2016 Virginia Cavaliers baseball team

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2016 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Atlantic
No. 11 Louisville  x‍‍‍y	22	–	8		.733			48	–	12		.800
No. 14 Florida State  ‍‍‍y	16	–	10		.615			38	–	20		.655
No. 20 NC State  ‍‍‍y	15	–	13		.536			36	–	20		.643
No. 18 Clemson  ‍‍‡‍y	16	–	14		.533			43	–	18		.705
No. 16 Boston College  ‍‍‍y	13	–	15		.464			35	–	22		.614
Wake Forest  ‍‍‍y	13	–	17		.433			35	–	25		.583
Notre Dame  ‍‍‍	11	–	17		.393			27	–	27		.500
Coastal
No. 8 Miami (FL)  x‍‍‍y	21	–	7		.750			46	–	11		.807
No. 17 Virginia  ‍‍‍y	19	–	11		.633			38	–	20		.655
Duke  ‍‍‍y	14	–	15		.483			33	–	23		.589
Georgia Tech  ‍‍‍y	13	–	16		.448			36	–	24		.600
North Carolina  ‍‍‍	13	–	17		.433			34	–	21		.618
Pittsburgh  ‍‍‍	10	–	18		.357			25	–	26		.490
Virginia Tech  ‍‍‍	6	–	24		.200			19	–	36		.345
x – Division champion ‡ – Tournament champion y – Invited to the NCAA tournament As of June 4, 2016 Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

The 2016 Virginia Cavaliers baseball team represented the University of Virginia during the 2016 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Cavaliers played their home games at Davenport Field as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference. They were led by head coach Brian O'Connor, in his 13th season at Virginia. The 2015 team won the National Championship, their first in school history.

Previous Season

In 2015, the Cavaliers finished the season 2nd in the ACC's Coastal Division with a record of 33–19, 15–15 in conference play. They qualified for the 2015 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament by winning a play in game against Georgia Tech, and were eliminated in pool play, losing all three . They qualified for the 2015 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament unseeded and were placed in the Lake Elsinore Regional, hosted by UC Santa Barbara. Also in the regional were UC Santa Barbara, San Diego State, and USC. The Cavaliers defeated USC, 6–1, in the opening game, and USC, 3–1, to advance to the regional final. There, they again defeated USC, this time by a score of 14-10 in 11 innings. the Super Regional was hosted by the Cavaliers in Charlottesville. There Cavaliers defeated Maryland, 5-3 and 5-4, defeating Maryland in a super regional for the second year in a row, to advance to the College World Series.

In the College World Series, Virginia's first game was against Arkansas, whom the Cavaliers defeated, 5–3. In the second round, Virginia defeated #4 national seed Florida, 1–0. In the semifinals, the Cavaliers lost to Florida, 10-5, but bounced back in the second game, winning 5-4. The Cavaliers advanced to the College World Series finals to play Vanderbilt, a rematch of the 2014 world series. In the first game of the finals, the Commodores won by a score of 5–1. Virginia then rebounded to defeat Vanderbilt, 3–0, in game two. In a winner-take-all game three, Virginia prevailed, 4–2, to be crowned national champions. Josh Sborz was named the College World Series Most Outstanding Player recording three wins and a save in four games; pitching 13 scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, four walks and seven hits allowed.

Personnel

Roster

2015 Virginia Cavaliers roster
	Pitchers 7 – Adam Haseley – Sophomore 9 – Daniel Lynch – Freshman 11 – Bennett Sousa – Sophomore 13 – Alec Bettinger – Junior 14 – Derek Casey – Sophomore 15 – Riley Wilson – Freshman 16 – Tommy Doyle – Sophomore 17 – Jack Roberts – Sophomore 23 – Grant Donahue – Freshman 27 – Chesdin Harrington – Freshman 28 – Kevin Doherty – Senior 29 – Connor Eason – Freshman 30 – Holden Grounds – Junior 33 – Connor Jones - Junior 34 – Evan Sperling – Freshman 35 – David Rosenberger – Senior 45 – Grant Sloan - Freshman 53 – Tyler Shambora - Junior		Catchers 8 – Robbie Coman – Senior 21 – Matt Thaiss – Junior 55 – Cameron Comer - Freshman Infielders 2 – Jon Meola – Freshman 3 – Jack Weiller – Freshman 4 – Ernie Clement – Sophomore 5 – Ryan Karstetter – Freshman 10 – Pavin Smith – Sophomore 12 – Charlie Cody – Sophomore 18 – Justin Novak – Sophomore 19 – Andy Weber – Freshman 22 – Daniel Pinero – Junior 25 – Jack Gerstenmaier – Sophomore 32 – Nate Eikhoff - Freshman		Outfielders 20 – Cameron Simmons - Freshman 31 – Jake McCarthy – Freshman 37 – Doak Dozier - Freshman

Coaching Staff

Name	Position	Seasons at Virginia	Alma Mater
Brian O'Connor	Head Coach	13	Creighton University (1993)
Kevin McMullan	Associate Head Coach	13	Indiana University of Pennsylvania (1990)
Karl Kuhn	Assistant Coach	13	University of Florida (1992)
Matt Kirby	Assistant Coach	5	College of William & Mary (2003)

Schedule

Legend
	Virginia win
	Virginia loss
	Postponement
Bold	Virginia team member

All rankings from Collegiate Baseball.

Rankings

See also: 2016 NCAA Division I baseball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
Coaches'	7	7*	7*	18	17	12	16	22	25	22	18	16	14	13	12
Baseball America	4	4	8	10	10	9	14	—	—	—	22	16	15	9	8
Collegiate Baseball^	9	9	14	15	14	16	21	26	—	20	16	11	11	9	8	8
NCBWA†	8	8	14	14	12	11	14	20	25	22	20	16	14	12	11

^ Collegiate Baseball ranked 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranked 30 teams weekly during the season.
† NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season.
* A new poll was not released for this week, so for comparison purposes, the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.

Awards and honors

Connor Jones

• Baseball America Pre-season Third team All-American
• All-ACC first team

Pavin Smith

• Baseball America Pre-season Third team All-American
• All-ACC second team

Matt Thaiss

• All-ACC second team
• ACC Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team

Ernie Clement

• All-ACC third team

Daniel Pinero

• ACC Baseball Championship All-Tournament Team