The Virginia Cavalier faithful have witnessed an incredible amount of sporting success over the past year and a half, starting with the men’s basketball squad escalating becoming an elite team in the ACC and the country, not seen since the golden age of Ralph Sampson. The success in the 2014 academic year would have climaxed with the last available NCAA championship, men’s baseball, but our men fell one inning short of hoisting the trophy.
Unfortunately, our team was decimated by the major league baseball draft, making it seem like our club would merely be a shell of last year’s glorious squad. However, Brian O’Connor had his team motivated; this squad would get it done on the field. Starting the season 12-1, UVA baseball made it back to the top spot of rankings.
This early surge of wins could have sustained itself with the level of talent this team possessed, but injuries hit the 'Hoos harder than any other team in Division I. The Cavs lost over 10 position players, many of them to season ending injuries. Brian O’Connor needed to consider adding players to his team from UVA Men’s Club Baseball team just to make up for the lack of depth at nearly every position. Eventually, this lack of depth began to take its toll on the field.
After the 12-1 start, the team preceded to lose four straight games and win only 9 games of the next 22. Falling out of the top 25 rankings and towards the bottom of the ACC, media projections had the 'Hoos missing both the ACC tournament and the NCAA tournament. These projections did not sit well with the team for obvious reasons and something changed in the locker room when the idea of missing the tournament came into play. The feeling of a lost season was about to become reality if the 'Hoos couldn’t rally and play ball like they knew they could. Fortunately for everyone attached to the program, it happened.
As the regular season came to a close, UVA finished its last 17 games with a 12-5 mark. This stretch included a sweep of UNC in Chapel Hill as well as a series of wins against Miami and Duke. The momentum carried them to a convincing 11-0 win in seven innings over Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament play-in game. The goal of reaching the ACC tournament had been achieved, and an eventual berth in the NCAA tournament had all of Charlottesville feeling as if there was a chance at a postseason run.
In regional play, the Cavs traveled to California to play in a section with three teams from the state. Essentially playing as a visiting team in every game, the 'Hoos swept the competition in the regional round to advance into the Super Regional. At this point it would seem something as farfetched as “destiny” played no part in the winning streak down the stretch, but UVA dodged a huge bullet when Maryland defeated the number one seed in the entire tournament, UCLA, in the regional round. Rather than playing a three-game series at UCLA, UVA would host UMD at home. A rematch of last year’s Super Regional which sent UVA to Omaha was on the horizon, is destiny starting to make sense? In both of the games played against Maryland, the Terps held a multi-run lead late in the game. UMD’s star closer was called on to clinch both games, and he failed twice. Clutch hitting in the eighth and ninth innings in games 1 and 2, respectively, propelled the Cavs back to Omaha.
As ESPN loves to let everybody know, the SEC is the premier conference when it comes to college sports. Football, baseball, basketball, quidditch, it doesn’t really matter to them. Consequently, ESPN would only speak of Arkansas before their game with Virginia. Having been treated like they had already lost, UVA managed to win another game it wasn’t supposed to and move one step closer to the College World Series finals.
The only thing standing in the way of the Cavs taking a commanding lead on their side of the bracket was the winner of the Florida and Miami matchup, the number four and five ranked teams. Florida didn’t just win; Florida demolished Miami 15-3. Including this game, Florida had outscored its six opponents by the score of 68-15 in the NCAA tournament, including a 19-0 beatdown of a respectable Florida A&M team. With the late-night matchup against the clearly dominant Gator squad, it would seem as if destiny had finally run its course and the 'Hoos would have to win three straight games following this loss to make the final series. Brandon Waddell started the game for Virginia and came out firing, making it all the way to eight inning giving up zero runs and just two hits. Our starting pitcher surrendered not a single run to the most powerful offense in the College World Series. On the other side of the ball, UVA managed to score one run on three straight singles against A.J. Puk, the pitcher many baseball minds consider to be the clear first overall pick in the MLB draft next year. This is without doubt the best game the Cavs have played all season to this point.
In the eighth inning, Florida managed to get men on first and third base without surrendering a single out to Waddell. The “Swamp” of Gator fans was as loud as they had been all night and the momentum was with the heavily favored Gators. It didn’t look good for the 'Hoos, but coach O’Connor turned to Josh Sborz out of the bullpen to relieve his exhausted starting pitcher. Waddell pitched the best game of his entire career, and it was on Sborz to save the game and the hopes of a championship. Josh came to the mound and started to do what he does best, mow down hitters. He made an incredible fielding play to record the first out of the game and recorded six consecutive outs to end the game.
Virginia beat the outstanding favorite 1-0; What a finish to an incredible game! This Florida team was batting .338 in the postseason and only managed two hits for the entire game. This same team tied a College World Series record with 11 runs in one inning against Miami, and scored zero in nine full innings against the 'Hoos.
Is destiny the driving factor behind Virginia? Most people would say no, but this stretch of wins matches any run by any other UVA sports team in recent memory. Yes, that includes the 19-0 start to the 2015 basketball season. Should we have beaten Duke and made it to the ACC tournament with an undefeated record? Yes, but I digress.
The Omahoos are now in the driver’s seat to win their bracket and advance to the final championship series. It’s true, the 'Hoos could lose both of their next two games and fail to advance to the final round. In fact, odds makers in Las Vegas and everywhere else in the country will probably pick Florida or Miami to beat us in two straight games. If that’s the case, fine. Virginia was the underdog in nearly every game dating back to the Super Regional. Destiny will only carry a team so far, but it may not be done carrying our Omahoos just yet. But please, for the sake of all that is good, knock on wood whenever you say or hear anyone saying Virginia is destined to beat Vanderbilt in a rematch of last year’s championship.
