After every game, win or lose, the Virginia baseball team breaks down the huddle the same way it always has under Brian O’Connor: Omaha.

Until last season’s trip to the College World Series though, the Cavaliers’ mission statement was more abstract to some players.

“Before you get there it’s kind of this place where you don’t even know if it’s really real,” junior shortstop Griff O’Ferrall said. “But now we’ve seen it and seen what it takes to be there.”

The trip to Omaha ended with two one-run losses for Virginia and more than a few difficult goodbyes to key players. All-Americans Kyle Teel and Jake Gelof both were early selections in the MLB Draft, while transfers like outfielder Ethan O’Donnell and pitchers Brian Edgington, Nick Parker, and Connelly Early each left Charlottesville after only one year.

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