For the first time since Davenport Field at Disharoon Park expanded in 2018, Virginia will host postseason baseball as an NCAA Tournament Regional site. That offers the potential for an electric home atmosphere with 5,919 seats surrounding the diamond.
The regional’s top seed UVA opens play at Noon on Friday against No. 4 seed Army. No. 2 seed East Carolina faces No. 3 seed Oklahoma at 7 p.m. in the other game. Virginia traveled to ECU last season for its NCAA Tournament Regional with the Pirates eventually advancing out of the pool.
This is the 10th time the Cavaliers have been selected to host the opening round. The other hosts years were 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010-2014, and 2016. They have advanced to Super Regionals seven times and hosted that round five times in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, and 2015. As the No. 7 national seed in the bracket, the Hoos would host this year if they can advance out of the regional pod. This is the first time since 2014 that the program earned a national seed in the tourney.
“We’re extremely excited to be having postseason baseball again here in Charlottesville,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “It’s a reward, for me, for two things. One, for the body of work our players put together this entire season [that] was incredibly impressive. And, also two, it’s for our fans. When you have an opportunity to host a regional, you’ve shown a track record of a great fanbase and this community has certainly rallied around this baseball program and this team this year. It’s a reward for our players, but it’s just as much a reward for our fans that have come out and supported this team. I’m excited to see the Dish packed this weekend for postseason baseball.”
The NCAA Tournament pairings for this pod are fitting for this particular year. The Cavaliers make their return as a host site in 2023, a little more than six weeks after the death of long-time supporter Les Disharoon. The park was renamed in honor of Disharoon and his wife Ann in 2018 after an anonymous donation.
Further, the athletics world also mourned the loss of Terry Holland this year. The legendary Virginia basketball coach and athletics director died in February. He also served as East Carolina’s athletics director from 2004 to 2013 and the school there named the Terry Holland Olympic Sports Complex in his honor.
UVA and ECU are plenty familiar with one another on the baseball diamond. The Hoos lead the all-time series 31-21 with the first meeting running all the way back to 1967. In more recent years, the Cavaliers faced the Pirates in regular season matchups in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. They have also crossed postseason paths previously. Virginia defeated ECU in a 2011 regional game on the way to a College World Series bid, but lost to the Pirates in 2016 as a regional host and 2022 as a visitor to the East Carolina regional.
Of course, the Wahoos have seen the other pod participants in postseason play too. They topped Army in the opening game of the 2012 and 2013 NCAA Tournament Regional matchups in Charlottesville. Virginia has had less successful run-ins with Oklahoma. The Sooners ousted host UVA in the 2010 Super Regional and the 2012 NCAA Regional at Davenport. OU was the College World Series runner-up last season after defeating Virginia Tech in the Super Regional.
“All three of the teams have played here in tournament play” O’Connor said. “We remember all of those. Certainly Army’s played well here. In 2016, East Carolina won it here. Oklahoma has had success in this ballpark as well. That speaks to the level of those programs first and foremost. Not only have we been in this situation a lot, they have as well so their coaches are experienced and they understand what it takes to win at this time of the year. So we have a tremendous challenge in front of us, but a great opportunity and one that we’re excited about and looking forward to.”
