It's kind of like my knowledge of the Spanish language - I can communicate just fine with someone who can barely speak it, like me. But once I try to speak to someone who is fluent in Spanish, I just feel like an idiot. For this reason, you'll probably never find an in-depth preview or recap on this site. I have nothing against the sport; I just grew up with lacrosse, which took baseball's place in the spring. Thankfully, UVa has a pretty good lacrosse program too.
Regardless, this post is simple. I am kind of piggy-backing off of a post on Wahooze from a week ago, but I feel it hit the nail right on the head. It's time to put up or shut up for Virginia baseball.
Don't get me wrong, 44-13 is a fabulous record. And 29-3 at Davenport is even better. And it was just about a month ago that we were No. 1 in all four major polls. But none of this means anything without a trip to Omaha.
Maybe things would be a little different if we had fared well in the ACC tournament (and by fared well, I mean won). But going 1-2 simply isn't good enough for the talent on this squad.
After reading an article by Doug Doughty at the Roanoke Times, I wonder if this squad simply just got too confident before the ACC tournament. We certainly could not go in thinking it would be easy, but perhaps we thought it would be easier than it should be. This is purely speculation, but by having so many prospects that will be drafted next week, it seems obvious that the tournament wasn't the only thing on a lot of players' minds.
Perhaps such a loss will serve as a wake-up call for us. We know we're not invincible. And thankfully we are still a national seed (No. 3) and will host a regional, with the first game being against Bucknell (30-19-1) on Friday. It kind of reminds me of the basketball team's loss to Maryland to end the regular season. Maryland was not a terrible team, but they were a team we should have beat. Still riding high off the Syracuse win, we just weren't mentally ready for that challenge. But you know how the story ended. We didn't lose another game until the heartbreaker against Michigan State in the Sweet 16.
The difference between these two teams, though, is that the basketball team still brought back the hardware - an ACC regular season and ACC tournament championship. To make it even sweeter, we can add 2014 to the Sweet 16 banner in JPJ.
The baseball team, however, has brought back squat. Regular seasons simply mean nothing without some resemblance of a trophy. Take the 2012 Broncos in their first year with Peyton Manning. People forget how good that team was. Their season ended with a heartbreaking loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Ravens. People remember the Ravens-49ers Super Bowl because it was the championship. But no one remembers that Broncos team.
Without a trip to Omaha, I would say that this season was a disappointment. Not necessarily because of the team's on field performance, but because there will be nothing to remember this run by. People will just remember 2014 as one of the years that O'Connor fielded a good team. We want more than that. And this team deserves more than that.
My go to man for quotes is Vince Lombardi. Perhaps my favorite quote of his was, "If winning isn't everything, why do they keep score?"
Virginia, it's time to put up or shut up. Cement your legacy. Take us to Omaha.
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