After a season rife with ups and downs, the postseason has arrived. In the first year of the Coach Chris Pollard era, Virginia baseball finds itself back in the thick of the NCAA Tournament. Although a number of conference series losses eliminated the possibility of hosting a regional, a solid overall resume led to the Cavaliers (36-21, 14-16 ACC) earning the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional, playing their first game against Jacksonville State Friday at 7 p.m. EDT.
The Hattiesburg Regional will be hosted by No. 9 overall seed Southern Mississippi, who is hosting for the second consecutive year and is fresh off of a Sun Belt Conference Championship. Also in the regional is No. 4 seed Little Rock, who qualified by winning the Ohio Valley Conference this season. Besides Virginia, every other team in the Hattiesburg Regional won its conference title.
Although Virginia is the No. 2 seed within the Hattiesburg Regional, outranking No. 3 seed Jacksonville State, the Gamecocks (46-13, 23-7 CUSA) are no pushover. Jacksonville State boasts an impressive record, and most recently run-ruled Liberty 10-0 in the Conference USA Championship. Their RPI of No. 25 likely assured them of a spot regardless of their conference tournament fate — the Cavaliers sit just below at No. 26.
In that conference championship, the Gamecocks stifled a Liberty offense that had Virginia on the ropes for a time during a game earlier in the season, but also put in a team-wide offensive effort, as their 12 hits came from seven different players.
Jacksonville State carries little postseason experience heading into this game — its only appearance in the last decade came in 2019, which featured a run to the Oxford Regional final before being walloped by Ole Miss 19-4. Those two wins they had in that tournament are also their only two tournament wins all-time. The Gamecocks have been in the postseason six times — the Cavaliers, 22.
Due to the double-elimination format of the NCAA Tournament, the Cavaliers will have a chance to play at least one more game no matter the result against Jacksonville State. Their subsequent opponent will be one of Southern Mississippi or Little Rock.
The Golden Eagles (44-15, 22-8 Sun Belt) come in about as hot of a team as can be, winning 14 of their final 15 regular-season conference games and only dropping a single game in the conference tournament. Due to this, Southern Mississippi finds itself the No. 9 overall seed.
The Golden Eagles have done this, though, without any top-tier MLB prospects. They are the highest-ranked team from a non-power conference in the tournament field.
The final opponent to consider is Little Rock, the No. 4 seed within the Hattiesburg Regional. The Trojans (36-26, 16-11 OVC) were the No. 4 seed within their conference tournament, but went on a run to clinch the automatic qualifier for the NCAA Tournament. Although upsets can happen at any time, their inferior record and conference suggest that Little Rock is likely to find itself in the elimination bracket sooner rather than later.
If Virginia puts together enough victories to win the Hattiesburg Regional, they would advance to the super regionals, playing the team that comes out of the Gainesville Regional. That grouping of teams is hosted by Florida and also includes Rider, Troy and Miami.
The slate is wiped clean as the postseason begins. Pollard is thankful for the chance to compete.
“We’ve got our hands full, it’s a tough regional,” Pollard said. “We are thrilled to still be playing … this group has shown a lot of resilience to stay in the fight.”
Virginia will open postseason play against Jacksonville State Friday at 7 p.m EDT and will be streamed on ESPN+. The Cavaliers’ fate in this game will determine who they play next — a victory will match them against the winner of Southern Mississippi and Little Rock, and a loss would put them in the elimination bracket against the loser of that game. The other opening regional matchup will take place before the Cavaliers’, streaming on ESPN+ Friday at 2 p.m EDT.
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