Virginia baseball coach Brian O'Connor could not disguise his disappointment after the Cavaliers were eliminated by Evansville June 4 in the NCAA Tournament's opening round Charlottesville Regional. After a historic regular season that saw the Cavaliers set a school record for wins, it looked as if this squad was poised to become the first Virginia team to advance to a Super Regional and perhaps the College World Series in Omaha. This was the second time in three years that Virginia earned the privilege of hosting a Regional and all three of the schools sent to Charlottesville -- South Carolina, Evansville and Lehigh -- appeared beatable.
Yet, for the third consecutive year, Virginia was unable to move on from the opening round. The previous two years, this was understandable. In 2004, O'Connor's first season at Virginia, the Cavaliers were just happy to be back in the NCAA Tournament after an eight year absence. Last year, Virginia was shipped out to Corvallis, Ore. for the opening round Regional and were eliminated by a hot Ohio State team. This year, however, with a vastly improved offensive attack and a consistently stellar level of starting pitching, the stars seemed aligned for the Cavaliers to achieve something truly extraordinary and historical.
It was not only Virginia's starting pitching that failed at exactly the wrong time; it was also a sudden lack of aggression at the plate. In their losses to South Carolina and Evansville, the Cavaliers struck out a combined total of 18 times. Seven times, Virginia hitters were caught looking. This did not go unnoticed by O'Connor.
"We struck out way too much," O'Connor said. "We were too tentative and we were leaving the decision in the umpire's hands with two strikes, and you can't do that. You have to take advantage of your opportunities when you get them and we did not do that."
Virginia's starting pitching, or lack thereof, was the main story of the weekend, however. Ballard had a serviceable outing against Lehigh but Doolittle and Thompson struggled against South Carolina and Evansville, respectively. Doolittle's grooved fastball over the heart of the plate to South Carolina's Phil Disher in third inning of the 8-4 Saturday evening loss changed the complexion of the entire weekend. If not for Disher's grand slam, Virginia could well have been playing this past weekend against the University of Georgia in the Athens Super Regional.
Yet, one cannot be too harsh on Virginia's starting rotation. Throughout the season, Doolittle, Thompson and Ballard were phenomenal and I fully expect Doolittle's and Thompson's dominance to continue next season.
There's no better baseball phrase than "Wait 'til next year" and that statement well applies to Virginia baseball. With nearly all core players returning, and another precocious recruiting class arriving in the fall, the team is well-positioned to learn from what happened at the end of this season and convert those lessons into a deep 2007 post-season run. O'Connor expects no less.
"We've had a lot of success in this program the past three years but I can tell you that I'm not going to stop until we kick this door in and have a chance to play beyond this," O'Connor said. "Omaha will always be the goal of this program."
Over the past three years, O'Connor has orchestrated a renaissance in Virginia baseball that has transformed a previously mediocre program into a burgeoning national power. In my eyes, it is undeniably clear that O'Connor has the desire, drive and coaching ability to lead the Virginia to a level where trips to Omaha are a common occurrence. The disappointing end to this season should only drive this crop of players to further success next year. Keep your head up, Coach O'Connor.
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