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It’s the third one down in the left column, the last year representing the 20th century before the Brian O’Connor era takes over the back of Davenport Field’s scoreboard.

Virginia baseball is in the NCAA Tournament for a 13th straight season, an annual reminder of just how dominant the Cavaliers have been since O’Connor was hired as head coach in 2003.

The numbers are staggering: A baker’s dozen regionals, six super regionals, four trips to the College World Series, one national championship.

It’s been an unprecedented run that’s catapulted UVa to the forefront of the sport. Davenport, constructed in 2002, is mostly a shrine to its hosts’ recent accomplishments. But before there was Connor Jones, there was Seth Greisinger. Before there was Matt Thaiss, there was Justin Counts. Before there was Brian O’Connor, there was Dennis Womack.

Today’s Wahoos are well-known postseason regulars. In 1996, they were embattled Big Dance newbies.

“The team’s unbelievable now,” Greisinger said. “I don’t even think they could relate to a team like us back then. But 20 years ago, winning the ACC Tournament felt like winning the World Series. And it felt like a Cinderella story World Series.”

It’s been two decades since Virginia making the NCAA Tournament seemed surprising. The following is a story, told in their words, of a bunch that has a unique — and often unspoken— spot in program history.

“I do think that was a team that set the standard for a while,” Womack said.

Seth Greisinger, a right-handed pitcher from McLean High School in Falls Church, Virginia, was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the seventh round of the 1993 Major League Baseball Draft. He was also committed to play for UVa, a program coming off a 21-30 season and with two NCAA Tournament appearances in its existence. The Cavaliers also weren’t fully supported, operating out of a facility in dire need of upgrading.

» Justin Counts, catcher/co-captain: I played American Legion ball with Seth Greisinger in high school. He had been drafted in high school and he was making a decision on whether or not he was going to come to Virginia or go pro. He had been offered a pretty good amount of money by the Indians. We were in a state regional tournament in Shepherd Stadium just outside of Richmond and we sat in the bleachers for like 30 minutes and I was giving him this sales pitch on why he should come to Virginia and why it would be great.

» Seth Greisinger, staff ace: Justin had a big influence on me in general. I think it’s just because of the type of character and personality he had. And he was a year older. I kind of looked up to him. The fact that he went to UVa and spoke so highly of it certainly made it much more appealing to me and a much more difficult decision.

Ultimately, I just felt that college was too important. It was too important of a part of a person’s life to surrender. Deep down, I didn’t feel that I was ready to be on my own and to have a ‘job.’ I felt like I was still growing and I felt like I wasn’t ready to be an adult.

The Cavaliers went 20-34 Greisinger’s freshman season. They went 26-29 his sophomore season.

» Counts: He decided to come and in our first year we won two ACC games. And I was just thinking to myself, ‘Oh my gosh, I talked this kid to coming here and he passed up a bunch of money.’ It was a rough experience. At that point, we weren’t a real positive group.

Prior to Opening Day 1996, head coach Dennis Womack altered his club. Kevin O’Sullivan, a former Virginia catcher, was hired from Florida Atlantic as pitching coach. Jason Sekany, a righty from Modesto Junior College in California, was added to the roster along with the full services of outfielder Symmion Willis, a former quarterback on the football team.

» Dennis Womack, head coach: I think recruiting Jason Sekany at the last moment was important. He was a solid guy, but wasn’t great. But as the season progressed, he really became a force for us.

We had our lineup pretty well set. Symmion Willis was a fifth-year senior and had gotten the opportunity to play baseball the whole time, which really helped. He solidified our outfield. Those two kids as much as anything really, really helped us.

» Craig Zaikov, pitcher/co-captain: I have to give a ton of credit to Kevin O’Sullivan. He’s now the head coach at the University of Florida. He kind of made some changes. He was just an awesome coach. He did a great job with the whole staff, from the starters to the relievers. He was just definitely a great influence on the pitching staff. I think we lowered our ERA from one year to the next by a full run or something like that.

» Greisinger: He changed my mechanics, which I thought was crazy. Without hesitation, he wanted me to change this, this and this. I was just blown away. At first, I was like, ‘There’s no way. I can’t do that. It’s not comfortable. It doesn’t feel right. It’s insanity and this is my third year, this is going to be my big year. I’m not going to do this.’ And he was just like, ‘Just stick with it, just stick with it, give it a shot.’ And all of a sudden, right before the season, it just clicked.

» John Galloway, left fielder: We were all on the same page in terms of goals and what we wanted to achieve — and literally that was win an ACC championship and get into a regional. I think what really set our team apart from previous years was we were so close-knit because we had gone through the adversity of the past losing seasons and we knew we had the talent. It was just a matter of getting timely pitching and timely hitting. It really all came together that ’96 season.

Virginia won 12 of its first 18 games, including a victory at Arizona State, before being swept at Georgia Tech in mid-March and seeing its ACC record dip to 1-5.

» Womack: We lost, but the team coming back from Atlanta was not very disheartened.

» Galloway: I think rather than hang our heads and say, ‘OK, here’s going to be another losing season,’ we decided that we do have the talent on this team to compete with anybody in the country. Let’s focus our efforts and let’s work harder. That’s exactly what we did. It really turned around our season from there.

The Cavs improved to 35-16 (10-11 ACC) by the time they welcomed sixth-ranked Florida State to Charlottesville to finish the regular season. The Seminoles were headlined by J.D. Drew, an All-American outfielder who went on to be the second overall pick of the 1997 draft.

» Mike Martin, Florida State coach: I can remember going to Virginia and they had artificial turf on the field with lines yards apart. And I said, ‘My Gosh, they got this from the football field!’

» Pat Daneker, pitcher: It certainly was a unique circumstance. We kind of even took it as our own type of thing. I remember playing Florida State. They were running out of the dugout and they’d say, ‘I’m on the 30-yard line, I’m on the 20 ...’ We had the old football turf out there, where you could still see the yard markers from the spray paint.

» Kyle Kirkeide, outfielder/designated hitter: We got pretty much one or two bats and one glove and a pair of cleats. Now it’s a little bit different. We had just two raggedy batting cages around the back. Obviously the astroturf infield. The astroturf infield had the hashmarks going from second base to third base, across shortstop. It had hashmarks from the old Scott Stadium turf.

» Pat Bransford, first baseman: Our facilities were probably the worst in the ACC. We were always envious of the other programs, but most of us didn’t get recruited by those other programs.

» Counts: A lot of us were there because it was a great school. And we get to play ACC baseball and that was really great.

Deep down, we were all real competitive people. I think we had a real blue collar approach to what we were doing. We had some teams my first couple of years that did a lot of complaining. And that wasn’t working, that wasn’t helping. That was one of the things that we talked about as a group: This is our situation, this is what we’ve got. We could sit here and complain about it and not be good or just work and make the most of it.

The Seminoles took two of three in the series. They won the opener 6-0, handing Greisinger (9-2) just his second loss of the season. UVa was the No. 5 seed for the ACC Tournament. It came to Durham on the Big Dance bubble. The NCAA Tournament only had room for 48 teams at the time.

» Womack: Did we need to win two, three games in the tournament in order to get to the NCAA? Did we need to win Durham? We just weren’t sure. Our record at that time was pretty good, but it might not have been good enough.

» Zaikov: I’m not sure we were necessarily a shoo-in to make the regionals. I think we had a pretty good record at the time, but I think given the history of the program, we weren’t always one of those teams that would get an at-large [NCAA bid]. If you’re on the fence and it’s between a Virginia team who historically hasn’t really been to regionals and another team, I’m not sure we would have gotten the call.

On May 14, the day before Virginia was set to face fourth-seeded N.C. State at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Cavaliers practiced at Duke. Womack ended the session with a brief pep talk before opening the floor to players.

» Galloway: I raised my hand and literally the only thing I said was, ‘Hey, I just want to remind everybody that my ring size is 12.’

» Counts: We had a really loose group. We played with no pressure, really. We weren’t expected to win the tournament. I think everybody knew to a man that we had the ability to do that, particularly given our pitching. So John said that and it kind of lightened everyone up right before we got started.

» Brian Sherlock, third baseman: And then G-way proceeds to back up his statement with a leadoff home run to start off the tournament. That just got everybody going.

Galloway went 2-for-3, Willis had a homer and Greisinger threw one of his six complete games that season as the Cavaliers beat N.C. State, 5-1. UVa next defeated Florida State, 3-2, behind a complete game from Sekany. Daneker’s complete game against Clemson advanced Virginia to the semifinals. Another Willis home run helped an 8-4 win over Georgia Tech, clinching a spot in the championship. FSU, advancing from the losers’ bracket, was once again the opponent. The ’Noles had to beat the ’Hoos twice to earn their second straight tournament title. Virginia was seeking its first in program history.

» Womack: The first game was on a Saturday night and we threw Javier Lopez, who was a freshman at that time. Florida State beat on us pretty good [8-2], but I can still remember what I said to the team after the game. I said, ‘We’re going to win tomorrow.’

Of course I knew we were bringing back Seth Greisinger.

» Sherlock: We knew it was over before it started. We had Seth on the mound and we were just very confident going into that Sunday that we were going to win.

» Greisinger: I was very nervous. Here’s a chance for UVa to win an ACC championship, something we haven’t done in a long time, and everybody’s expecting me to win. And this team we’re facing has a bunch of good hitters and they clobbered me the last time I pitched against them. I was very nervous.

Drew, who batted .386 with 21 home runs and 94 RBI that season, came to the plate in the top of the first inning.

» Greisinger: He was a scary hitter at that time. The scouting report on him was to throw inside. I didn’t want to go inside on him. I just remember being like, ‘All right, screw it. Here comes an inside fastball.’ And he just popped it out. From that point on, I was just so relaxed.

Greisinger again went the distance, backed by a lineup that rocked FSU pitchers for 15 hits. Virginia rolled, 12-1, ending a magical week with a coveted trophy. Greisinger was named tournament MVP.

» Zaikov: When I was a sophomore, we were 2-22 in the conference. So to turn around in two years and win the conference championship, it was just an unbelievable experience. Probably the athletic accomplishment I’m most proud of in my life and I would venture to say it’s the same for the rest of the guys as well.

» Galloway: It was elation. Holy cow, we did it! We reached our goal, this is what we wanted to do.

» Greisinger: It felt like vindication because I remember when I first showed up, there were a lot of players that had just left UVa or were in their senior year at UVa that were telling me I just made the biggest mistake of my life signing with UVa.

For me, it felt like vindication because I knew UVa was good. I knew that we had good players. I knew if we just had a winning attitude, we definitely had the talent to do it and we did it.

» Womack: It was as much fun as I think I’ve ever had. By the time we got through, though, we were all worn out because on the bus ride home, after we got a little something to eat on the bus, everybody just want to sleep. We were whipped.

Virginia, appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985, was selected as the No. 2 seed in the six-team South I Regional, played in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

» Kirkeide: We didn’t have any logos on our helmets until after the ACC Tournament. We had the straight up blue, generic helmets the whole season. Once we won the ACCs and went to regionals at the University of Alabama, they finally put like a generic V on the front of the helmets.

» Counts: We were big-time then. It was a whole new experience. We were getting meal money every day, which everybody loved. We were getting 15 dollars a day, so every day we kept playing it was like we were getting paid.

We got some new bats and got V’s on the helmets. Yeah, it was just a really neat time. Everything seemed to be going right at that moment.

» Greisinger: We were literally on the precipice of the greatest story of our lives. It was a bit surreal. We were playing teams, powerhouses that we used to read about in Baseball America like Notre Dame and Alabama, teams that we usually don’t get a chance to play. But at the same time, we were ranked like 14th in the nation. We were the No. 2 seed in the regional. We were supposed to be the team to beat, other than Alabama. From a talent standpoint, we probably had the better team.

Because he threw May 19 in the ACC championship, Greisinger was unavailable to start May 23 when the Cavaliers opened the regional against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish had a pitching coach named Brian O’Connor.

» Brian O’Connor, Notre Dame pitching coach: They had some great arms, Greisinger and Sekany. I didn’t forget the quality of arms that they were running out there. And I thought they had some really good athletes from a position-player standpoint. That’s what I remember. I remember they were really, really good on the mound and an athletic ballclub.

O’Connor’s Irish beat UVa, 12-1, in the opener, but the Cavs eliminated UND from the losers’ bracket two days later behind another complete game from Greisinger. Zaikov, recording 14 strikeouts over seven innings of relief, was the hero in Virginia’s next game, a 5-4 win over Stetson. Needing two victories over Alabama to advance to the College World Series, the Cavs were bounced, 18-8, on May 26. Their season ended with a 44-21 record. Greisinger went sixth overall in the 1996 draft to Detroit.

» Womack: We got back to Alabama, but we just didn’t have enough left to handle them. They ended up being the No. 1 seed in the College World Series. But I would have liked to play them with our pitching in order. I’d like to see how they might have come out.

» Galloway: I still say to this day, if it was a best of three series with Alabama, we would have won. I think we could have beaten anybody in the country for that matter if we played them best two out of three series. We had the pitching and we had the hitting. We were really jelling at that time and unfortunately we just ran into a one-game series, really, with Alabama.

The 44 wins stood alone as most in program history until 2004, O’Connor’s first season. O'Connor earned career victory No. 595 last Saturday, passing Womack for most at UVa.

» Counts: We’re all extremely proud of where the program is now. A lot of us get together and kind of talk about if we were high schoolers now, it’d be really tough for us to get to play at Virginia.

But I do think there was a time right after we graduated they were talking about dropping the program and I think the fact that we had that success kind of made it that that really wasn’t a real possibility. And that was kind of the driving force for getting the stadium built and kind of getting the program going in the direction that it is now.

» Galloway: There is definitely a sense of pride when you’re out socially and talking about baseball and people find out that you played at the University of Virginia. The talk always turns to how good they are today, but, hey, flash back 20 years ago, we weren’t really on the map at all. I like to think we were one of the first teams that put us on the map.

» Daneker: Obviously with O’Connor there, UVa is the No. 1 baseball school in the country, arguably. It’s nice to actually say, ‘Oh, yeah. I was there and I played there. And we did go to a regional final when I was there.’ And not just, ‘Oh, yeah, I went there and got kicked around the ACC and lost every year.’

Just to say that we did accomplish some good things when we were there, we like to think that we put them on the path.

Andrew Ramspacher is the Daily Progress' Virginia football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer. Contact him at (434) 978-7250, aramspacher@dailyprogress.com or on Twitter @ARamspacher.