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UVa celebrates winning the NCAA Tournament’s Charlottesville Regional. (Photo courtesy Ian Rogol) |
The Virginia baseball team is at it again.
After a brief postseason stint a year ago, the Cavaliers returned to their winning ways in the NCAA Tournament after taking care of business this weekend. UVa took down Elon on Sunday night 11-3 to complete a three-game sprint through the NCAA Tournament’s Charlottesville Regional. The Hoos have reached the Super Regional round four times in the last five seasons.
“Probably, [expectations] have changed. Unfortunately because I think sometimes players ages 17 to 22, 23 years old put entirely too much pressure on themselves,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “But that comes with the territory when you build a program like we have. You have 5,000 people in the stadium that want to win, the players want to win, the coaches want to win. There’s a lot of pressure but that has come with the success that we’ve had.”
The victories on Saturday and Sunday against the Phoenix gave this team its 50th win so far in this 50-10 season. That’s the third time in the last five seasons that the program has climbed to the 50-win plateau – the 2010 team won 51 games, while the 2011 team led the nation with 56.
The 2009 team, meanwhile, cranked out 49 wins as well to just miss the 50-win club. Of course, that team started this truly remarkable run with the program’s first-ever trip to Omaha for the College World Series. Virginia has been to the CWS twice – and vies for a third trip next weekend – over this five-year span.
Also consider that Virginia is one of only eight Division I programs to reach the NCAA Tournament in each of the last 10 seasons. The Cavaliers are one of just three teams to host NCAA Tournament Regionals for four straight seasons. UVa has more wins than any D1 program in the entire nation since 2009 with 245 victories over that span, which bests South Carolina and North Carolina among the top three. The Hoos have won at least 40 games in 8 of the last 10 seasons.
UVa owns two ACC Championships in that time as well. This season, the Cavs posted more conference wins than anyone in the regular season.
Simply put, that’s consistent and it’s impressive. Crazy consistent. Incredibly impressive.
“I will never change that our goal every year is to put ourselves in this position,” O’Connor said. “Because we’ve put ourselves in the position to play in the NCAA Tournament every year has allowed us to be in the Super Regional four out of five years and make it to Omaha in two years. The consistency part of it is so important. … We just won our 50th ball game. Expectations are huge here. That’s fine. We welcome them. We don’t hide from it. I think it’s a sign that we’ve done some really good things.”
Jared King, along with senior pitcher Scott Silverstein, has been in Charlottesville for all of it. He became just the ninth Cavalier to play in 200 career games during Sunday’s win. In his second century game, he played a big part in the team’s 22nd come-from-behind win on the year. King’s RBI double started a 6-run third inning as the Hoos erased an early 3-0 deficit en route to the comfortable victory.
King looks back at his career with a wide smile and a whole lot of appreciation.
“It’s been really, really gratifying to be part of the maturation of this program,” King said. “Right when I decided to come here, we were obviously on the rise, but to have three out of five 50-win seasons is remarkable and speaks to the vision the coaches have here and the maturation that the players go through.
“When I decided to come here, the coaches told us that we’re going to do everything we can to compete for a National Championship,” King added. “To be a part of all the wins and two trips to Omaha thus far has exceeded any expectations I could have had.”
Fans have noticed. The Hoos ranked 13th nationally in total attendance (102,410) and 17th nationally in average attendance (3,012) this season. More than 100,000 fans have made their way to Davenport Field for four straight seasons.
That’s led to stadium expansion and field upgrades as well as bleacher seating.
It also means that there are a lot of happy fans leaving Davenport. As mentioned above after all, Virginia doesn’t lose very much these days. The three-game regional sweep moved UVa’s record at home this season to 35-3. The team is 159-31 at home the past five seasons, a .837 winning percentage.
Don’t worry, if you’re not on the bandwagon yet, there’s still room.
“Hopefully. We’re going to need everybody this next week so I hope everybody will turn out,” King said.
