To keep you briefed on all that’s going on this summer, we’re bringing you a new series that will condense, analyze and contextualized all the latest sports developments. Welcome to the first-ever Midsummers Minute. For this first week, we’ll focus on Virginia athletes — or rather, those who have since turned in their jerseys to join professional teams.
What’s in a name? Americans nationwide — especially in the D.C. area — have been asking this question for years, with legal and political charges building against the Washington Redskins.
So much more than John Norwood’s rocket home run off junior closer Nick Howard happened to Virginia baseball in 2014. The stunned feeling one felt after that play was powerful, but it cannot override the emotion many fans likely felt watching their team play this year: Cavalier pride.
The Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday night chose Joe Harris with the 33rd pick of the 2014 NBA Draft. League commissioner Adam Silver announced the selection on-stage at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. The standout guard becomes the Virginia’s highest-picked player since Roger Mason, Jr., who went 31st overall to the Chicago Bulls in 2001.
The Virginia baseball team dropped a 3-2 heartbreaker to Vanderbilt Wednesday night at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, falling just short in its quest to capture the 2014 NCAA Baseball Championship.
Waddell’s series-leveling gem, coupled with Virginia’s 10 hits against Vanderbilt junior right-hander Tyler Beede, means that the Cavaliers will be back at TD Ameritrade Park Wednesday night at 8 p.m. for a chance to seize college baseball’s national championship.
The rollicking contest, highlighted by the Commodores’ nine-run third inning and the No. 3 Cavaliers’ slow and steady comeback, featured 17 runs and 21 hits, but it was Vanderbilt that ultimately emerged with a 9-8 victory.
The Virginia baseball team walked off the field on Saturday afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha the winner of 52 games in 2014 and 463 since coach Brian O’Connor arrived in Charlottesville 11 years ago. Virginia’s 4-1 storm-delayed victory against Mississippi, however, was not just one more in a long list of wins. Behind gutsy sophomore right-hander Josh Sborz, dominant relief pitching and resilient offense, the No. 3 Cavaliers (52-14, 22-8 ACC) advanced to the College World Series Finals for the first time in program history.
Freshman shortstop Daniel Pinero drove a fly ball to center field to score junior pinch runner Thomas Woodruff from third base for Virginia’s second walk-off win in two games at the College World Series.
Junior first baseman Mike Papi slammed the game-winning double to right-center field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, turning on Rebels senior right-hander Aaron Greenwood’s full-count pitch to drive in fleet-footed senior pinch runner Thomas Woodruff.
The third-seeded Cavaliers trumped longtime ACC rival Maryland, 11-2, Monday night at Davenport Field in the do-or-die game of the NCAA Baseball Championship’s Charlottesville Super Regional, booking their third trip to the College World Series since head coach Brian O’Connor, associate head coach Kevin McMullan and assistant coach Karl Kuhn came to town 11 years ago.
The Cavaliers (47-13, 22-8 ACC) defeated Bucknell once and Arkansas (40-25, 16-14 SEC) twice to advance to the super regionals for the fifth time in program history—and the fifth time in coach Brian O’Connor’s 11 years at the helm. Virginia was stingy on the mound, nearly mistake-free in the field and powerful in the batter’s box, yielding just three runs all weekend while committing one error and pushing 22 base runners across home plate.
Virginia sophomore women’s tennis player Danielle Collins made her mark on history Memorial Day afternoon, defeating California freshman Lynn Chi 6-2, 7-5 in the NCAA Singles Final to become the first ever Cavalier women’s player to win the singles title. No one from Virginia had ever reached the quarterfinals or further before this season.
Virginia competed in the ACC Baseball Championship this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C., winning once and losing twice in first-round action to forfeit its shot at the tournament crown. The No. 3 Cavaliers (44-13, 22-8 ACC) played a trio of close ballgames, scoring 13 runs total while ceding 15.
Top-ranked Virginia split a Friday doubleheader and fell by a run in a down-to-the wire Saturday finale, suffering its first losing weekend of 2014. The Cavaliers finished second in the ACC’s Coastal Division and earned the No. 3 seed in next week’s ACC Baseball Championship, which runs May 20-25 in Greensboro, N.C.
Former Virginia baseball coach Dennis Womack delivered the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday night before the No. 1 Cavaliers faced off with in-state rival Virginia Commonwealth at Davenport Field. Then, Virginia and current dugout-man Brian O’Connor posted a wire-to-wire 12-3 win against the Rams to complete their home slate at 29-3.
Sunday, the Virginia baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Costal Division competitor Georgia Tech before 4,698 fans at Davenport Field. The No. 1 Cavaliers (41-9, 21-6 ACC) improved to 9-0 in ACC series on the year while honoring graduating seniors Austin Young, Artie Lewicki and Whit Mayberry, all right-handed pitchers.
The Virginia baseball team returned to action Wednesday night after a weeklong hiatus for final exams, playing in-state adversary Liberty at Davenport Field. The No. 1 Cavaliers (38-9, 18-6 ACC) doused the No. 24 Flames, 8-2, as 4,354 fans—the largest-ever crowd for a Virginia midweek home game—looked on.
The Virginia women’s soccer team had a record-breaking 2013 season that resulted in an ACC Regular Season Championship and a trip to the NCAA Final Four. Despite facing one of the hardest schedules in the country, the Cavaliers posted 24 wins with an average margin of victory of nearly three goals.
Virginia softball concluded its season in a fashion all too familiar — with a sweep by Boston College.
