OMAHA, Neb. – As the 2015 season opened the Virginia Cavaliers fully expected to be playing in the College World Series. As did most preseason prognosticators, beginning the year ranked No. 2 overall after finishing last year as the national runnerup to Vanderbilt. They were viewed to be deep in all phases of the game, with a legitimate staff ace, a bullpen full of power arms and a promising lineup with impact performers from each class.

Ultimately it worked out for the Cavaliers, making it to the College World Series for the second consecutive year and advancing to the winner's bracket after their 5-3 win over Arkansas on Saturday. However, the path to Omaha certainly didn't come easy.

When the season opened Preseason All-American outfielder JoeMcCarthy, who hit .301 with six home runs and 11 stolen bases a year ago, was sidelined for two months after having back surgery. Another one of their top returning hitters, John La Prise, was lost in late March after having hip surgery. And as soon as McCarthy did return staff ace Nathan Kirby was shut down with a lat strain, which was followed up with a bout with mononucleosis, and hasn't pitched since April 17.

By the end of April the Cavaliers were 10-14 in the ACC and 21-14 overall, getting pushed out of the Top 25 team rankings on May 4, which happened to be the same day their first College World Series opponent, the Arkansas Razorbacks, re-joined the rankings.

“It was tough given the situation and the challenges that we had throughout the year,” Head Coach Brian O'Connor said on Friday from TD Ameritrade Park. “Certainly there were huge expections coming into the season. And all of those expectations were set prior to McCarthy and La Prise (got injured). We made a conscious decision as a team and we met a lot throughout the sesason to determine how were were going to handle this. Every group is different, and we chose to handle it throughout the season (in a way to) create new opportunities for someone else.”

The Cavs saved their season by going 12-5 in their last 17 games while winning their last five to push their conference record to even at 15-15, which included a sweep of North Carolina to close out the regular season. Virginia squeezed into the NCAA postseason as a No. 3 seed, and went 3-0 in the Lake Elsinore Regional, which included a pair of wins over No. 16 USC, to advance.

Maryland also provided an upset in Regional play, and as a result the Super Regional pairing in Charlottesville had the two clubs facing one another in what was a re-match from the 2014 postseason. With Virginia playing the role of unexpected host, the friendly confines of Davenport Field definitely played to their favor, winning their first two games against the Terps in the best-of-three series.

“I've got to be honest, I credit the Davenport faithful for that one,” said a loose and seemingly carefree Connor Jones with a smile. “It was probably the loudest I ever heard it in there. With this team you never give up because we can pull off some crazy stuff in the later innings.”

Connor Jones is a perfect example of a player stepping up when an opportunity presents itself. When Kirby went down it forced Jones, their Saturday starter, into a more meaningful role. One of the more talented sophomores in the nation with an electric fastball/slider combination, Jones enjoyed a solid season after a good freshman year.

Heading into the College World Series Jones was 7-2 with a 2.96 ERA in 16 starts. He had struck out 105 batters and allowed just 81 hits in 103 1/3 innings, although he had walked 48 batters during that time.

“The first couple of starts my fastball command was what I was most trying to develop,” Jones said of his improved feel down the stretch. “I feel like the last five or six weeks it's really come on strong and I've kind of found it and it feels good to finally have that there.”

Jones, like Kirby, was a well-known talent coming out of high school. Jones participated at the 2012 National Showcase at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, where he peaked at 93 mph, but really burst onto the scene later that fall with a pair of lights out performances at the WWBA World Championship in Jupiter, Fla.

“Connor was a very highly touted kid out of high school,” O'Connor said of his newfound ace. “He pitched great for us last year for the first 75 percent of the season; I think the inning build up got to him, he wasn't used to it.

“Moving into this year he had the best fall of anybody on our pitching staff, and it took about half a year for him to figure out. Ever since Kirby went down he's been pitching like a true No. 1 (and) it doesn't surprise us because he's absolutely loaded with talent.”

As for Kirby, he is still expected to make an appearance at some point during the College World Series. He recently threw 40 pitches in a bullpen session, and while his low-90s velocity was evident, the command and overall feel wasn't quite there, not surprising considering he hasn't thrown a pitch for nearly two months.

Kirby's opportunity didn't come on Saturday, as Jones worked the first six innings and Josh Sborz the final three, with Sborz receiving the decision (5-2) by striking out five Razorbacks' hitters over the final three innings of the game. Although Jones didn't have his best stuff, he did a nice job minimizing the damage by working out of a few jams, staying composed and trusting his stuff.

“I'm so proud of Connor,” Coach O'Connor said after the game. “Certainly he didn't have his best stuff but he found a way and I think that's a great trait for a prospect like him to keep his team in the ballgame. He didn't pitch in this stadium last year for as many games as we played (here), so today was a big, big day for him.”

The loose and patient vibe that both Coach O'Connor and Jones expressed was also displayed by the entire squad in the first game of the College World Series, winning a closely contested game, and doing so with one of college baseball's most dyamic pitchers on the mound, Arkansas' Zach Jackson.

While the run that Virginia scored in the top of the eighth was charged to losing pitcher Trey Killian, the run-scoring hit came off of Jackson, the Razorbacks' go-to fireman. After striking out the first batter he faced – three-hole hitter Matt Thaiss – Jackson gave up a run-scoring double off the bat of Kenny Towns, which followed a pair of stolen bases by Daniel Pinero, who chased Killian from the game with a one-out single.

“Kenny's got a unique ability to not speed it up, slow the game down in pressure situations,” O'Connor said after the game. “That's what you ask your veterans to do, and hopefully those young kids can see that and grow from it. It was a great two-strike approach and he found the barrel.”

Ernie Clement added a sharp RBI single through the left side of the infield off Jackson with two outs in the ninth. Pinero finished the day 3-for-4 with an RBI double of his own, a pair of runs scored and three key stolen bases.

O'Connor's big-picture perspective on even making it to Omaha made their opening game win especially sweet.

“It's hard to describe, you come into the season with all of those expectations and they were kind of squelched for a while. And then in the end you're here standing on this field in Omaha, Nebraska; it's awesome, very rewarding.”

Jones agreed with his skipper.

“I think it gave us a really good perspective that you can't take winning for granted and getting here really is special and it doesn't just happen every year no matter what program you go to.”


Game notes:

• After only three home runs were hit all of last year, two home runs were hit in the first game of this year's College World Series. Joe McCarthy hit the first of the two, a solo shot with two outs in the top of the third inning, the first run of the game. SEC Player of the Year Andrew Benintendi added a solo shot of his own in the fifth that tied the game 3-3.

• Benintendi had a strong game, as he also provided a sacrifice fly in Arkansas' two-run third inning that put the Razorbacks on top, 2-1. He finshed the game 1-for-2 with a walk, a stolen base and two RBI, and also made a spectacular diving catch – something he's done routinely this year – to rob McCarthy of a base hit in the seventh.

• Virginia moves to the winners' bracket and will send lefthander Brandon Waddell to the mound against Florida at 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Arkansas will play Miami in an elminiation game at 2:00 p.m. Monday. Coach Dave Van Horn indicated after the game that Arkansas would likely choose either Keaton McKinney or Jackson Lowery to start.



Florida 15, Miami 3

Although Hurricanes starter Andrew Suarez looked sharp in the early innings, and the Miami hitters were able to make some hard contact off of Florida starter Logan Shore, the Gators erupted for 11 runs in the fourth inning to take a 12-2 lead and put the game well out of reach.

Down 2-1 going into the bottom of the fourth, Florida sent 16 batters to the plate, as Josh Tobias opened the frame with a walk and later added a two-run single. J.J. Schwarz, who reached on an error in his first at-bat, also hit a two-run single his second time through, while Peter Alonso just missed hitting a three-run home run, instead settling for a towering two-run double. Alonso also hit a sacrifice fly in his first at-bat of the inning, giving him three RBI in the fourth. Mike Rivera and Buddy Reed each had two singles in their two fourth inning at-bats.

Florida added insult to injury with three more runs in the bottom of the seventh. Harrison Bader, who was one of two players to only have one at-bat in their big fourth inning, hit an RBI double, while Tobias added another RBI on a groundout, giving him three in the game.

The 11 runs scored set a single-inning record at TD Ameritrade Park, and tied the CWS single-inning record set seven times previously.

As noted Shore did give up some hard contact, and was removed in the top of the sixth inning after allowing a leadoff double to Brandon Lopez, who eventually came around to score. Shore's final line had him going five innings allowing three runs on seven hits and two hit batters, but he didn't allow a walk and struck out six Miami batters.

Lopez went 3-for-3 in the game with a pair of doubles. David Thompson had sacrifice flies in both the first and third innings to give Miami an early yet short-lived lead. Zack Collins had a couple of hard-hit balls including a double in a 2-for-3 effort.