Keith Werman is tied in one category with a college baseball coach that has taken Virginia to the College World Series two times in the past three years.
Friday evening, Virginia?s incumbent second baseman and a fan favorite will remain tied with coach Brian O?Connor with perfect attendance to the annual Step Up to the Plate event at John Paul Jones Arena. The benefit for the team, which includes keynote speaker and ESPN baseball analyst Kyle Petersen, is honoring a decade of success in a sport that neared extinction at Virginia when budget cuts were discussed over 10 years ago.
?I was fortunate enough to be at every single one of them,? said Werman, a senior captain. ?I am pretty sure it started for me with [former St. Louis Cardinals manager] Tony LaRussa. To see from where it started in a pretty small room to growing and being a part of JPJ, and it can be overwhelming to the new guys, but I think it is a fitting kickoff of the new season.?
Virginia, on the heels of a 56-win season, opens the 2012 season on Feb. 17 against Boston College in a four-team invitational at Coastal Carolina in a field that also includes James Madison.
As the plush grass was being mowed in the background at Davenport Field on Tuesday, O?Connor looked forward to the banquet and the chance to honor the players that donned a uniform under his watch over the past decade. Tickets remain on sale through the Virginia ticket office for the event.
In addition to Petersen, those that attend will hear in a round-table format with former Virginia standouts and professional baseball players Ryan Zimmerman, Brandon Guyer, Mike Ballard, Michael Schwimer and Tyler Wilson.
?This being the 10-year anniversary of this event, it was important that we honor those former players, and anybody that?s worn our uniform, and also the current players that have worn our uniform,? the skipper said. ?I?m excited about it. It?s a great tribute to what this program has accomplished.
?It?s not only a tribute for our players, past and present, but it?s also a tribute for all the people in the community and what they?ve done.?
Two players that were on the roster in the fall, however, will not be at the banquet or in uniform in the season opener.
O?Connor confirmed that pitcher/outfielder Ryan Briggs and outfielder Mark Podlas are no longer with the program. Neither player had appeared in a game as a Cavalier.
The departures leave Virginia with 31 players on the roster, a number that O?Connor feels comfortable moving forward with.
?Ryan Briggs is still in school here and it got to the point that he just wasn?t going to be in a playing capacity,? O?Connor said. ?I just felt it best for him to concentrate on his education.?
Podlas redshirted last season, but Virginia landing a host of talented outfielders made the fight for playing time tricky.
?As I do with all the players, I am 100 percent honest and up front with them all the time and Mark just felt it was important for him to play at a place where he could play every day,? O?Connor said. ?It was his decision ? not mine ? that he looked for a chance to play every day.?
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