When the Virginia baseball program decided to expand Davenport Field at Disharoon Park in 2018, coach Brian O’Connor and Hoo fans had a vision of what that could look like for an NCAA Tournament Regional. On Friday, The Dish delivered.
UVA opened the Charlottesville Regional at Noon on Friday with a commanding 15-1 win against Army and a record crowd was there to see it. The Cavaliers set a new postseason attendance record for the venue with 5,487 fans despite the mid-day start.
“When we decided to submit our bid and put in the game times, I’ve always made the decision to play the first game,” O’Connor said. “There’s a lot of reasons behind that, but I made that decision knowing that our crowd would be here for a noon start. And what an unbelievable atmosphere for 12 o’clock noon on a Friday. I know a lot of people play the night game because they’re concerned about that, but I was not concerned about that with our fans. Our fans have been loyal and this thing has been built over the years. Today, and this weekend, is why we put $25 million into this stadium five years ago. A small part of that was for player development, the biggest part of it was for our fans and for them to have the best venue possible to enjoy not only the regular season, but postseason baseball in Charlottesville. I thank all the fans and I’m looking forward to seeing them all tomorrow night as well.”
Fans didn’t have to wait long to enjoy the excitement either as Virginia uncorked 10 runs in the first two innings, while starting pitcher Brian Edgington tossed a perfect five innings as well. Edgington struck out the first two batters in the top of the first and it took just four batters to for UVA get on the scoreboard in the home half of the inning. Kyle Teel singled to bring in the first run of the game and then Jake Gelof scored on a wild pitch.
Moments later, Ethan Anderson injected a dose of electricity into an already energized crowd. He connected on a 2-2 pitch that soared over the right field wall for a quick 4-0 lead and the Cavaliers never looked back.
“There’s not a better feeling than hitting a home run early on in the game with the huge crowds that we have,” “The energy, not just in our dugout, but the whole stadium was buzzing.”
It all added up to propel the Hoos into the winner’s bracket for a 6 p.m. start on Saturday night for what should be a terrific atmosphere once again.
Fan(s) Of The Week
All smiles at Davenport Field.
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
Go Hoos!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Virginia shortstop Griff O’Ferrall fires to first for an out.
