against Clemson, which came into the game as the top hitting team in the ACC with a .343 batting average. He fanned 14 Clemson batters and struck out at least two batters in six of the seven innings he worked during a 5-0 win against the Tigers.

Hultzen has struck out at least 10 in each of his four starts, including a career-high 15 vs. East Carolina (most at UVa since Seth Greisinger struck out 16 UNC batters in 1996). In 27.1 innings he has allowed just 13 hits and four walks while striking out 50 (16.5 K/9 innings).

Hultzen also went 3-for-8 with three RBI at the plate last week and is now batting .372 this season.

No disrespect at ALL to Cecil........but at this point comparing Hultzen to Cecil as college pitchers is a total disservice to Hultzen.

Cecil was definitely a stud but Hultzen is pitching at a whole other level.

Just a random comment based on the attention-grabbing title of the thread.

Although far less ballyhooed as a prep, than some of his contemporaries, I always believed this kid would go far (St. Albans, right?). He has the makeup and talent, and didn't have all of the "manufactured" hype that is so often a harbinger of more celebrated high school "stars' who will/have faded into oblivion.

In fact, I predicted him to be DC POY prior to his senior year, as I recall. Keep an eye on LJ Hoes, who continues to impress and may be in the bigs before Danny.

Comparing Danny to LJ is not an apples-to-apples comparison, as LJ went straight to the minors after high school while Danny chose college.

Danny got plenty of notice his senior year, partly because he managed to gain 10 miles an hour on his fast ball in one year's time. As a junior throwing in the low 80s, there wasn't a lot of hype around him at that time.

It's been very exciting to watch his success, along with LJ's, and gratifying to hear that Scott is pitching again. So many great players from the class of 2008!

Yes all three were high school studs. Good luck to Scott who has shown great resolve in battling back from injury..and may get drafted again if he can come all the way back.

Will Roberts Throws First Perfect Game in Virginia History
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 03/29/2011

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Courtesy: Andrew Shurtleff/UVa Media Relations

Will Roberts is mobbed by his teammates following the 27th out of his perfect game.


CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Will Roberts (Jr., Richmond, Va.) recorded the eighth nine-inning perfect game in NCAA Division I baseball (since 1957) to lead the top-ranked Virginia baseball team to a 2-0 victory over George Washington Tuesday at Davenport Field. Roberts recorded 27 straight outs and needed just 98 pitches to earn the second perfect game in ACC history.
It is the 19th perfect game of any length in NCAA Division I history, the first for any pitcher in Division I since 2002 and the first in the Virginia annals. Lost in the shuffle - it also was the 2,000th victory in UVa program history.

Roberts tossed nine perfect innings and tied his career high with 10 strikeouts. It was the first complete game of Roberts' career; his previous career high was 7.2 innings, set earlier this season against Niagara.

Roberts is just the second ACC pitcher to notch a perfect game. Maryland's Dick Reitz posted the only other perfect game since 1957 on April 10, 1959, against Johns Hopkins. It marks the first perfect game in Division I baseball since March 2, 2002, when Auburn's Eric Brandon recorded 27 straight outs in a perfect game against Murray State. The full list of NCAA Division I perfect games since 1957 appears at the bottom of this release.

It is the first no-hitter at Virginia since Mike Ballard no-hit Boston College on April 16, 2006, at Davenport Field.

Roberts (5-0) also is the first Virginia pitcher to toss a shutout since Jacob Thompson on April 27, 2007, against Maryland. The 2-0 victory marks the eighth shutout for the Virginia pitching staff this season, which is just three shy of the school and ACC season record of 11 held by the 2005 Virginia team and the 1977 Clemson squad.

Roberts was rarely tested on Wednesday. In addition to his 10 strikeouts, Roberts recorded 14 groundouts and three flyouts - only one ball left the infield, a fifth-inning fly ball to right field by Tyler McCarthy.

The closest thing to a hit came in the eighth inning when McCarthy hit a rocket back to Roberts, who knocked the ball down, recovered to locate the ball and threw to first to get the out. Outside of that, Roberts and his defense was rarely tested. Second baseman Keith Werman (Jr., Vienna, Va.) was the busiest Cavalier defender of the evening, with a pair of putouts as well as seven assists, including the all-important 27th out.

Junior pitcher Danny Hultzen was named Baseball America's Midseason Player of the Year recently. Hultzen showed why he was worthy of the honor on Friday night, working a season-high 8.0 innings in a 6-2 victory over No. 8 Georgia Tech. Hultzen (7-0) matched Jacob Thompson (2006-08) for the UVa career wins record with his 27th career victory (27-2). Hultzen allowed two runs (one earned), seven hits and one walk and struck out a dozen. He recorded his 13th career game with 10 or more strikeouts (UVa is 13-0 in those games). Virginia's all-time strikeouts leader, Hultzen now has 320 career strikeouts and moved into a 16th-place tie with Miami's Chris Hernandez (2008-10) and Florida State's Jon McDonald (1998-2000) on the all-time ACC strikeouts list.