A little less than a year ago, Virginia baseball stood in Omaha celebrating their National Championship title. With a ton of smiles, and a few tears, Virginia was rewarded for their hard work and dedication through their national championship victory.
This year, Virginia had a target on their back as defending national champions. Their past success made them the team to beat this year, but also brought about a huge fan base from the UVA students, faculty, and community.
Virginia began the 2016 season with both wins and losses, just as they had a year before. When the team faced losses, they weren’t crushed. Despite their previous season’s success, they recognized that there would still be games that would not result in victory.
By the mid-season, Virginia’s record seemed almost identical to their record a year before. This kept the morale high for players and fans alike. People had watched them get hot at the end of the season last year, and it ended in a National Championship.
Virginia began the end of their season in the ACC tournament. Playing in Durham, North Carolina, the Cavaliers lost to Clemson and Wake Forest, but then defeated Louisville, 7-2.
Regardless of the tough losses in the ACC tournament, the ‘Hoos continued to the NCAA Charlottesville Regional Tournament this past weekend.
On Friday, Virginia defeated William & Mary by a whopping score of 17-4. On Saturday, the Cavaliers played ECU and came away with a tough 8-6 loss. The team returned to Davenport field Sunday to face William & Mary once again, a seemingly weaker matchup
.
However, things did not go quite as planned. On Sunday, William & Mary did what was deemed merely impossible – they defeated UVA 5-4 in a single elimination game, removing Virginia from the tournament and bringing a prompt and unexpected end to their season.
William & Mary had an early lead, scoring 3 runs in the third inning. Virginia came back at the bottom of the fourth with a 3-run inning.
In the 7th inning William & Mary broke the 4-4 tie with a home-run. This homer clenched the victory for William & Mary, as Virginia was unable to come back.
Despite the season-ending defeat, Virginia baseball is still recognized as an incredible program, holding 13 NCAA tournament appearances (1 of 16 schools in NCAA history to reach at least 13 straight NCAA tournaments), 6 regional championships, and a College World Series victory.
