Virginia Baseball’s Heroic Ride Finally Comes to a Halt
There have been so many times this year that you thought the Virginia baseball team was done. Early in the year when they were 2-9 in conference play, when they dropped their first game in the Columbia Regional, or the countless times they trailed in elimination games thereafter. It was always anxiety-inducing, yet the Hoos came through over and over again. The 2021 Virginia baseball teams were legitimately the Cardiac Cavs…until they ran out of steam in the College World Series.
Virginia was eliminated earlier this morning, right around 2:00 a.m. ET, when they went quietly in the bottom of the ninth to fall 6-2 to Texas. The score makes it look worse than it actually was; the Hoos were right there, just as they were a few nights ago before losing to Mississippi State, for the bulk of the game. Against State, they took a 4-0 lead into the eighth; against Texas, they were tied 2-2 going into the eighth, and down just 3-2 going into the ninth. It wasn’t until a drawn-in outfield was beaten on a bases-clearing double in the top of the ninth to extinguish most of the hope for UVA.
“They could have packed it in and they didn’t,” Brian O’Connor said in his postgame press conference, referencing the season as a whole. “That speaks to the character they have and what they’re made of. In baseball, that will serve them well and they’ll have successful careers after this year. And I know they’ll be terrific fathers and make great contributions to society because of what they stood up and did this year.”
The magic ran out, but it’s so important to realize the magic Virginia fans became accustomed to recently is more than a lot of programs will get in a lifetime. They more than deserve a tip of the cap from everyone in the Wahoo orbit, as well as a hero’s welcome when they arrive back in C-Ville. This team extended the 2021 Virginia sports year in such a thrilling way and, as someone who wasn’t around in 2015, I’ll always cherish this team/run.
Complete schedule/results for the 2021 College World Series can be found here.