OMAHA, Ne. - To win the College World Series, a team must survive a bracket composed of four powerhouse teams, then win a best-of-three series against another premier opponent in one of the most electric environments in college baseball.\nVirginia did not win it all this season, but one could argue that, just to arrive in Omaha, the Cavaliers won the equivalent of a College World Series.\nFrom the beginning of the spring season, the Cavaliers were on a mission to prove that they were not too young, that they were ready to contend as an elite team one year earlier than expected. Virginia carried that chip on its shoulder through its second-ever ACC Tournament championship and into the NCAA Tournament, where Virginia survived what many dubbed the "Regional of Death" and a hot-hitting Ole Miss team at its raucous stadium in Oxford, Miss. When the dust settled, the Cavs had reached their first College World Series in program history.\nThe Cavs were not quite so fortunate once they arrived at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, however. They were the second team eliminated, after they suffered a gut-wrenching 4-3 loss to Arkansas in 12 innings. But perhaps no team left Omaha with more respect than coach Brian O'Connor's Cavaliers.\n"There weren't a lot of high expectations in the preseason of this team," O'Connor said. "We've played all year long with something to prove."\nWhen the Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament, it seemed that they were worthy of hosting an NCAA Regional pool. When the NCAA announced all 16 one-seeded teams before the championship game had been decided, though, the NCAA Selection Committee looked past the Cavaliers, giving North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson the right to host - all of whom had fallen to Virginia in the ACC Tournament.\nThe most startling news, though, came the next day, when the entire tournament field was announced. Virginia was sent across the country to the Irvine regional; where host team University of California-Irvine was the No. 1 team in the nation. The Cavs' first opponent, three-seed San Diego State, featured Stephen Strasburg, one of the most anticipated MLB pitching prospects of this decade.\nAnd the fourth-seed, Fresno State, entered the tournament as the defending national champion, having shocked the nation by winning it all in 2008 - as a regional four-seed.\nIt was written that Virginia got "screwed," and that the difficulty of this regional was an indication of the Selection Committee bowing to pressure from ESPN, who had already declared interest in covering the Irvine Regional, as stated in the San Diego Union-Tribune May 27. Nevertheless, Virginia managed to put a positive spin on the selection.\n"First reaction, you're just shocked that you get put in a regional like that," junior pitcher Matt Packer said. "But when you think about it, you have to beat the best teams anyway. We might as well get it over with right off the bat."\nAnd so the Cavaliers did. They first knocked off Strasburg, handing him his first loss of the season. Then, Virginia made quick work of Irvine, bouncing the Anteaters in back-to-back games.\nAdvancing to their first Super Regional in program history, the Cavaliers' reward was a trip to Oxford, Miss., to take on one of the hottest teams in the nation at the time in what O'Connor called one of the top three baseball atmospheres in the country. Nine thousand-plus screaming fans arrived to Swayze Field to cheer on the Ole Miss Rebels, daring the underclassmen-dominated Cavaliers to feel overwhelmed.\nBut, even as Virginia lost the first game in walk-off fashion, it rebounded with the elasticity it had shown all season. The Cavs recovered to down the Rebels, 4-3 in game two and 5-1 in the third and final game of the series.\nThe Cavaliers' furious postseason run put them among the final eight teams in the country, and in Omaha. Virginia not only arrived as the Cinderella, but also as the hometown favorite by way of its manager - O'Connor was raised in Omaha and went to college at nearby Creighton, the team for which he played in the College World Series.\nThe Cavs again faltered early, however, dropping their opening game to powerhouse and eventual champion LSU. They then landed a win by eliminating Cal State Fullerton, exacting revenge for the Titans' elimination of Virginia in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.\nBut, if it was fitting that the Cavaliers overcame adversity to arrive in Omaha, it was equally appropriate that Virginia, the loser of 10 games by two runs or less in prior contests, was eliminated by the smallest of margins. Going into the ninth inning against Arkansas with a 3-1 lead, sophomore closer Kevin Arico surrendered a two-run homer to tie the game. During the next three innings, Virginia put nine men aboard but failed to score, and the Razorbacks eventually plated a runner in the 12th inning, sending the Cavaliers back to Charlottesville.\n"I told them that I couldn't take the hurt and the pain away from them because I know that it means so much to them," O'Connor said. "I know that they felt coming here that we could legitimately win the national championship."\nVirginia fans were far from disappointed, however. As O'Connor made a slow walk back to the team bus with his head down after Virginia's loss to Arkansas, a small group of Cavalier fans stuck around to give him a rousing ovation.\nEven an admittedly frustrated, disappointed O'Connor could understand why.\n"I couldn't be more proud of a group of young men than we have in our uniform," O'Connor said after the loss. "I don't think there were a lot of people that predicted that we could be in this position right now."\nNow, with Virginia losing at most three players who made significant contributions this past season, the College World Series will not be a dream so much as an expectation.\n"I think the competition in our program will be the best that it's ever been," O'Connor said. "There will be expectations on this team next year that this program has never had before"
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