It wasn’t a surprise that Danny Hultzen was going to have to give the ball up earlier than Brian O’Connor would have liked given how many pitches he had thrown – 113 in six and a third innings.
The surprise to me was who O’Connor gave the ball to next: Tyler Wilson, who I’d presumed would be the starter for Virginia’s second game in the 2011 College World Series, just as he’d started Game 2 of last weekend’s Super Regionals and had been the #2 starter all season long.
It was part of O’Connor’s game plan all week long, as it turns out.
“Tyler and I had a conversation two days ago, and I told him what my game plan was, that if we had an opportunity to win in the back half of the game that I was going to use him out of our bullpen,” said O’Connor after Virginia’s 4-1 win over Cal on Sunday, in which Wilson ended up the winning pitcher with two and third innings of relief.
O’Connor also said that Wilson is still in line to start Virginia’s third World Series game, which will come either on Thursday or Friday, depending on how the Cavs fare on Tuesday against the winner of South Carolina-Texas A&M.
Wilson has a history of working out of the pen. He was a fixture of the UVa. bullpen on the 2009 College World Series team before earning the #2 starter role in 2011.
“Like I’ve always said, I think it’s just a privilege to get the ball, whether it’s out of the bullpen or as a starter. And I think that that’s the mentality of a lot of the guys on our team have,” said Wilson, who gave up a run on three hits against the Golden Bears to improve to 9-0 on the season.
Wilson threw 39 pitches on Sunday. Will Roberts (11-1, 1.58 ERA) will get the ball in Game 2 on Tuesday.
Cody Winiarski (6-3, 3.04 ERA, 16 G, 13 GS) is likely available in Game 2 for long relief of the nature that Wilson provided UVa. in Game 1.
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