Cold Offense Results in Another Omaha Heartbreaker for Virginia Baseball

Duncan McGrath | Jun 30, 2024

Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports

Virginia’s undefeated start to the postseason came to an end on Friday afternoon, losing 3-2 in walk-off fashion to No. 4 North Carolina (48-14) in the opener of the College World Series. Following Friday’s loss, the Cavaliers (46-16) have now lost five consecutive games in Omaha, dating back to the 2021 season. After the loss to the Tar Heels, Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said, "Your margin for error is so small, and you've got to be on top of everything to win in Omaha.” 

All season, Virginia has been one of the best offenses in all of college baseball, averaging 9.4 runs per game going into Friday’s matchup, fourth-best in the country. The Cavaliers also led the country in hits this season entering Friday's game with 737 and were second in the country in batting average. However, UVA’s lineup struggled mightily against North Carolina’s pitching, recording season-lows in runs scored and hits. 

Earlier this season, the Hoos scored a total of 28 runs in their three-game series against the Tar Heels in Charlottesville, winning two of the three to take the series. Asked about what was different from UVA's series against North Carolina in April, O'Connor said, "That weekend series in Charlottesville was very much a high-scoring series. There was a lot of offense in [the] entire series. We were fortunate to be really offensive that weekend, and we had a great game against DeCaro and didn't [on Friday]."

Virginia chased North Carolina starter Jason DeCaro for five earned runs on six innings pitched earlier in the season in Charlottesville. However, it was a different story for the UVA offense in Omaha. On Friday, DeCaro gave up only one run in four innings of work, striking out six. In total, the Cavaliers were only able to muster up two runs scored on five hits against the Tar Heels. North Carolina closer Dalton Pence completely shut down the Cavaliers to finish the game, throwing 3 ⅓ scoreless innings without allowing a single hit or walk. Despite a quality start from Virginia starter Evan Blanco, the Cavaliers lost their fifth game in a row in Omaha, their third in a row by one run, and fourth one-run loss in their last five College World Series games.

The margins are thin in Omaha and UVA has had a hard time scoring runs in recent appearances to the College World Series despite having prolific offenses. After the 3-2 loss to North Carolina on Friday afternoon, O’Connor said “the runs are going to be harder to come by for sure. That happened to us last year here in Omaha. They weren't real high-scoring games, and most of the times here in Omaha they're low scoring games.” Following Friday’s loss, Virginia has now gone five-straight games in the College World Series without scoring more than five runs.

READ MORE: Brian O'Connor Explains Virginia's Decision to Pitch to Honeycutt in Loss to UNC

Moving forward, O'Connor said, “The message is be better. And I know what these kids are made of. They've bounced back all year long, and I know that they'll be better on Sunday.” Virginia has only lost back-to-back games this season once, dating back to a pair of losses against the Miami Hurricanes in early March.

Virginia will hope to get the offense back on track on Sunday afternoon at 2pm ET on ESPN against the Florida State Seminoles to stay alive in the College World Series in Omaha. Read more on UVA's matchup against FSU here: Virginia to Face Florida State in Elimination Game at College World Series