Throughout Brian O’Connor’s six seasons as Virginia’s baseball coach, his top assistants have been Kevin McMullan and Karl Kuhn. To O’Connor, they don’t get enough credit for the program’s success. Virginia plays its opening game in the College World Series on Saturday night against LSU in Omaha, Neb. “We would not be in the position that we’re in right now without those two gentlemen,“ O’Connor said. “They do all the work. They’re the ones that go out and find the players. They coach the players. They spend endless hours in this baseball program, and every player that’s played here in the last six years, and myself as the head coach, are forever indebted to those two men, because they are tireless workers, and they do the real work.“

First team : Pitchers: Jake Mayers, Hanover; Blake Hauser, Manchester. Catcher: Chris Ayers, Manchester. 1B: Austin Erb, Hanover. 2B: Augie Ayers, Manchester. 3B: Joey Cujas, Manchester. SS: Reed Gragnani, Mills Godwin. Outfielders: Austin Kilbourne, Matoaca; Bill Cullen, Thomas Dale; Adam Blankenship, Mills Godwin. Utility: R.C. Orlan, Deep Run. DH: Daniel Harrison, L.C. Bird

Professional sports is like a soap opera for men. Individual characters come and go, but the roles remain the same. Plot lines vary, but never too much. Each season builds to a crescendo—then it all starts up again in a few months. The saga of baseball in Richmond is turning into a soap opera, too—full of fickleness and betrayal, on-again/off-again relationships, speculation and intrigue. The latest news says the owner of the Connecticut Defenders has asked permission to explore the possibility of moving the team to Richmond, after a group here failed to scrape up the dough to buy the club.

Short hops Mike Pelfrey allowed a career-worst nine runs - eight earned. He is the first Mets starter to allow nine runs since Jason Vargas on July 3, 2007, at Colorado. The Athletics have started four rookies in a row for the third time in team history, the most recent coming in June 1996. Starting pitchers facing the White Sox for the first time are 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA in 10 games this year. Twins C Joe Mauer had three hits and has hit in five straight games. He is 11 for 19 during that span and batting .492 at home this season.

Bryan Bostic said yesterday that Richmond Baseball Club LC was about to close the deal to purchase the Double-A Connecticut Defenders on May 13. Then, “things happened,“ said Bostic, who was RBC’s leader. RBC did not meet the $15.4 million sale price of the Eastern League team by the May 31 deadline. The deal died. Bostic was the face of Richmond’s quest to secure a locally owned baseball franchise for Richmond. He said RBC included more than three dozen investors.

Short hop Florida’s Dan Uggla became the fastest second baseman to reach 100 career homers with a two-run shot in the second inning against Milwakee. It came in his 502nd game as a second baseman, beating Alfonso Soriano by 34 games.

Short hops Outfielder Ichiro Suzuki tied the Mariners’ team record by hitting safely in his 25th consecutive game. Suzuki’s streak equals his career high from 2007. He has also reached base in 32 consecutive games, extending the longest streak in the American League this season. Brothers Andy and Adam LaRoche of the Pirates combined to go 5 for 9 with two doubles, a triple, four runs and three RBI against the Mets. The Yankees played error-free for the 18th straight game, surpassing Boston’s mark of 17 games set in 2006. New York’s last error came May 13 at Toronto.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has declared himself intrigued by the idea of a Shockoe Bottom with high-speed rail, a bus-transfer center, black heritage sites and a ballpark surrounded by restaurants, residences and other development. But first, he wants to see if it all can fit on several blocks east of Interstate 95. At Jones’ urging, representatives of the proposed Shockoe Center ballpark development and the proposed bus-transfer center at Main Street Station said they’re working to resolve conflicts between their plans.

In Durham, N.C., a seemingly interminable wait finally ends tonight for the University of Virginia baseball team. The eight-team ACC tournament began yesterday afternoon at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. By the time the sixth-seeded Cavaliers take the field for their 8 p.m. opener, four teams (Georgia Tech, Miami, Boston College and Florida State) will have played two games apiece in the tourney. Two others—North Carolina and Duke—will have played once.

When the Richmond Braves first pitched a stadium in Shockoe, the plans looked great. Although the Braves departed for the world-class environs of Gwinnett, plans for a stadium and related development look even better. The issue raises questions as readily resolved as the infield fly rule: financing, heritage, transportation. The stadium’s present incarnation has almost nothing to do with regional cooperation, so we will be spared that rain delay—or postponement.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said today that while he is not ready to give the official go-ahead to the proposed $363 million Shockoe Bottom development that includes a downtown baseball stadium, he thinks it has the potential to be a transformative project. But, Jones said, based on the executive summary of the proposed project, it is highly unlikely it can be financed without the credit support of the city. Jones said if the city provides credit support, the amount financed would drop from over $80 million to $60 million because of the city’s credit rating. Jones said the increase in tax revenue needed to support payment for the bonds would be 2.1 percent in sales tax.

Will baseball work in the Bottom? Apparently so, according to a new study that Richmond will release portions of today. Mayor Dwight C. Jones plans to release the executive summary of a review by Davenport & Co., which already had endorsed the concept of a minor-league baseball stadium in in Shockoe Bottom in an earlier study commissioned by then-Mayor L. Douglas Wilder.

On Tuesday night, The Times-Dispatch held its 24th Public Square, at its downtown offices. The forum began with a four-person debate between supporters and opponents of building a new minor-league baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom, followed by comments and questions from the audience. Publisher Tom Silvestri moderated. Below is an edited transcript of the conversation. To watch the entire Public Square online, go to Timesdispatch.com, key word: Public Square.

Prev. TeamW-Lrank
2. Hanover17-1No. 2 3. Thomas Dale15-3No. 3
4. Matoaca15-4No. 4
5. Mills Godwin14-4No. 5
6. Lee-Davis12-4No. 6
7. Dinwiddie14-5No. 7
8. Steward22-3No. 8
9. Douglas Freeman13-6No. 10
10. St. Christopher’s18-4-
Softball Prev.
TeamW-Lrank
2. Midlothian15-1No. 4 3. Prince George14-3No. 7

Roger Clemens overpowered hitters. He loomed large on the mound and pitched as big as he looked. His stats made him a sure bet for Cooperstown. That was then. Now he appears destined for the hall of shame. American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America’s Pastime tells the sad story. The book was written by the sports investigative team at New York’s Daily News. Teri Thompson leads the unit. The New York Times book critic gives the volume rave reviews. The Gray Lady cheers the competition.