By Wayne Witkowski
Defending College World Series champion University of Virginia’s baseball team is on its hottest tear of the season, and junior catcher Matt Thaiss of Jackson Township is playing a leading role.
Thaiss, a former star catcher at Jackson Memorial High School, slapped a run-scoring single to cap a two-run third inning as the No. 12-ranked Cavaliers picked up a 9-4 win over No. 19 Georgia Tech at Davenport Field May 14. Virginia (33-17, 16-10 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)) won its season-high eighth straight game and clinched its fourth straight ACC series win.
That win streak came to an end the following day in the series finale, 5-4, despite Thaiss hitting his team-leading eighth home run of the season and driving in three runs.
“Things are going really well. We’re playing extremely well and things are starting to click,” Thaiss said. “Our offense is better. Our pitching has been phenomenal.”
Virginia had moved up a spot in the national rankings but may drop down a bit this week due to the May 15 loss. But Thaiss said he has realized he should not pay attention to rankings but to the challenge at hand, like last season when he helped his team win the College World Series.
Last year, he earned a third team All-American catcher selection by Louisville Slugger and the National College Baseball Writers Association. Thaiss was a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy as the national player of the year, finishing 14th in the ACC in batting at .323 and fourth in RBIs with 60 while leading the team in slugging (.512) and on-base (.413) percentages.
His numbers this season are strong again: a team-best .367 batting average, 10 doubles, 48 RBIs, a .561 slugging percentage and a .468 on-base percentage. Batting third in the order all season and starting every game, Thaiss credits the players hitting behind him so well that it forces pitchers not to throw around him, enabling him to see good pitches. And he has shown a good eye, striking out only eight times and walking 34.
Thaiss hit a two-out, two-run single in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 deadlock and lift Virginia to a 7-3 win over No. 1-ranked University of Miami April 24 at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Florida, to clinched the series, 2-1, for the Cavaliers. It was the first ACC series loss by Miami and the start of Virginia’s eight-game win streak.
“That series with Miami was huge for us,” Thaiss said. “We were struggling and then we put our foot on the gas at that time. We needed to get things in the right direction. Since then, we’ve been playing great baseball.”
Defensively, Thaiss has 35 assists, six errors and has thrown out seven of 23 runners stealing.
“I feel really good behind the plate,” he said. “This year, I’m much better defensively. I’m pushed every day by the coaches and teammates to be the best [I] can be.”
And many remember last season when the Cavaliers got momentum for the ACC Tournament, playing their best ball at the end. Thaiss hit a solo home run in the College World Series win over the University of Florida that clinched the berth into the finals.
“We’re definitely thinking about it. It’s that time of the year, getting down to tournament time, and we’ve figured what this team is about the last two weeks,” he said.
With the regular season ending this weekend, Thaiss said the key is execution and the mental approach.
“It’s playing good, fundamental baseball, being tougher than the team you’re playing,” Thaiss said.
But his team is already acclimated to playing on the road when it recently completed an eight-game road trip — its longest regular-season road trip in 13 years — before the exam break and Georgia Tech home series.
The Cavaliers wrap up their regular season with the final game of a three-game series May 21 at home against Virginia Tech.
