Last week UVA entered the ACC baseball tournament ranked No. 5 in the nation, capping UVA’s best season in years. UVA finished the regular season with a 46-11 record (21-9 in the ACC) and the team hopes to appear in the College World Series to be held next month in Omaha.
Observers credit UVA’s ascendency to head coach Brian O’Connor, who inherited a mediocre team with a 29-25 record when he took over in 2004. “He’s brought life back to the program,” says Todd Proctor, a local strength coach and baseball instructor. “He gets the guys functioning as a unit. He has a program the guys are buying into. It’s really exciting to see the program take off like this.”—John Borgmeyer, with reporting by Will Goldsmith
