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June 14, 2004
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – With the University of Virginia baseball team’s 2004 season recently coming to an end in the Charlottesville Regional, the Cavaliers put the finishing touches on one of the most decorated, exciting and successful seasons in UVa baseball history. From the numerous comeback victories in the closing innings, to the national rankings and capacity crowds, the 2004 baseball campaign will be a season to remember for everyone associated or affiliated with the program.
Before the 2004 season had even got underway, expectations for the team and its new head coach were at a minimum. The Cavaliers entered the preseason picked to finish seventh in the ACC and UVa was under the new direction of first-year head coach Brian O’Connor. But those familiar with the program knew the talent was in place for UVa to perform better than predicted. The Cavaliers narrowly missed the 2003 NCAA Regionals last season and Virginia returned a number of core players from that talented squad. Although it was his inaugural season as a head coach, O’Connor’s track-record of success as a player and as an assistant coach appeared to be the perfect fit for a team on the cusp of something special. The pieces were in place for the Cavaliers to enjoy a special type of season.
Once UVa got its season underway, the wins started piling up and the Cavaliers began to thrive off of their success and developed into a team to be reckoned with. Virginia made believers of themselves and out of others and proved what they could accomplish. The end result became what many have called the best season ever in Virginia baseball history.
O’Connor guided the Cavaliers to one of their finest seasons ever in the history of the Virginia baseball program. He was named the 2004 ACC Coach of the Year to become only the second UVa head baseball coach to receive the honor. O’Connor’s success as a head coach also garnered national attention and he was named a national finalist for CollegeBaseballInsider.com’s Coach of the Year award.
Under O’Connor’s tutelage, Virginia finished a close second place in the 2004 ACC regular season standings after going 44-15 overall, 18-6 in the conference. UVa’s 44 victories tied the school-record for most wins in a single season with the 1996’s squads mark of 44-21. Virginia’s 18 ACC victories were seven more than the previous UVa school-record of 11 reached three previous times (2003, 1996 and 1988). The Cavaliers also set a new school-record for most overall home wins (25) in a single season after going 25-8 at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium, and set a new school-record for most overall road wins (19) in a single season after going 19-5, including 12 contests in ACC stadiums.
In five of the eight ACC series that the Cavaliers won, Virginia swept the series. UVa swept five, three-game ACC series over conference foes for the first time in school-history after defeating Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest, Maryland and Duke three games to none. Both the Georgia Tech and Duke series were on the road. UVa’s three-game sweep over Georgia Tech in an ACC series marked the first time the feat was ever accomplished by the Cavaliers, and UVa’s three-games sweep over Clemson marked the first time Virginia accomplished the feat since 1972.
While all of UVa’s games could be described as exciting, 17 contests in particular were won by the Cavaliers in dramatic fashion. Of Virginia’s 44 total victories, 17 of the wins were either recorded with a late inning comeback or by breaking a tie ball game late in the contest. Virginia won 11 games in come-from-behind fashion and six more games by pulling out a tie contest in either the eighth, ninth or extra inning. UVa also won 12 of the 16 one-run games it played in for the season. Virginia’s refuse to lose approach inspired many fans to give the baseball team the nickname “Cardiac Cavaliers” for the styles and ways they won over a third of their victories.
Attendance at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium increased to an all-time high in 2004, as the Cavaliers drew crowds never before seen in Charlottesville for college baseball games. Virginia sold out eight home games at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium and set three stadium attendance records in one season with then record crowds of 2,000 and 2,430 before posting four consecutive school-record crowds of 2,530 to close out the season. In all, UVa had 45,000 spectators on hand for the season at Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium to see the Cavaliers play 33 home contests.
As the size of the crowds continued to grow, so did the number of UVa victories as Virginia set a new school-record for best winning percentage in a single season at .746 and set a new school-record with 14 consecutive wins from March 30 – April 21, including three ACC series against Clemson, Maryland and Duke. Virginia also set a new school-record for best fielding percentage in a single season at .973 and recorded its best regular season record ever at 42-11 overall.
Virginia became a fixture in the national polls and received its highest national ranking ever on May 3rd after being ranked #7 in the country. Virginia was also named CollegeBaseballInsider.com’s Team of the Week on March 22.
For the first time in school history, Charlottesville and the University of Virginia were able to showcase the UVa baseball program, its state-of-art facility and the growing and thriving support of the baseball community from its own backyard when Virginia selected as one of just 16 regionals sites as part of the 2004 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship on May 31st. UVa hosted its first ever NCAA Regional (the Charlottesville Regional) on June 4-6 and Virginia made just its fourth ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament. It was the Cavaliers’ first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1996 and UVa became the first school from the state of Virginia to host such an event.
Aside from all the team accomplishments, Virginia had numerous individual accomplishments as several Cavaliers had standout seasons as well. On June 7-8, four UVa players were drafted in the 2004 MLB First-Year Player Draft. The Cavaliers’ Andrew Dobies (3rd round, 95th pick, Boston Red Sox), Joe Koshansky (6th round, 170th pick, Colorado Rockies), Mark Reynolds (16th round, 476th pick, Arizona Diamondbacks) and Jeff Kamrath (36th round, 1067th pick, Cleveland Indians) each had their names called in the MLB Draft.
On May 24th, Virginia’s Joe Koshansky was named the ACC Player of the Year to mark the first time a Cavalier has been honored with the award. That same afternoon, Koshansky and fellow teammate Ryan Zimmerman were named First Team All-ACC and teammates Dobies and Reynolds were named Second Team All-ACC selections.
Koshansky continued to make his presence known as one of the top college baseball players in the country and was named a Second Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball (June 3rd) and was selected as a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and was listed on the Golden Spikes Award watch. Koshansky also gathered three ACC Performer of the Week awards after he was twice named the ACC Player of the Week (March 15 and February 17) and once as the ACC Pitcher of the Week (April 26th). UVa’s pitching trio of Matt Avery, Casey Lambert and Dobies were also named the ACC Pitcher of the Week in 2004. Avery was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week on April 12, Lambert was selected the ACC Pitcher of the Week on March 15 and Dobies was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week on March 29.
On June 6th, after leading their team to a pair of NCAA Tournament wins over Princeton and George Mason, UVa’s Koshansky, Zimmerman, Avery, Scott Headd and Tim Henry were named to the 2004 Charlottesville Regional All-Tournament Team.
Several individual school-records were established in 2004 as well. Zimmerman set the new single season school-record for most hits (90) and most at-bats (249), Koshansky set the new single season school-record for most RBI (67), Reynolds tied the single season school-record for most runs scored (60), first-year Casey Lambert tied the single season school-record for most saves (8) and Dobies tied the single season school-record for most games started as a pitcher (16).
Although he won’t be playing in the College World Series this season, Zimmerman will still be competing and participating with the nation’s elite players during that time thanks to his invitation to participate in the 2004 USA Baseball National Team trials on June 20-26 in Durham, N.C.
Virginia was one of only 64 teams in the nation in 2004 to reach the NCAA Tournament with a chance to compete for the coveted trip to Omaha, Neb. to participate in the College World Series. With the player talent, coaching staff, facility and recruiting the Cavaliers have established, the future looks very bright for Virginia baseball and the pieces are in place for the road to Omaha to continue to run through Charlottesville for many more years to come.
— UVa —