Virginia's historic season came to an abrupt and stunning halt when the No. 1 seeded Cavaliers were eliminated from the Charlottesville Regional of the NCAA Tournament after being routed by No. 3 seed Evansville 15-4 at Davenport Field. Virginia opened the weekend with an 11-5 victory over No. 4 seed Lehigh before falling 8-2 to No. 2 seed South Carolina to set up the elimination game against Evansville.
"This is a tough one to swallow," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "It's going to be the hardest one, quite frankly, for me to take in my entire coaching career. But this team has a lot to be proud of."
Virginia finished the 2006 campaign 47-15, setting a school record for wins. O'Connor has led the Cavaliers to the NCAA Tournament in each of the three seasons that he has been at Virginia.
Virginia's starting pitchers Mike Ballard, Sean Doolittle and Jacob Thompson surrendered a combined total of 16 earned runs over a mere 12 and two-thirds innings of work over the course of the three NCAA Tournament games. Overall for the weekend, Virginia's pitching staff yielded 28 runs, 22 of them earned. Virginia's poor pitching performance during the NCAA Tournament stood in marked contrast to the regular season when the Cavaliers held the best ERA -- 2.81 -- in the ACC.
"The bottom line is that we did not pitch like we have all year," O'Connor said. "This time of year, you have to get good, consistent starting pitching and quite frankly we fell apart. We walked guys to set up situations and you just can't pitch your way out of those situations all the time."
Friday evening (June 2), after a one hour and 45 minute rain delay, Virginia out-slugged Lehigh en route to the 11-5 victory. Sophomore left fielder Brandon Guyer led the Cavaliers' offense by going 4-5 with three RBIs. Ballard (9-3) notched the victory, giving up five earned runs and striking out six over six and two-thirds inning of work. The win put Virginia into the winner's bracket and set up a Saturday evening showdown with perennial SEC powerhouse South Carolina.
Doolittle (11-2) toed the rubber for the Cavaliers against the Gamecocks and performed brilliantly over the first two innings, striking out four of the first six batters he faced. Trouble, however, arose in the third inning. Ian Paxton scored on a Chris Brown RBI single with two outs. Doolittle then intentionally walked Justin Smoak to load the bases. Designated hitter Phil Disher dug into the batter's box and drilled a first pitch fastball well over the wall in left-centerfield for a grand slam, giving South Carolina a sturdy 5-0 lead. Doolittle gave up five hits and four walks over four innings of work.
"I walked a couple of guys and I missed a couple of spots in crucial situations," Doolittle said. "Against a team like that, you're not going to be able to get away with that, especially at this point in the season."
Sophomore right-hander Harris Honeycutt got the win for South Carolina, yielding one run on five hits over six innings. The 8-2 loss pushed Virginia into the loser's bracket and a Sunday afternoon elimination contest against Evansville, the Missouri Valley Conference champion.
Thompson's struggles on the hill started early. The freshman right-hander allowed a lead-off base hit to Jim Viscomi. Three batters later, with two outs, designated hitter Pat Tumilty deposited a Thompson offering over the right field fence, staking Evansville to a 2-0 lead.
Thompson (10-4) was chased from the game during Evansville's five run third inning. The Purple Aces would score four runs in both the fifth and sixth innings as a parade of Virginia's relief pitchers failed to stop the bleeding. The Cavaliers also committed six fielding errors.
Despite the early exit from the NCAA Tournament, the 2006 season was one of the most successful in school history. The previous school record for wins was 44, set in 1996 and 2004. A 21-9 conference record was also a new school record.
Doolittle's phenomenal season, both on the mound (11-2, 2.38 ERA, 108 Ks) and at the plate (.324, 4 HR, 57 RBIs), was nationally recognized as he has taken home a bevy of awards, including 2006 ACC Player of the Year andsecond team All-American honors from Louisville Slugger, Baseball American and the NCBWA. He has also been named a finalist for the Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Award.
O'Connor, who has accumulated a 132-50 record during his time at Virginia, was one of four coaches selected by the College Baseball Foundation for Coach of the Year honors.
Just days after the season ended, two Cavaliers were selected in the 2006 Major League Baseball draft. Ballard, who posted a career 19-8 record as a left-handed starting pitcher for Virginia, was taken on the draft's first day in the 14th round (418th overall) by the Texas Rangers. The next day, outfielder-first baseman Tom Hagan was elected in the 39th round (1160th overall) by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Hagan was named to the 2006 All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team as the designated hitter after hitting .357 and driving in 41 runs while starting 58 of 61 games.
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