Ask Kenny Towns what his expectation for the University of Virginia baseball team is this season, and his answer reflects the quiet confidence of a player now accustomed to deep postseason runs.
“Obviously, going into the season, your goal is to play for a national championship,” said Towns, the senior third baseman from Burke’s Lake Braddock Secondary. “But that’s not what we focus on every day. We’re just focused on taking care of each day, and going about our business.
“And when the time comes to play for a chance at Omaha, I’m sure we’re going to be ready because that’s what we all want.”
Towns, the 2011 Virginia Player of the Year at Lake Braddock, has continued his success in Charlottesville and enters this, his senior year, as one of the veteran players on a young Cavaliers team aiming for their fourth trip to the College World Series in seven years.
Brian O’Connor, who has led Virginia to 514 victories and NCAA Tournament appearances in his first 11 years with the program, has asked Towns to provide leadership on a team that has 14 first-year players. But the skipper wants his senior to mind his own house first.
“Kenny does not need try to do too much,” O’Connor said. “He is a good hitter and third baseman and just needs to continue to do the little things to help our team win ballgames.”
And if the start to the season is any indication, he seems to be up to the task.
The 6’0”, 185-pound Towns enters the Cavaliers’ weekend trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., to play Hartford, Seton Hall and Cornell hitting .353 with 12 hits, 3 doubles and 6 RBI.
Virginia, ranked No. 2 by USAToday and Collegiate Baseball and No. 4 by Baseball America, has reeled off seven straight wins to open the season and seem to have picked up where they left off last season, when they advanced to the championships series in Omaha before falling to Vanderbilt.
“I’m not going to try and do anything more on the field,” Towns said. “I’m just going to go out and play my game. I don’t need to put any more pressure on myself, just go out there and take care of business.”
He certainly did that to to end the year last spring, hitting .340 in the NCAA Tournament, including two 3-hit games in the NCAA Super Regional win over Maryland, driving in four runs in the series clincher. In Omaha, Towns hit .308 and had a 3-hit, 2 RBI game in a 7-2 Game 2 win.
That came after a sophomore campaign that saw him hit .290 with seven home runs and 44 RBI.
Towns’ success comes to no surprise to his high school coach, Jody Rutherford, who recalls a confident 15-year-old who made an impact for the Bruins early in his prep career.
“I remember when he started as a freshman for me, and we were just kind of hoping that he'd hold his own,” Rutherford said. “And he went out and hit home runs against two of the better pitchers in the region that year.
“He's a really great individual, and has the perfect demeanor for the level of baseball they play at.”
It is that demeanor that has enabled Towns to improve each season, and is one of the qualities that has pro scouts interested as the Major League Baseball Amateur Draft approaches in June.
“Kenny has steadily improved during his time here and has worked hard to get his opportunities,” O’Connor said. “He hits in the middle of our lineup and has been steady at third base this year and if he continues this, he should have an opportunity to play at the next level.”
Once his time in Charlottesville ends, Towns would embrace the opportunity to become the latest Cavalier to play professionally, and has heard scouts projecting him as anything from a third baseman to a second baseman or even a catcher.
“I’m definitely looking forward to getting the opportunity to do it,” he said. “And I hope that comes my way. It really doesn’t matter to me what position, as long as I get the opportunity to get to the next level, I’m going to be really excited about it.”
In the meantime, his focus is on the current task at hand.
“It’s pretty exciting knowing it’s the last shot. I know I’ve got to help give this team a chance to do the best things it can.”
Photo courtesy Dennis Hubbard/Virginia Athletics
