It’s a Saturday afternoon in Wisconsin, and Tomas and Vytas Valincius are spending it like many others in their lifetime.
The two baseball stars are fishing and talking trash about the live at-bats coming in the fall. For the first time in their collegiate careers, they’ll be playing for the same team.
This week, both Tomas and Vytas came together on a recruiting visit to Mississippi State—and they left, along with their families, committed to head coach Brian O’Connor. Vytas had only met O’Connor once before, back when he was recruiting Tomas in high school, so this visit was his first real opportunity to sit down and get to know the coach.His intensity is strong,” Vytas said of O’Connor. “He just wants to win, and that’s how I feel, too.”
Trip to Starkville locked down Valincius brothers
It was no secret why O’Connor and his staff wanted a big crowd of transfer visitors on campus this week. Just a few days after landing in Starkville to take over the program, O’Connor went straight to work in the portal—and the first to show interest were players from Virginia.
The Valincius brothers, along with Chone James, Eric Becker, and James Nunnallee, came for visits and were present for the celebration at Dudy Noble Field announcing O’Connor’s hire. What they saw sealed the deal for most of them.
“What sold it for me was going to the ceremony,” Vytas said. “We were walking across home plate and the fans started ringing their bells. It was pretty much a done deal after that. It was beautiful. I couldn’t believe how big the campus and stadium were. I used to live in the South, so I’m kind of used to it. It’s nice to get some southern charm back.”
Unlike the other visitors, Vytas didn’t play his collegiate ball at Virginia. After finishing as one of the top first basemen in the country at Baylor School, he started his career at South Carolina.As a freshman, I didn’t have the right mentality to play (in the SEC),” Vytas said. “JUCO was probably one of the best seasons I’ve had, and I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world. I hit some home runs and won a Big Ten championship my first year at Illinois, but I didn’t have the mental part right. I’m starting to figure it out now, but I still have steps to take.”
Tomas Valincius brings elite skill set to the mound
Though a few years behind his brother, Tomas went through a similar mental adjustment. After earning Gatorade Player of the Year honors in Tennessee, Tomas landed at Virginia and quickly became one of the Cavaliers’ most promising pitchers.O’Connor put Tomas in the rotation, and success came early. In his first three starts—against Rice, Oklahoma, and Dartmouth—he threw 17.0 innings, allowed just four runs, walked three, and struck out 25. ACC play, however, proved more difficult, as Tomas couldn’t get through five innings for four straight games.
