Did you ever doubt that UVA was going to come back and win Friday’s Game 1 in the Charlottesville Super Regional? Probably. But the Cavs didn’t, and that’s all that matters.
Connor Jones looked like he was going to be the tough-luck loser in a nice pitching matchup with Maryland’s Mike Shawaryn, who was just a little better than Virginia hitters could deal with, scattering five hits in seven shutout innings, and pitching his way out of three early-inning jams.
Jones, meanwhile, couldn’t get the third out in a tough fifth inning that saw LaMonte Wade double off the glove of center fielder Adam Haseley with two outs to plate two runs. A perfectly executed suicide squeeze in the seventh by Kevin Biondic pushed the lead to 3-0, and the writing seemed to be on the wall.
Shawaryn didn’t go 13-2 this season for just any ol’ reason, and plus Maryland had closer Kevin Mooney and his 1.21 ERA in tow in case Shawaryn got in trouble.
No big deal for these ‘Hoos, whose top of the eighth started on the wrong foot, on an Adam Haseley liner to short for out number one.
Then came the hit parade. Singles by Daniel Pinero and Matt Thaiss chased Shawaryn, bringing in Mooney, who was anything but his usual dominant self, giving up another pair of back-to-back singles to Kenny Towns and Pavin Smith to get UVA back into the game, now down 3-2.
A wild pitch put runners on second and third before Robbie Coman grounded out for out number two. Then Maryland coach John Szefc played the percentages, intentionally walking Joe McCarthy to get to number eight hitter Kevin Doherty, who had been having a miserable day at the plate, 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, all against Shawaryn.
But with the bases loaded, Doherty could sit on a fastball first pitch, knowing that Mooney, who had walked 22 batters in 37.1 innings in 2015, couldn’t afford to fall behind.
A first-pitch fastball did come, and Doherty blasted it to the fence in left-center, ending up at second with a base-clearing three-run double.
Maryland’s blueprint for success in Game 1 now down the drain, with Shawaryn out, and Mooney having given up three runs on three hits in a span of 20 pitches, it was back to the UVA blueprint for Game 1. Josh Sborz relieved Jones, and after giving up a leadoff single in the eighth, Sborz retired the next six Terps hitters in a row to close out the 5-3 win.
The win puts Virginia in the catbird’s seat heading into Game 2, with Brandon Waddell, who pitched into the eighth inning in last weekend’s 3-1 win over San Diego State in the Lake Elsinore Regional, ready to go, and Maryland having some issues at #2. In upsetting #1 national seed UCLA last weekend in the Los Angeles Regional, the Terps didn’t get three innings out of its Game 2 and Game 3 starters.
It will no doubt be another committee approach for Szefc Saturday and if necessary on Sunday in Game 3, in which UVA would have a similar issue, with All-America ace lefty Nathan Kirby still not available for the Cavs, who won their way into the Super Regionals with an ugly 14-10 win over Southern Cal on Sunday night despite their lack of pitching that night.
But Virginia does have the luxury of needing just one win in the next two days to close it out, and the advantage of having, on paper, anyway, the advantage in the pitching matchup heading into Game 2.
Of course, we knew that all along, right?
– Column by Chris Graham
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