Pete Emerson | University of Virginia

Virginia defensive end Zane Parr of Virginia (right) chases Texas Christian's Matthew Tucker in September.

Thomas wilson | University of Virginia

UVa defensive end Zane Parr makes multiple trips to the training table in order to gain weight.

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The postseason coming-out party of New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia has coincided with the emergence of his less-heralded namesake, "big" CC.

That's the nickname that Zane Parr's teammates gave him at Williamsport (Pa.) Area High School.

Considering that the Yankees list Sabathia at 6-foot-7 and 290 pounds, maybe Parr more resembled a little CC, but the comparisons were reasonable.

Like Sabathia, Parr was a left-handed pitcher who says his fastball was once clocked at 95 mph.

Parr, playing defensive end for Virginia at 6-6 and 265 pounds, adds that baseball once rivaled football as his favorite sport.

"After my sophomore year, I hurt my arm and I couldn't really pitch as well as I had before," he said. "I could only go three innings before it started to hurt."

Arm surgery was one option, but doctors couldn't guarantee that Parr would regain his velocity -- or even remain pain-free -- so he turned away from baseball.

That's not an easy decision in Williamsport, known internationally as the home of the Little League World Series.

"We went every year and checked out the teams," Parr said. "When I played baseball, I actually had a chance to play on that field in one of the tournaments for my league.

"I got to pitch on that field. It's definitely a big deal."

Parr follows professional baseball and declares himself "a big Yankees fan" as well as a "huge" fan of Sabathia, who will take the mound for New York in the World Series opener against Philadelphia, weather permitting.

Nobody had thought to ask Parr about his baseball background or anything else until the Cavaliers' game Oct. 17 at Maryland, where starting defensive end Matt Conrath sustained a high ankle sprain on the last play of the first half.

Parr, who had been practicing exclusively on the left side, played the entire second half of the Maryland game at right end and was able to celebrate when the Cavaliers prevailed 20-9.

When Nate Collins moved from end to nose tackle this past Saturday, Parr returned to his familiar spot on the left side and finished with 12 tackles (six solo, six assists).

Georgia Tech pulled away from the Cavaliers for a 34-9 victory, "but if everybody in a Virginia uniform had had the same kind of day as Zane Parr, we would have liked the looks of things a lot better," UVa coach Al Groh said.

Parr played in six of Virginia's first seven games as a redshirt freshman in 2008, but he missed the Cavaliers' last five games with a knee injury. He opened this year as a regular in Virginia's six-DB dime package.

It was a scheme for which Parr is well-suited. He weighed as much as 305-310 pounds early in his senior year in high school but quickly shed pounds during basketball season and was 260 when he got to UVa.

"Pass rush comes a lot easier because I'm lighter than Nate and Conrath," said Parr, who had been replacing Conrath in the dime. "Using my speed in pass rush is a lot easier than having to take on 320-pound linemen.

"I'd like to be heavier. I'm working on that right now, going over [to the training table] and eating as much stuff as I can without eating fast foods and stuff like that. I'd definitely like to be heavier, but there's not a weight that they're looking for."

Collins, expected to return to end this week, will complete his eligibility this season. However, UVa has a trio of sophomore defensive linemen in left end Parr, right end Conrath and nose tackle Nick Jenkins, who could be fixtures for the next two seasons.

Conrath had a breakout season last year as a redshirt freshman, when Groh noted that Conrath's history as a baseball pitcher had served him well as a defensive lineman because of the flexibility gained from years of bending his knees.

"One of the things that Matt has is very good leverage," Groh said. "You can't be a stiff guy to be a baseball pitcher. You've got to bend your knees, bend at the waist to get down low and get that delivery."

Groh said this week that he never knew Parr had played baseball.

"I did personally watch Zane play basketball," Groh said. "Sometimes those basketball evaluations are a little relative to the positions they played. But for a lineman, he was very smooth [and] easy on his feet, an adept basketball player."

Parr and Conrath are aware of their shared baseball background, which extends not only to their position and size but to their dominant left arms.

"He always says he throws faster than me and this and that," said Parr, who became a district shot put champion after giving up baseball. "We always tease each other about that, but I'm pretty sure I have the upper hand."

Or, at least, a Cy Young Award-winning namesake.