The excitement that surrounds a slate that includes 39 home games and 14 opponents that won at least 30 games was not the buzz around the program.

On Monday and Tuesday, Bivens took batting practice with the Virginia baseball program, which likely signaled the end of his injury-plagued time with the Cavaliers’ football team, Roberts confirmed.

On Tuesday, Virginia’s baseball coach, 20 veteran players and 11 new faces took the first step at ensuring a magical run of NCAA Tournament appearances rolls on.

In five of the past seven years, Virginia’s baseball program included a Werman.

A relative unknown in baseball recruiting circles, Peter Hissey was fascinated when Virginia offered a scholarship last year.

Virginia pitcher Andrew Carraway and his knee-buckling slider proved otherwise — the junior escaped the seventh and the Cavaliers used an offensive explosion fueled by their rookies to register an 8-2 victory at Goodwin Field.

A would-be heartwarming classic turned into a horror flick with one simple throw.

Today, O’Connor returns to the field officially as Virginia (38-21) opens play in the Fullerton regional against second-seeded UCLA (31-25) at 7 p.m. The winner of the contest will meet the Fullerton-Rider winner on Saturday at 11 p.m., and the two opening day losers will meet at 7 p.m. in an elimination game.

Jacob Thompson will start for Virginia against UCLA Friday night.

They were 23 of the longest minutes in Pat McAnaney’s life.

For obvious reasons, what Virginia coach Brian O’Connor called the “play of the game” was overshadowed.

Kyle Werman has a jam-packed summer directing countless baseball camps at Virginia’s Davenport Field waiting.

Brian O’Connor is not sure if it has ever happened in ACC Tournament history. O’Connor’s Virginia baseball team, as a reward for earning the No. 6 seed in the league’s postseason event, drew a first-round contest with No. 3 seed North Carolina (45-10, 22-7), which just so happens to be the nation’s top-ranked team.

For the first time in over a month, Virginia exploded offensively against an ACC opponent. Ultimately, it did not matter.

Kevin McMullan wanted to force the action. Virginia’s third base coach signaled for catcher Franco Valdes to take a pitch after he raced out to a 3-1 lead in the count as the bottom half of the 11th inning started.