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22 CAVALIER CORNER and it couldn't have come at a better time. The Cavaliers outscored the Blue Devils 26-6 in the final two games to decisively put Virginia back on the road to Omaha. "That crowd was wild, I've never heard that stadium sound like that before," O'Ferrall said. The eye-popping numbers and the silky- smooth defense in the middle of the field garnered national attention. O'Ferrall was the first Cavalier ever to be a finalist for the Brooks Wallace Award for the country's top shortstop. In addition he earned All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association and was a first-team All-ACC selection. Despite UVA suffering a pair of one-run defeats in the College World Series, O'Ferrall was able to continue his dream 2023 sea- son in the summer when he tried out for and was selected to play on the USA Base- ball Collegiate National Team. Sticking with the same mentality that got him on the field at UVA, he was Team USA's starting short- stop for all 10 games of international com- petition against Japan and Chinese Taipei. On the field, O'Ferrall didn't skip a beat for the red, white and blue. He hit safely in nine of the 10 games and batted a scorch- ing .463 with a team-best 19 hits. O'Ferrall was named Team USA's most out- standing hitter of the Friendship Series against Chinese Taipei. Admittedly, he might have been at an advantage compared to his collegiate counterparts considering the competition level he saw in the final month of his NCAA season. "Thankfully I was lucky enough to come from Omaha to Team USA, so there was not much drop-off in the skill [he was facing]," O'Ferrall said with a chuckle. "I was playing the best competition both in and outside the country for a month straight." O'Ferrall was joined in Cary, N.C., Team USA's home base, by his good friend Wool- folk. The duo is now linked to some elite UVA company. Only 16 players in program history have had the privilege of playing for the United States, including names like Ryan Zimmerman and Sean Doolittle along with current big leaguers Jake McCarthy, Matt Thaiss and Andrew Abbott. ROLE REVERSAL With more than 80 baseball games under his belt beginning in February and running through July, the book on the 2023 season was closed. Despite O'Ferrall manning one of the most important positions of the diamond, there were other clear and undisputed lead- ers on Virginia's 2022 and 2023 teams. The Virginia baseball program has established a culture over the past 20 years under O'Connor where the baton is safely handed down from class to class. The locker room and expectations on and off the field never change. Names like Jake Gelof, Kyle Teel, Alex Tap- pen, Devin Ortiz and others are not in the locker room, thrusting O'Ferrall as well as classmates Ethan Anderson, Casey Saucke and Anthony Stephan to the forefront. Vir- ginia has 19 newcomers on its 2024 roster including 13 first-years. The development of high school players has been the calling card of the Virginia coaching staff and the key to their success. "It's definitely weird that I'm considered a vet at this point, just being a third-year," O'Ferrall said. "But I enjoy it. I enjoy being in that leadership role. I love helping out every- one around me, especially the young guys who haven't been through this before." O'Ferrall is not flying under the radar like his early years of high school or even as an unassuming first-year. He has garnered Preseason All-America honors from D1Base- ball (second team), Perfect Game (second team), NCBWA (second team), and Baseball America (third team). As part of D1Baseball's Preseason Player Rankings he was the No. 2 shortstop in all of college baseball. In 2024 the Cavaliers have been predicted to win the Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division in the annual poll of the league's In 2023, O'Ferrall batted .396 with 20 doubles, 1 home run and 42 RBI as a second-year. (Photo by Matt Riley/courtesy UVA) " He's a hard-nosed player that gets clutch hits and makes the clutch plays. Certainly batting at the top of the lineup makes our offensive ball club go." UVA HEAD COACH BRIAN O'CONNOR ON O'FERRALL