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.

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.