The Virginia Cavaliers baseball team concluded its first season under head coach Chris Pollard on June 1 with a loss in the NCAA Hattiesburg Regional. The Cavaliers, seeded second, were eliminated after falling 7-6 to third-seeded Jacksonville State at Pete Taylor Park. Virginia had previously survived an elimination game by defeating top-seeded Southern Mississippi 15-11 in extra innings but could not overcome Jacksonville State, which had also defeated them earlier in the tournament.
Jacksonville State built a 7-0 lead before Virginia rallied for six runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by a three-run double from catcher Jake Weatherspoon and a two-run double from shortstop Eric Becker. Despite putting runners on base late in the game, the Cavaliers were unable to complete the comeback as Jacksonville State’s bullpen closed out the win.
Head coach Chris Pollard said Sunday evening, “They’re a really, really good club. They’re deep on the mound. They’re dynamic. They can score in a lot of different ways. They’re athletic. They play good defense. Certainly in all the years that I’ve been in NCAA tournaments, that’s the best 3-seed that I’ve ever come up against.”
Virginia finished with a record of 37-23, marking the second-most wins by any first-year head coach at UVA behind Brian O’Connor’s 44-win debut season in 2004. Reflecting on his team’s performance and transition year following O’Connor’s departure to Mississippi State and his own arrival from Duke, Pollard said, “Just reflecting back on the season, losing in the semifinals of a regional, that’s not our aspirations… But I will say this, this team did a lot of really good things over the course of this year: 37 wins against a top-15 schedule in the country.”
The roster is expected to change significantly next year due to player graduations and some juniors likely pursuing professional careers over summer. Senior left-fielder Harrison Didawick completed his career ranked among UVA’s all-time leaders across several categories including games played and home runs.
Pollard praised Didawick’s contributions: “This dude will go down as one of the all-time greats in history of this program.” Looking ahead to next season and building around young talent such as freshman RJ Holmes—who hit .338 during his first college campaign—Pollard said he is optimistic about future development within his program.
