UVA National Champs!!

No need to apologize for starting a thread on UVA as college baseball is always a fair game topic on the hsbbweb.

Very happy for Kenny Towns and his Dad golfball.  golfball is a humble man and supports many people here behind the scenes.  I am thrilled that his son could end his college career in this manner and looking forward to his pro journey in the future. 

Congrats to UVA indeed!  No longer need to talk about the ACC drought. 

Maybe so.... but what I observed and took away was impeccable leadership by the UVA coaching staff.

Poise was referenced many times by the commentators to describe the Cavaliers which to me was an accurate assessment.

I know that leadership is encompassed with coaching, but to me the leadership part just stands out... 

So I agree with you Rich Graham, I too LOVE the UVA coaches - it is certainly a magical combination and I am so very happy for everyone at UVA, one can only imagine the excitement.

Congratulations to UVA - National Champions!

I am very pleased for UVA and moreover, Virginia baseball as a whole, and this is from  a Virginia Tech graduate. Incredible poise and coaching, O'Connor has as much job security as a college baseball coach can have. Here's to ACC baseball!

I was hoping for a Vandy/UF playoff, but I have to say very pleased that UVA brought a championship to the ACC... long time coming for sure!

Congratulations to all!!

Congrats UVA / ACC and all the proud Dads after an excellent performance!

Adding a richly-deserved congratulations to Coach O'Connor, his staff, and players!

Awesome series and the play at third was one of the best!

I don't believe this was mentioned during the game last night. With an RBI last night Kenny Towns tied the Virginia single season record for most RBIs. He goes into Virginia baseball lore as a champion and a statistical leader.

My wife and I were both born in Charlottesville and have waited many moons for this to happen !  Go Hoos !  What a great journey, awesome to watch it unfold the way it did !

Got to say, this has been an amazing story for the whole team, but especially for one - the son of a co-worker here, so we've been hearing about the progression from the back door for a while.

   When U Va's roster became decimated some months ago, it left the coaching staff in a lurch when they got down to less than 15(?) men on the bench, and the coach had nowhere else readily available to go, to backfill the players - so he turned to the U Va club team. Sent over a short shopping list (4 positions) of what he needed to the managers over there, and amongst other things he needed a catcher. Asked who they had, and to make a long story short, they sent back a list with Ben Cassillo's name on it. He was a standout catcher thru high school, hoping to play in college, but he didn't make his first choice school so in the end elected to make his choice based on academics. He went to U Va, but found his way on to the club team there just to keep playing.

   What happens? He didn't land a spot on a college team, went this route, and less than 2 months later was trying out for the varsity team; did batting practices with them several weeks, drills, and next thing the paperwork was getting processed for NCAA, etc. And he started doing games with the team.

   While he did not see the field (happily nothing happened to the other catcher), Ben took over the warm-ups in the bull pen for the pitchers before the game, and the relief pitchers during the game, went on the road with them, and it was one trip after another, while staying on top of classes. He put everything into every practice. He would call his dad (father of 2 baseball players, and a team coach as well) during it all, describing what it was like to go on the road, the workouts, his new team mates who were all stellar to him and treated him like one of them, and the rest of the experience.  

   No one would ever have guessed things would play out this way, and I'm not sure who has savored the ride more - Ben or his family. All good people, could not be happier for them!

Momof2015 - fantastic story on Ben Cassillo!

....and Moms.....  !

As an Arkansas fan, it's now funny to me how much I liked our opening round draw. Not so funny now, though.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...dc056ad8a_story.html

 

“I didn’t want to get in the bottom of the dogpile and get hurt,” said closer Josh Sborz, the most outstanding player of the College World Series. “Everyone was trying to avoid the bottom. The last time we did it, someone got a bloody nose, but we dogpiled, no one got hurt and that was the best thing.

 

“Nobody gave them a chance,” O’Connor said. “Every step of the way, everybody was predicting somebody else to win.”

I understand the euphoria on this win, it is a good one to have and they earned it.  However, I am struggling with the hoopla and that this is the "greatest" anything.  A little more perspective is in order.  

UVA did what it was expected to do about 90 days ago when they were a 12-1 team ranked in the top 5 and had been a preseason Top 5 nearly everywhere.  Understanding that there were some key injuries they played nearly three months of lackluster baseball. 

Having to play and then win the ACC play in game was a significant underachievement for the regular season.  They were awful in the ACC tournament.  It is arguable it was Coach O'Conner's worst job at UVA up to this point and had they not beaten GT it would have been.  It would have been the lowest number of wins, worst winning percentage of his entire tenure.  And that would have been with one of his best teams ever going into the season.

Getting into the NCAA tournament and the result turns that whole thing on its head.  They finally played to their level and put together a dozen solid games to win.  As winning does, it puts a lot of perfume on everything around it.

The great truism about baseball is that everything reverts to the mean.  UVA has brought a number of very good teams to this tournament in the last decade.  They lost some tough games, including last year.  This year things went to the mean and it balanced out.  A very good team found it's level ....just in a nick of time. 

Good on them and The Old Dominion.

Anyone have good meatloaf recipes for fenway?   

Great last paragraph!

But to NOT call what UVA baseball did this week one of the greatest if not thee greatest run’s in Virginia college team sports history would be a huge mischaracterization of what transpired over last few weeks. I can think of only a couple Virginia college teams whose run might come close ie. VA Tech football playing in national championship game or VCU Rams basketball to the final four but neither resulted in the ultimate prize of a national championship.

Great teams, great coaches are at their best when it matters most. This team weathered the adversity and took up the gauntlet of post season baseball and won it all when they were not supposed to from about mid-way through the season. Sure, they were one of the favorites going into the season having come off a runner-up finish last season but the circumstances change as they do in every college season. For Coach O’Connor and his staff to have his team believe and stay the course is truly a testament to the outstanding job they did this season. Not to mention, how about that call to start the freshman Haseley in game 2….wow! And not to imply that that one move should make this one of the greatest coaching job’s ever but it seems he and the staff made a lot of the right calls down the stretch and finished at the pinnacle of the college baseball world.

Good on them is right!!

EC - Not trying to minimize the achievement or saying that Virginia should not be joyful.  There is a surprising paucity of college level success for VA.

My point is only that they aren't the 69 Mets that came from nowhere and that this is the greatest job of coaching etc. or that somehow these guys are miracle workers.  They are more like the 73 Mets who rode some great pitching and a hot streak to nearly steal the World Series.  They were preseason favorites to be there at the end, have at least three guys that are going to spend time on MLB mounds, but they underachieved much of the season.  They had adversity to be sure, but not enough to be a 500 team for 3 months.  There is more talent there than that. 

The Game 2 move was pure desperation IMO.  O'Connor made a calculated call that a guy that Vandy would have no book on could get him 2 trips through the lineup and to Sborz.  It was an unconventional call and it worked.  Have to tip the cap there.

That kind of stuff happens when you get on a streak, and you have to respect the streak, but it underscores my point above.  If you can beat Vandy in the CWS with an outfielder on the mound then losing 2X to ODU, Georgetown, PITT, swept by Tech etc. is stuff that should not happen.

They did find a way at the end and it was fun to watch.  Everybody's thrilled and should be.

Virginia finished the season playing up to their potential. They're just as much a champion as anyone who won before them or will win following them. The season isn't about the journey. It's about the final destination.

luv baseball - i hear you and I'm sure you truly are as thrilled about the result as most of us.

But it sounds a bit belittling when you call UVA's run closer to that of the 73' Mets and not the 69 Mets who actually won the WS or the 'surprising paucity of college level success in VA' or my favorite ' move of pure desperation'.

IMO, this is a baseball not college football...good even great teams are not invincible and can and will lose to teams they are supposed to be better than.

Call it a streak or whatever...in the end they did find a way. It was a remarkable end to a GREAT season!

I'm a huge fan of UVA and ACC baseball...but I thought Vandy was the head-and-shoulders favorite to win. I still think they were the better and deeper team. But UVA hung in there, stayed hot, and made some risky coaching decisions that paid-off handsomely.

Great college post-season all around and a GREAT final game 3.  Had some of everything you could ask for. 

One of my favorite moments was one there hasn't been much discussion about.  9th inning, two outs, Vandy hitting, no one on, 4-2 Virginia lead.  Batter hits a line drive that was slightly toward foul line but pretty much directly in front of LF.  LF gets a good jump but cautiously pulls up, deciding not to go for the diving catch.  Sure looked like it was close enough that he would have had a good shot at it.  With a two run lead, I was thinking he definitely should have tried since it didn't matter where the hitter ended up had he missed.  If the big Vandy PH would have run into one, that decision could have loomed LARGE. 

Speaking of the big Vandy PH, that was a pretty bold "gut feeling" call by Vandy coach to put in a .067 hitter in that situation.  I couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it.  Hindsight is too easy.  Still can't decide.

"Speaking of the big Vandy PH, that was a pretty bold "gut feeling" call by Vandy coach to put in a .067 hitter in that situation.  I couldn't decide whether I loved it or hated it.  Hindsight is too easy.  Still can't decide."

I just caught the tail end of the game,  I was puzzled by that move also, didn't the kid only have 15 AB's all year? I don't think he had a HR either.  Oh well the coach knows his players a lot better than I do...

Great overall series, lots of good stuff...Congrats to Virginia, when you go home with that trophy that's no fluke, well earned!

How many of those kids are heading for summer ball now? It's going to be a short summer for them, no rest for the weary!

This year, like most, just goes to show how important coaching is at this level.

Brian O'Connor, Tim Corbin, and Kevin O'Sullivan are three of the very best coaches in college baseball. Also three of the hardest workers, of course.  All three former recruiting coordinators that we have gotten to know well.

Last year UVA was perceived as the most talented team going into the final, this year it was Vandy. The most “talented” team lost the last two years. How so? 

Need I add it’s still a team game? Individual talent doesn’t always translate into a championship team, as winning it all usually depends on more than just the individual performances of it’s star players.

When a team suffers injuries over the course of the season players who were not expected to play major roles are asked to “step up”. Leadership roles change and everyone on the team can be made to feel more important. Ironically injury can sometimes have a very positive effect on team chemistry, bonding players together in way that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

No longer is it about a bunch of superstars leading the way while the rest sit by and watch. If UVA was even going to make it to the tourney they were going to have to play as a complete team with everyone involved. When they faced adversity in the tournament they had the confidence they could find a way having already weathered the brutal storms of the regular season.

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? 

Which is why many coaches would prefer not to go into a championship undefeated.

http://www.cbssports.com/colle...s-for-perfect-season

So with good reason O’Connor, said before the tournament even began that he was as proud of this UVA team as any he had coached.

 “Nobody gave them a chance,” O’Connor said. “Every step of the way, everybody was predicting somebody else to win.”

Time and again we see the most “talented” teams come up short of expectation, at all levels of sport. The chemistry is usually just not right and it usually takes time, or sometimes an unexpected, even shocking event, to inspire a team first attitude. Va fans will note that HS state champ James Madison followed a very similar path.

Of course talent + team chemistry makes you unstoppable but needless to say the combination is not always easy to come by.

Yep cannot argue that no one goes undefeated in baseball, but they do win more at least 2/3 of the time as every champion in the history of the CWS has until this year. 

Missed the Mets reference.  The 1973 Mets were considered a preseason contender like this years UVA team and the 1969 team was not.  The only thing magical about the 1973 team was they weren't toast when they finally figured it out in the last 40 games, similar to this years UVA team.

In a two week span in October 1973 they nearly defeated two of the best 5 baseball teams fielded in the last 50 years to take the WS.  They did it with 4 pitchers carrying the weight: Seaver, Koosman, Matlack and McGraw.  They got some timely hitting, caught it well and hit an occasion HR.  Again, similar to how this UVA team won it.  There is nothing belittling about comparing UVA to a team that goes to the World Series and comes within an eyelash of winning.  They would have won in 5 if they could have gotten Seaver another run in Game 3.

I don't think Luv is trying to belittle the UVA efforts & results.  I think he is trying to say there has been quite a bit of hyperbole used.  When you start saying, "I would venture to say that this was the greatest coaching job in the history of college baseball.", you just might be getting a bit carried away.  Great job for sure, but greatest ever is a little over board, IMHO.

I will say that I was glad to see UVA win, because I got a little nauseous listening to the ESPN announcers all over Dansby Swanson and Co.  The one announcer seemed to not give UVA's LHP enough credit in game two, and he was extremely adamant that UVA wouldn't be able to get to Vandy's closer unless they got lucky and "ran into one."  Not a big fan of his announcing.  Typical ESPN Frontrunner crap...

Stat of the game: Virginia completed the season 44-24, the first national champion with fewer than 45 wins since USC finished 43-12-1 in 1968. The low total for the Cavs materialized after they won just 10 of 24 games during a five-week midseason stretch, including an 8-11 mark in April. Virginia was the third team to win a national title, joining Oregon State in 2007 and Fresno State in 2008, seeded third or lower in a four-team regional, and its postseason appearance marked the 194th -- including 46 trips to the CWS -- for the ACC since the 1955 title.

http://espn.go.com/college-spo...anderbilt-commodores

Totally, 100% agree.  For me, this goes way beyond the 1985 Villanova run to the NCAA basketball championship win over Georgetown.  Incredibly impressive to see a team rally like that at the right time.

Everyone contributed at one time or another when it was absolutely needed.

UVA's win reminds me a lot of Fresno State's from a few years back.  Fresno had lost one or more of their top pitchers yet still found a way to win. 

There's a reason that composite bats were outlawed after the 2009 season; but, then, I digress and threaten to dampen the revelry.

http://blog.al.com/birmingham-...e_players_tampe.html

http://bigdawgbatrolling.com/

The Virginia baseball team finished the season with a 44-24 record. In addition to winning the NCAA championship, the Cavaliers were the 2015 Lake Elsinore Regional and Charlottesville Super Regional champions.

I tend to agree with luvbaseball.

UVA had 7 players selected in the MLB draft.  That doesn't exactly suggest a bare cupboard with which to work.  A fantastic run, no doubt!  Did injuries have an impact...absolutely.   "The greatest coaching job ever", when you are a consensus Top 5 team in the preseason with seven draft picks....hardly.

FTR, I am very happy for UVA, the kids, and their representation of Virginia baseball at large!  Well done!  And against what is probably considered the best program in America over the last few years.  (Vandy)

Frankly, if all things were equal, I find what Radford and VCU did this season, as equally impressive.

GoHeels,

I agree with your logic, but I don't think they were a top team (in terms of talent) in the country nor one that deserved their national ranking early in the season.  Very far from it IMHO.  O'Connor & staff deserves a lot of credit for turning an abysmal Feb, March, April around into a stellar May & June.

Let's face it, they were not good even when most players were healthy. Look at their mid-week losses and non-conference games.  I think the national media gave them a huge break with national rankings because of their coach and their program reputation and that carried them for a while.  Many of their players were unproven and trying to live up to that ranking.  I think when they fell from the top ranklings that it actually helped them relax and they got some games under their belts that they carried forward into an ACC tourney they barely made.  The rest you know.  

But let's give credit for turning this thing around and getting the most out of his players. Always the sign of a great manager.

Below are the draft picks from UVA and Vanderbilt. 7 picks for UVA is indeed impressive, but when you look at where they were drafted Vandy was evaluated by MLB standards as the more talented among its draft eligible. Take out pitchers Sborz and Kirby, UVA’s first picked was McCarthy in the 5^th (148)

Of course a team can’t be evaluated solely by its draft eligible players as 1^st and 2^nd year players make up the majority of the rosters. One would have to look at those already drafted out of HS and where they are projected.

UVA:

Vanderbilt:

Some other WS teams who did well in the draft.

Florida:

LSU:

http://www.ncaa.com/news/baseb...college-world-series

Last years UVA team:

This is the thinking that I have the issue with.  Just because you say it does not make it true. 

So with good reason O’Connor, said before the tournament even began that he was as proud of this UVA team as any he had coached.

 “Nobody gave them a chance,” O’Connor said. “Every step of the way, everybody was predicting somebody else to win.”

Who is everyone? 

IMO UVA was the favorite going into the Regional in CA and the Super Regional vs. MD.  So. Cal and MD were nice teams that had good seasons but neither has the talent UVA has.  The first game UVA played in the NCAA tourney that they were NOT the favorite in was the first game against FL.

I would suggest the only game that they were a clear underdog in was Game 2 vs. Vandy and possibly Game 2 vs. FL.  In the rest of them they had top flight pitching at the top of their game.  When you have that you are always dangerous.

To say UVA wasn't loaded this year is simply not true.  They were a top 5 program in every poll for a reason.  There might have been 1 or 2 teams out there with a few higher end players, Vandy and FL in particular, but very few brought the meat that UVA has. 

Anymore the CWS IS the expectation in Charlottesville, anything less is a failed season.  Coach O'Conner has built that kind of house, the days of man those guys are scrappy overachievers are long gone.  They are a bunch of HS All-America's and future professional baseball players.  As the old saying goes about college sports, UVA does not rebuild....they reload. 

They got hot at the right time and won a championship they probably shouldn't have.  In 7 games Vandy probably wins out.  On the other hand Vandy took one away from them last year that they probably should have won.  Baseball is funny that way you get streaks good and bad but in the end it levels off to the right place.  In the last two years UVA should be 1-1, only thing is they flipped the years.

I admit it, I was one of many that gave them no chance.  Truthfully, I thought they were fortunate to make the NCAA field.  They were a #3 seed going out West.  I thought MD would beat them in the Super Regional and I thought Florida would absolutely rip them up although I did have UVA favored against Arkansas (give me some credit).   I figured there was absolutley no chance against Vandy and their luck had run out.  

Every step they proved me wrong, and I follow the sport pretty closely.    I have to tip my cap, and I never ever saw this coming.  I saw them play some awful games (against some bad teams and a weaker than normal schedule by their standards) and I just didn't see it in them.

So, I'm one of those people I hate to admit it but I didn't think they had enough arms or fire power to do what they did.  Incredible effort.

I read an article in which someone associated with the Arkansas program--I forget whether it was a player or a coach--commented after the CWS that they had thought playing UVA in their first round CWS match was a favorable draw.