Virginia, Vanderbilt set to play it again

OMAHA — Defending national champion Vanderbilt and Virginia will meet for the second straight year in the College World Series championship series beginning Monday night at TD Ameritrade Park.

The Commodores went 3- 0 in bracket play. Virginia was 3- 1, securing its spot in the bestof- three f inals with its 5- 4 win over Florida on Saturday.

Virginia will be attempting to win the first baseball national championship by an Atlantic Coast Conference school since Wake Forest in 1955.

The Cavaliers were just 18- 18 in March and April, finished 15- 15 in Atlantic Coast Conference play and didn’t qualify for the 10- team conference tournament until the last week of the regular season. They were given a No. 3 regional seeding and had to go to the West Coast for the start of the NCAA tournament.

“What we’ve been through this year, the ups and downs of the season, it’s a little bit more satisfying,” Virginia third baseman Kenny Towns said, “just because where we’ve come from and how we’ve been able to have the success late in the postseason.”

Vanderbilt swept three games in bracket play and is 8- 0 in the national tournament. The Commodores dropped six of eight in April, but since losing a series to Florida on May 9 they haven’t lost backto- back games.