Home Omaha-bound! Teel slam, Wyatt dominance sends Virginia to College World Series
Sports

Omaha-bound! Teel slam, Wyatt dominance sends Virginia to College World Series

Contributors
kyle teel uva
Kyle Teel is mobbed by his teammates after his seventh-inning grand slam. Photo courtesy UVA Athletics.

A Kyle Teel grand slam put Virginia ahead to stay, and Matt Wyatt was dominant in five and two-thirds innings of relief, sending the ‘Hoos back to the College World Series for the first time since 2015 with a 5-2 win over Dallas Baptist on Monday.

Teel connected on a two-out, 2-2 pitch from DBU reliever Peyton Sherlin, a lefty who had come in to face UVA left-handed hitters Max Cotier and Teel.

Cotier reached on an infield single to load the bases, bringing up Teel, who had been 0-for-2 on the day and 2-for-9 in the Super Regional series.

The high-arcing shot to center took its good ol’ time on its flight.

His slam was the second homer of the day for Virginia, which trailed 2-0 after a two-run homer by Dallas Baptist second baseman Jackson Glenn in the third.

UVA got a run back in the fourth on a solo shot by Nic Kent that made it 2-1 DBU.

The Cavaliers had a chance to tie it in the fifth when center fielder Chris Newell reached on an infield single, stole second and advanced to third on a fly ball out off the bat of Zack Geloff, but Cotier and Teel each struck out swinging to end that threat.

Newell kept it at 2-1 with a highlight-reel catch in deep center in the top of the seventh. Andres Sosa, leading off the inning, hit a fly ball that, off the bat, looked to be a homer, to the point that Sosa pimped it up coming out of the box, getting into his home-run trot, before Newell leaped over the wall and made the catch, and shouted “Let’s go!” in the direction of the Virginia dugout.

That connection was one of the few solid ones from DBU off Wyatt, who came in with one out in the third in relief of UVA starter Nate Savino, who gave up two runs on five hits and three and a third.

Wyatt, who earned a win in an elimination game last weekend in the Columbia Regional over South Carolina with five innings of scoreless, two-hit ball, one-upped himself on Monday.

The 6’4” sophomore put up five and two-thirds scoreless in the clincher, allowing two hits, striking out eight and walking two.

After getting the lead, Wyatt pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, then got the first two out in the ninth before surrendering a two-out single to left fielder Austin Bell, before getting center fielder River Town to fly out to center to end it.

Virginia (35-25) will open the College World Series against #3 national seed Tennessee (50-16) this weekend.

Story by Chris Graham

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.