The airplane’s aisle served as the border between Maryland and Virginia’s baseball teams, both thrust into the unusual situation of having to share a charter flight back from Los Angeles just days before playing each other in the super-regional round of the NCAA tournament.
The Terrapins sat on one side of the plane, less than 24 hours removed from knocking off No. 1 overall seed UCLA in the Los Angeles Regional. The Cavaliers, who won the Lake Elsinore Regional and stayed in Southern California while their Super Regional opponent was decided, sat on the other side of the aisle. The teams arrived to Dulles International Airport after 1 a.m., and they will play each other for a College World Series berth in a three-game series starting Friday.
“We heard about it, it was kind of awkward,” Maryland freshman shortstop Kevin Smith said. “We were like, ‘What’s going to happen on the plane?’”
Outside of the players who already knew each other, the teams didn’t interact at first. But when the plane stopped to refuel in St. Louis, the Terrapins were the first to break the ice. A group of Cavaliers were playing a card game when a few Maryland players asked about it. U-Va. freshman Pavin Smith said he and his teammates taught the Terrapins how to play.
“Nothing about baseball was mentioned, that’s for certain,” Virginia senior Kenny Towns said.
The flight was set up by the NCAA, and a mechanical issue with the plane caused a delay that wasn’t ideal for either team. Earlier in the season, after a 5-4 win against Cornell in Myrtle Beach, S.C., the Cavaliers had to share a flight back with the team it just beat. Oregon State and Oregon shared a flight to Springfield, Mo., then the Beavers had to fly to Dallas for their regional.
Virginia Coach Brian O’Connor said he didn’t get much sleep, as the Cavaliers didn’t get back to Charlottesville until 4:30 a.m. He wasn’t shy about voicing his displeasure about the situation.
“Quite frankly, I’m disappointed with what happened,” O’Connor said. “I’m not going to ever make any kind of excuse, but I don’t think it’s certainly in the ‘student-athlete welfare’ category. The NCAA tends to use that term when it’s convenient for them. Yesterday was a challenging day, but the players will deal with that and we’ll move forward.”
Said Maryland center fielder LaMonte Wade: “It was awkward at first, but I think everyone loosened up a bit. We became, I wouldn’t say friends, but we talked a little bit. We’re definitely enemies now, but we enjoyed each other’s company for a little while.”
