Coming into Saturday’s College World Series opener, UVA had attempted 62 steals in 61 games in 2015, which, doing some quick math, works out to right at one attempt per game.
The Cavs attempted eight steals in Saturday’s 5-3 win over Arkansas on Saturday, and were successful on five, with the go-ahead run in the eighth and insurance run in the ninth set up by stolen bases.
“We were aggressive. Our plan was to be aggressive from the start if the situation presented itself,” coach Brian O’Connor told reporters.
Eight-hole hitter Kevin Doherty set the tone early. After working a two-out walk in the second, following the Joe McCarthy solo homer that put Virginia on the board with an early 1-0 lead, Doherty, 2-for-4 on the year on steal attempts, swiped second with ease on Arkansas catcher Tucker Pennell, who hadn’t exactly been easy to run on this year, throwing out 20 of 56 base runners attempting to steal on him this year coming in (36 percent).
Pinero, 6-for-8 on steal attempts on the season coming in, swiped a bag in the third.
DH Robbie Coman (2-for-6 on steals in 2015) was thrown out on a botched hit-and-run in the fourth, and Pavin Smith was called out on an attempt at a steal in the sixth after beating the throw to the bag and oversliding the base on the attempt.
Pinero ran Virginia into the go-ahead run in the eighth. After singling with one out off starter Ryan Killian, Pinero stole second and third on consecutive pitches by Razorbacks closer Zach Jackson to three-hole hitter Matt Thaiss.
The steal of third took away the big hook that is Jackson’s out pitch in his two-out face-off with Kenny Towns, who fell behind in the count 1-2, but laid off two B grade off-speed pitches to work the count full, then laced a 3-2 fastball down the line in right for an RBI double.
The steal of third was entirely Pinero’s call.
“I knew the pitcher had a high leg kick. I kind of want to take advantage of that. And I was creeping a little bit towards third base. And I got a good jump. And it worked out in my favor. It was a bad slide, but it worked out,” Pinero said.
O’Connor, smiling, emphasized that the decision to take third was Pinero’s “on his own, just so you know.”
“Danny is a heady player. He’s got really good instincts. And it was a good play. Certainly there’s one out. If he can get there and Thaiss can hit a fly ball, it’s the difference between a run or not. And so earlier on when he was on second base with two outs he was jumping around I thought he was going to go. And I was in the dugout saying please, Danny, not now. But good aggressive heads-up play,” O’Connor said.
Pinch-runner Thomas Woodruff stole second in the ninth, setting up an Ernie Clement RBI single that added an important insurance run.
That Clement was thrown out trying to steal with two outs to end the top of the ninth for Virginia didn’t bother O’Connor.
“We maybe didn’t get here today being in Omaha playing it close to the vest. So here we are and few chances taken today and they worked in our favor, most of the time. Three times they didn’t. But kept trying,” O’Connor said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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