#1 UVa. falls in 13: SC ends Cavs run in CWS
Virginia had the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the 13th inning. South Carolina was the team dogpiling in the bottom of the inning.
Adam Matthews ran home from third after the second of two throwing errors by UVa. relief pitcher Cody Winiarski, and South Carolina advanced to the College World Series finals with a 3-2 win over the top-seeded Cavs.
Virginia (56-12) had loaded the bases with one out in the 12th before centerfielder Shane Halley, in as a defensive replacement and with one hit all season, hit into a double play on a 2-0 pitch by SC closer Matt Price (7-3).
Price somehow wiggled out of another bases-loaded jam in the 13th, this one with no outs, striking out Super Regionals hero Chris Taylor and getting John Barr, who had three hits on the night, to line into a double play.
Winiarski (6-4) came in relief of closer Branden Kline, who threw 107 pitches in five tense innings out of the pen. Brady Thomas led off the inning with a single, and was replaced on the basepaths by Matthews. Peter Mooney bunted back to Winiarski, who had time to get Matthews at second but threw the ball into center, leaving the Gamecocks with runners at first and second with no outs.
Robert Beary followed with a bunt that Winiarski fielded. He tried to cut down Matthews again, but the throw got past third baseman Stephen Proscia, allowing Matthews to scamper home.
Virginia had ace Danny Hultzen on the mound with an early 1-0 lead, and Hultzen was dealing at the outset, posting eight strikeouts through three innings. But UVa. coach Brian O’Connor lifted Hultzen, who was suffering from un undisclosed illness.
Kyle Crockett gave up a pair of runs in relief in the fourth but settled down to keep the Cavs close. Virginia tied it in the eight when Chris Taylor reached on an error and scored an out later on an error by Mooney on a ground ball off the bat of John Hicks.
South Carolina (53-14) will face SEC rival Florida (53-17) in the best-of-three CWS final beginning Monday night.
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Virginia Baseball Fan Appreciation Night Set for Saturday, June 25
Fans will have chance to interact with team following most successful season in school history
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia Department of Athletics invites the public to attend a fan appreciation night with the Virginia baseball team on Saturday, June 25 from 6-7:30 p.m. at Davenport Field. Admission and parking for this event are free.
The Virginia baseball team recently completed the most successful season in school history. The Cavaliers finished the year with a 56-12 record and are the 2011 ACC champions and Charlottesville Regional and Super Regional champions. UVa advanced to the College World Series for the second time in three years.
The gates at Davenport Field will open at 5:30 p.m. A highlight video will be shown on ‘Hoo Vison at approximately 6 p.m. The 2011 team will then be introduced. Fans will then have an opportunity to come onto the field for autographs from the players and to run the bases. The event will conclude at 7:30 p.m.
Parking will be available in the University Hall and John Paul Jones Arena parking lots. Virginia baseball merchandise will be available for sale at Davenport Field and cold beverages will be available to be purchased at the concession stands.
The rain site for this event is John Paul Jones Arena.
Game Notes:
- Branden Kline (Jr., Frederick, Md.) worked a season-high 5.0 innings and evaded multiple problems to hold the Gamecocks scoreless from the eighth through 12th innings. He allowed three hits and four walks but struck out a career-high seven batters.
- Pressed into early duty, Kyle Crockett (Fr., Poquoson, Va.) tied a career high by pitching four innings while allowing just a pair of fourth-inning runs.
- UVa starter Danny Hultzen (Jr., Bethesda, Md.) gutted out three innings and struck out eight of the 10 batters he faced. He finished the season with 165 strikeouts – fourth most in a single season in ACC history.
- The UVa pitching staff finished the season with an NCAA-low 2.24 earned run average and a school-record 664 strikeouts.
Postgme Quotes: Brian O’Connor
“Wow, what a college baseball game. Unfortunately, we came out on the wrong end of it. That was a baseball game of just a lot of emotions, a lot of gut decisions, both teams taking chances at times. And it’s unfortunate that we had to come out on the wrong end of it.
But that being said, I’ve got a tremendous amount of pride in this team and what they accomplished this year. It’s really spectacular what we did all year, and the reason it is is because so
many different players had to emerge during the season for us to be here in Omaha right now.
The fact that we lost so many players off of last year’s team in the draft, and there’s many players that stepped up for this team all year long, and I’m very, very proud of them and proud of this group.
On Danny Hultzen: “Well, I thought Danny Hultzen in the first three innings showed
why the Seattle Mariners took him in the second pick overall. His stuff was absolutely dominating.
But my plan coming into the game was for
him to have a short stint. Danny was not feeling the best today. He was feeling under the weather today and he was gutting it out as much as he could.
He was in pretty miserable shape after the first inning. And this kid’s got a very, very bright future. And I was not going to put that at risk of him feeling under the weather on four days’ rest and putting his career in jeopardy.
It wasn’t – if we don’t win a national championship, we don’t win a national championship. That kid’s done so much
for our program for the last three years, and I owed that to him.
On what he said to his team after the game: “Well, there’s not a script for it of what you say to them. I just told them
that I’m extremely proud of them, that they needed to walk out of here with their heads high; that some people might feel that you’re the number one national seed, that maybe you failed. But that is
certainly not the case.
The lessons that they learned in our
baseball program, that I assure them, 20 years from now they’ll come back and have told me I was right, that these lessons they learned on this field and as a group and as a team will make them
better men. So that was the message to them.