IRVINE, Calif.—Brian O’Connor has had some awfully good clubs over the last six years at Virginia, but the Cavaliers could never quite get over the hump to super regionals. But not even a nightmarish draw could keep them from winning a regional in 2009. Virginia sparkled in all phases for three straight days at the loaded Irvine Regional, capped by a flawless 4-1 win against UC Irvine on Sunday night.

"It’s a huge step for our program," O’Connor said. "In the last six years, we won our first ACC championship last week—we had been in that title game three times and figured out how to win that thing. We came out here to what people were saying was the toughest regional in the field, and we played what I thought was spectacular baseball all weekend. I am so proud of our team."

"Spectacular" might just be putting it mildly; just ask Anteaters coach Mike Gillespie.

"Hats off to Virginia, who is a really, really, really good team who played really, really well," Gillespie said. "And we’re very impressed with them."

The Cavaliers got their third straight stellar outing from their starting pitcher, as senior righthander Andrew Carraway (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER) pounded the strike zone and let his sensational defense do its job. Closer Kevin Arico closed it out with two perfect innings of relief.

Catcher Franco Valdes, the Most Outstanding Player in the regional, put the Cavaliers on the board with an RBI double in the fourth, then put them ahead for good with an RBI triple down the right-field line in the sixth. Irvine first baseman Jeff Cusick appeared to have a chance to make a play on the ball, but it took a funny hop off the bag and rolled into the right-field corner.

Virginia added two insurance runs in the ninth on back-to-back RBI triples from Jarrett Parker and Tyler Cannon. Parker, an electric player who had three hits and also made a terrific diving catch to record the first out in the ninth, smashed a liner down the right-field line that Cusck deflected toward that same bullpen area. Parker scored easily on Cannon’s triple to the left-center-field gap, giving UVa. its final 4-1 margin of victory.

Virginia’s coaches, players and fans have been waiting for this for so long, and it’s easy to feel happy for such a likable bunch. Especially after the ACC champion Cavs got such a raw deal from the Division I baseball committee, having to travel to the West Coast to face San Diego State sensation Stephen Strasburg in their first game, then having to beat the nation’s No. 1-ranked team twice on its home field.

"It doesn’t get any tougher than this," O’Connor said, "going to the No. 1 regional in the country and facing the greatest pitcher—" he paused—"of all time, from what I read. I think we’re capable of accomplishing anything.

"This club has something special. No disrespect to last year’s team, but this team’s got that ‘it’ factor. They have something about them that they’re not going to be denied. It took us a while to figure that out as the year went on. I think we lost eight one-run games in the league. I just felt like as this team moved along and matured, and we got that bullpen figured out, I just felt like when all that came together, and this youth we have, and these veterans we have, I thought we had a chance to do something special."