Virginia Eliminated From College World Series in 7-3 Loss to Florida State

Few college baseball programs have had as much success as Virginia in making it to the College World Series over the last decade and a half, including a run of three CWS appearances in the last four seasons. Once the Cavaliers get to Omaha, though, it has been an entirely different and unfortunate story.

For the second season in a row, Brian O’Connor’s Cavaliers put together a remarkable run to the College World Series only to have their stay in Omaha last only two games. No. 12 Virginia (46-17) was eliminated from the 2024 College World Series in a 7-3 loss to No. 8 Florida State (48-16) on Sunday afternoon at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.

On June 20th, 2021, Virginia opened the College World Series with a dominant 6-0 victory over No. 3 seed Tennessee. The Cavaliers had rallied to win six-consecutive elimination games in the regional and super regional rounds and carried that momentum with them to Omaha. Since then, UVA has played six more CWS games and is a winless 0-6 in those games, including four losses by one run.

While Friday’s defeat to North Carolina was another one of those heartbreakers, falling in walk-off fashion to Vance Honeycutt and the ACC rival Tar Heels, Sunday’s defeat to Florida State was much less dramatic, though the primary culprit in the loss was the same. The Virginia offense, which remains one of the top five offenses in all of college baseball in hits, batting average, and scoring, was ice cold in Omaha once again.

Florida State starter Carson Dorsey deserves a lot of credit for that outcome. After giving up three hits in the first two innings, Dorsey did not allow another hit until the sixth inning and was shutting out the vaunted Cavalier bats into the seventh.

By the time UVA finally put some runs on the board, the Virginia pitching staff, whose resurgence powered the team’s run through the NCAA Tournament Omaha, had already faltered.

Virginia vs. Florida State Live Updates | NCAA Baseball College World Series

Jay Woolfolk, who we later learned was dealing with some issues with his right meniscus that apparently originated from an injury suffered during his football career at UVA, retired the first seven batters he faced, but then gave up two singles and two walks in the bottom of third, walking in a run to give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead. On Woolfolk’s first pitch of the fourth inning, he slipped and aggravated that knee injury on a pitch that was crushed out of the ballpark by Jaime Ferrer for a solo home run.

Woolfolk pitched to two more batters before exiting the game as it was obvious he was in some significant discomfort with that right knee. His replacement, Joe Savino, retired the first three batters he faced but then gave up a double to Cam Smith, an RBI single to Marco Dinges, and then a three-run blast to Ferrer, who is making his case as the hottest hitter in college baseball right now with eight RBI through the first two games of the College World Series.

Ferrer’s three-run bomb made it 6-0 and then Alex Lodise hit a solo home run off of Savino in the bottom of the sixth to make it 7-0. Savino, whose emergence as a quality No. 2 starter had been a big key to Virginia’s pitching success later in the season, gave up five earned runs on four hits in 1.2 innings of work.

2024 College World Series Score Updates and Schedule | NCAA Baseball Tournament

Virginia finally broke through against Dorsey in the top of the seventh, as Ethan Anderson, Anthony Stephan, Henry Godbout, and Casey Saucke each hit singles to bring two runs home. Dorsey remained on the mound with a 100+ pitch count in the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Jacob Ference, who ultimately came around to score on an RBI double from Stephan. After giving up that double, FSU reliever Brennen Oxford recovered to finish the eighth and then induced a double play in the ninth to end the game and UVA’s season.

The Virginia pitching staff gave up no further runs, as Angelo Tonas retired all six batters he faced and Matt Augustin set the Seminoles down in order in the bottom of the eighth. But Woolfolk’s physical inability to deliver a long start, Savino’s disastrous outing, and perhaps most importantly, the UVA offense’s state of comatose until it was too late, ultimately doomed the Cavaliers to another 0-2 showing at the College World Series.

With the win, Florida State keeps its season alive and will face the loser of No. 1 Tennessee and No. 4 North Carolina (Sunday at 7pm) in another elimination game on Tuesday at 2pm.

Virginia, meanwhile, ends the 2024 college baseball season with a 46-17 overall record.