Virginia's Swab doesn't want to miss out on College World Series again

Kenny Swab was beginning to wonder if a title would ever come his way.

The Virginia senior always seemed to be a year away from taking part in a memorable dog-pile.

It happened at the junior-college level at Young Harris Community College in Georgia and again the year before he arrived in Charlottesville.

To say the least, the unselfish native of North Carolina was a tad jealous that his timing was off.

“It is funny. The year before I started JUCO, the year before I was in college, the team won their region and conference and went to the World Series,” Swab said with a grin. “The next year we come out and we have everybody returning and one or two spots opened up and me and my roommate took the spots and we ended up losing. We didn’t win the conference tournament. We didn’t win anything.”

The same thing repeated last year despite Virginia being anointed as the preseason favorite in the league and holding the No. 1 ranking in the polls for a number of weeks.

“I come here and [in 2009] they win the ACC Championship and go all the way to the College World Series and then last year the same thing kind of happened,” he said. “It’s like every year that I come into a place I am a year too late.”

That made Sunday’s win over Florida State, one gave the Cavaliers (49-9) their second ACC crown in three years, even sweeter for Swab.

“It was so exciting,” Swab recounted. “I think it was the first championship that I have ever won. It was an awesome experience to be a part of.”

The postgame dog-pile could use some work, something Virginia hopes to practice after the Charlottesville Regional this weekend and again after hosting a Super Regional en route to Omaha, Neb.

“I don’t think anybody knew what to do,” Swab sad. “No one wanted to go down. I don’t know what happened a couple of years ago, but they said people got hurt.”

Former pitcher Robert Poutier did crack a rib in the celebration following a Super Regional win at Ole Miss in 2009, but it was a different dog-pile that stuck in Swab’s mind all summer long.

With great expectations last year and nine players having been drafted, including Swab, the Cavaliers stumbled in the final two games against Oklahoma and watched the Sooners celebrate near the mound at Davenport Field.

“It has been in the back of our minds since we came back in August,” he said. “It’s one thing to look at it and understand what happened, but at some point you have to move on.

“Obviously, you want to keep it in the back of your mind.”

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor admitted that he has not used Oklahoma’s dog-pile as a motivational tool, but understands the student-athletes at Virginia remember the sour feeling.

“I’ve just never believed in the theory of, ‘Hey, don’t let somebody do that on our field again,’” O’Connor said. “I believe in just playing the game loose and have fun, be aggressive and if you do those things and guys perform in the clutch then you’ll have a chance to move on.

“We actually won’t talk about it at all. I won’t address it with the team. I won’t use it as extra motivation. Every season is a new season.”

Virginia opens play Friday at 1 p.m. against fourth-seeded Navy. Five hours after the first pitch, second-seeded East Carolina will tangle with third-seeded St. John’s.

Swab will likely be in center field, but he could play first base or log innings behind the plate.

In the ACC Tournament against North Carolina, the athletic utility man did just that.

“It was fun and I hadn’t been back there in a while,” he said. “I was able to help the team get the ‘W’ against Carolina, something that is awesome.”

It was with the bat, however, that Swab made a big impact in the league tournament.

He had seven hits, all of which came in the first two games, and drove in four and scored three runs.

“I was just trying to hit the ball hard and get the job done in certain situations,” Swab said. “I am just doing what I can to move runners along and help us win and move on from game to game.”