Brandon Waddell paced in the bullpen, taking advantage of the spaciousness as he watched his Virginia baseball teammates still on the field. Waddell had just completed one of the most dominating pitching performances of his career against one of college baseball’s hottest offensive teams, but he was just a nervous bystander now.
[U-Va. notches late runs to beat Arkansas]
Florida’s second hit of the night against Waddell put runners on first and third with no outs in the eighth, prompting the Cavaliers to turn to closer Josh Sborz with a one-run lead. Sborz got out of the jam, holding the Gators scoreless and eliciting an emphatic greeting back to the dugout from Waddell. Sborz’s perfect ninth inning gave Virginia the 1-0 win, preserving a two-hit gem by Waddell.
“We had the right guy on the mound tonight, and we knew that,” Virginia Coach Brian O’Connor told reporters. “Brandon Waddell has risen to the occasion many, many times for this team and over the last three years. And we were very, very confident that he was going to give us a quality start.
“You don’t know; you don’t try to get into predicting how it’s going to work out. But I don’t know anybody would have predicted that this game would be a 1-0 ballgame.”
The Cavaliers, last year’s national runner-ups, are now one win away from returning to the College World Series final, and Monday night’s victory might have been the most impressive of the Cavaliers’ unexpected postseason run.
It was only the third shutout against the Gators, who had 75 hits and 68 runs in the NCAA tournament entering their game against the Cavaliers. The last time Florida was shut out was against Vanderbilt on May 7, when first-round draft pick Carson Fulmer gave up six hits in a complete game.
“He just did a really good job mixing his pitches, I think,” Florida’s Dalton Guthrie said. “He was throwing change-ups and curveballs and weird counts, and he wasn’t missing. We just didn’t make the adjustment. But he kept putting pressure on us and he did a great job all night.”
Virginia entered the College World Series intent on using a two-man starting rotation of Waddell and No. 1 starter Connor Jones, as pitching depth beyond the duo and Sborz has been inconsistent. Nathan Kirby, the 40th overall MLB draft selection who hasn’t pitched since a left lat strain on April 17, is an option out of the bullpen, but the Cavaliers haven’t needed him yet.
After Jones pitched six innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits in Virginia’s 5-3 win against Arkansas on Saturday, Waddell did his part with seven innings pitched, coughing up just two hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Sborz has allowed just one hit in five innings of relief.
With runners on the corners and no outs in the eight, Florida’s Harrison Bader rocketed a pitch directly to Sborz, who got his glove on it but watched it fall in front of him. After a moment of indecision, he threw the runner out at second to keep runners on first and third but add an out to the scoreboard.
Richie Martin lined out to second on the next at-bat, unable to advance the runners, and then Sborz forced a groundout that ended the threat.
“I got lucky throwing it to second,” Sborz said. “After I got that first out and that guy didn’t score, I just tried to get the double play. And from there, it just kind of played out.”
Florida’s pitching had similarly stymied the Cavaliers, who were held to one hit for five innings. The breakthrough came in the sixth, when back-to-back singles from Matt Thaiss and Kenny Towns put runners on first and second. Pavin Smith’s bunt single loaded the bases for designated hitter Robbie Coman, whose sacrifice fly scored Thaiss for the game’s lone run.
The Cavaliers will now enjoy the winner’s bracket, off until Friday, when they play the winner of an elimination game between Florida and Miami. What’s on the schedule until then? A well-deserved day off.
“I don’t know, maybe find something to do in town the next couple of days and certainly do some scouting work and things like that,” O’Connor said. “But give these guys a chance for a couple of days to enjoy Omaha a little bit.”
