Few college baseball programs have had as much success as Virginia in making it to the College World Series over the last decade and a half, including a run of three CWS appearances in the last four seasons. Once the Cavaliers get to Omaha, though, it has been an entirely different and unfortunate story.
For the second season in a row, Brian O'Connor's Cavaliers put together a remarkable run to the College World Series only to have their stay in Omaha last only two games. No. 12 Virginia (46-17) was eliminated from the 2024 College World Series in a 7-3 loss to No. 8 Florida State (48-16) on Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
"Certainly we're disappointed that we didn't win today and have an opportunity to advance on, but I'd first like to congratulate Florida State. They have a very, very good ballclub and well-coached. They deserved to win today," said UVA head coach Brian O'Connor.
On June 20th, 2021, Virginia opened the College World Series with a dominant 6-0 victory over No. 3 seed Tennessee. The Cavaliers had rallied to win six-consecutive elimination games in the regional and super regional rounds and carried that momentum with them to Omaha. Since then, UVA has played six more CWS games and is a winless 0-6 in those games, including four losses by one run.
While Friday's defeat to North Carolina was another one of those heartbreakers, falling in walk-off fashion to Vance Honeycutt and the ACC rival Tar Heels, Sunday's defeat to Florida State was much less dramatic, though the primary culprit in the loss was the same. The Virginia offense, which remains one of the top five offenses in all of college baseball in hits, batting average, and scoring, was ice cold in Omaha once again.
Florida State starter Carson Dorsey deserves a lot of credit for that outcome. After giving up three hits in the first two innings, Dorsey did not allow another hit until the sixth inning and was shutting out the vaunted Cavalier bats into the seventh.
"The game came down to, they were very, very opportunistic," O'Connor said. "First and foremost, Dorsey was outstanding. I think he was the best that he's been in weeks and really commanded multiple pitches, was pitching in on our right-handers. He settled in and pitched a terrific ball game."
By the time UVA finally put some runs on the board, the Virginia pitching staff, whose resurgence powered the team's run through the NCAA Tournament Omaha, had already faltered.
Virginia vs. Florida State Live Updates | NCAA Baseball College World Series
Jay Woolfolk, who we later learned was dealing with some issues with his right meniscus that apparently originated from an injury suffered during his football career at UVA, retired the first seven batters he faced, but then gave up two singles and two walks in the bottom of third, walking in a run to give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead. On Woolfolk's first pitch of the fourth inning, he slipped and aggravated that knee injury on a pitch that was crushed out of the ballpark by Jaime Ferrer for a solo home run.
Woolfolk pitched to two more batters before exiting the game as it was obvious he was in some significant discomfort with that right knee. His replacement, Joe Savino, retired the first three batters he faced but then gave up a double to Cam Smith, an RBI single to Marco Dinges, and then a three-run blast to Ferrer, who is making his case as the hottest hitter in college baseball right now with eight RBI through the first two games of the College World Series.
Ferrer's three-run bomb made it 6-0 and then Alex Lodise hit a solo home run off of Savino in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-0. Savino, whose emergence as a quality No. 2 starter had been a big key to Virginia's pitching success later in the season, gave up five earned runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work.
"We had our chances to capitalize and didn't capitalize on it enough," said O'Connor. "I feel for Joe Savino. And when Jay got injured and Joe came in, we have a lot of confidence in him. And they had a great approach against him with two outs and capitalized on it."
2024 College World Series Score Updates and Schedule | NCAA Baseball Tournament
Virginia finally broke through against Dorsey in the top of the seventh, as Ethan Anderson, Anthony Stephan, Henry Godbout, and Casey Saucke each hit singles to bring two runs home. Dorsey remained on the mound with a 100+ pitch count in the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Jacob Ference, who ultimately came around to score on an RBI double from Stephan. After giving up that double, FSU reliever Brennen Oxford recovered to finish the eighth and then induced a double play in the ninth to end the game and UVA's season.
The Virginia pitching staff gave up no further runs, as Angelo Tonas retired all six batters he faced and Matt Augustin set the Seminoles down in order in the bottom of the eighth. But Woolfolk's physical inability to deliver a long start, Savino's disastrous outing, and perhaps most importantly, the UVA offense's state of comatose until it was too late, ultimately doomed the Cavaliers to another 0-2 showing at the College World Series.
"It always happens once you get to the postseason everybody ends their season with a loss other than the national champion. And that's the way it works," O'Connor said. "And today it was us, and we'll deal with that and move on. But it doesn't take away how proud I am of the young men that wear our uniform and how they fight and compete every day and represent themselves, their family and this baseball program. They represent it with class all the time. They play the game the right way. And sometimes the game can be tough and cruel to you, like it was this weekend. But it doesn't take away from the season that Virginia baseball had and who we will be moving forward."
With the win, Florida State keeps its season alive and will face the loser of No. 1 Tennessee and No. 4 North Carolina (Sunday at 7pm) in another elimination game on Tuesday at 2pm.
Virginia, meanwhile, ends the 2024 college baseball season with a 46-17 overall record.
