College World Series Finals Game 3: Virginia 4, Vanderbilt 2
He played in it in 1991 as a starting pitcher for the Creighton Bluejays. He brought the Virginia Cavaliers to it four times as a head coach. His likeness stands frozen in time in “The Road to Omaha” statue outside TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, and on Wednesday night, Brian O’Connor brought it to life as he led the Cavaliers to their first College World Series title in a 4-2, series-clinching, win over the reigning 2014 champion Vanderbilt Commodores.
“I’ve been really, really fortunate to be around a couple of really great leaders of men,” O’Connor said. “I knew when I was in college, and I was around my college coach, Jim Hendry, the coach at Creighton, and the impact that he made on me. I knew that this is what I wanted to do. Never thought of winning the national championship, just thought of trying to put together the best program you can possibly put together, and give guys like these sitting up here a great experience for them to be able to develop their talents and enjoy being around each other.”
“Never thought about winning a title. Never really got consumed with it. I just tried to make the right decisions by the players over the years, but I knew in college that this is what I wanted to do and that’s because of Jim Hendry.”
Just like his Creighton team in 1991, his 2015 roster of Cavaliers weren’t expected to be here, and certainly weren’t expected to win a national title. After a season full of injuries to key players, the Cavaliers backed into the NCAA Tournament as a 3-seed. They got sent out to the West Coast, and played their way into Omaha with a 5-0 record after regional and super regional play.
They beat Arkansas in the opening game of the series, then won two out of three from Florida — the team many considered to be the favorite to win the whole thing — to earn a finals rematch with the Vanderbilt team that beat them in three games last season to win the title. The Cavaliers dropped Game 1, 5-1, but won the second game, shutting out the Commodores, 3-0, to set up their shot at history on Wednesday night.
Junior starting pitcher Brandon Waddell drew the assignment for the Cavaliers. After making two starts already in the College World Series, Waddell took the ball on three days rest, and early on it looked like he may not have enough left in the tank to give his team a chance. Vanderbilt got the first two hitters on thanks to a four-pitch walk by Waddell and a line drive the fell in for a double when left fielder Kevin Doherty lost the ball in the sun.
A ground out by Vanderbilt shortstop Dansby Swanson and a double by first baseman Zander Wiel brought both men in to score to get the Commodores out to a 2-0 lead after the first inning.
Just when it looked like O’Connor was ready to pull his starter and let the bullpen figure things out, Waddell settled in. He allowed only a single, a double, and a walk over the next five innings, holding Vanderbilt off the scoreboard in the process.
“It was just a matter of taking a breath, getting your mind right, and kind of simplifying things,” Waddell said of how he recovered after the first inning. “I knew what I had to do, so it was a matter of going out there and executing. I got focused back on those things. I knew 2-0 wasn’t going to be the final score. I knew our offense was going to score, they were going to put up some runs. So at that point it was a matter of trying to keep them to two, keeping our team in the ballgame as long as I could.”
Easier said than done against Vanderbilt starting pitcher, and first round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Walker Buehler, but the Virginia offense eventually held up their end of the bargain while Waddell was shutting down the Commodores.
Senior third baseman Kenny Towns drew a walk to lead off the top of the fourth inning, then two pitches later the game was tied thanks to a two-run home run by freshman first baseman Pavin Smith that had just enough steam on it to clear the right field wall and even the score at 2-2.
“I wasn’t thinking about trying to hit a home run,” Smith said. “I was just trying to get on base, trying to extend the inning and keep the rally going. When I hit it, I knew the wind was blowing out and I just telling it to go.”
Smith entered the game hitting .208 and had not driven in a run in six College World Series games leading up to Game 3, but he wasn’t done after his game-tying blast in the fourth. The very next inning, Smith came up against Vanderbilt relief pitcher Ben Bowden with two outs and runners on first and second. He took the first two pitches to get ahead in the count 2-0, then smacked a single through the left side of Vanderbilt’s infield to bring center fielder Adam Haseley around to score the go-ahead run.
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See photos of the game from WBR’s Brad Williams here:
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The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the seventh inning when Kenny Towns drove in Haseley with a two-out RBI single up the middle to make it 4-2. Waddell responded by retiring bottom of the order in the bottom half of the seventh to put his team six outs away from its first national championship in baseball. Once Smith tied the game in the fourth, Waddell retired 12 of the next 13 hitters he faced to get his team into the eighth with a two-run lead.
“I thought Waddell, in a lot of ways, was left for dead, but he just got himself up in the fifth, sixth and seventh,” Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin said. “He turned the game around.”
O’Connor turned to former ace, junior left-hander Nathan Kirby to get the final six outs, and Kirby made it look like he was just out there playing catch. The first five hitters he faced were Bryan Reynolds, Rhett Wiseman, Dansby Swanson, Zander Wiel, and Will Toffey, the first five hitters in Vanderbilt’s highly touted lineup — he struck out four of them. The only one to reach was Wiseman, who walked with one out in the eighth, but was left stranded.
Kirby’s fifth and final strike out victim was pinch-hitter Kyle Smith. After starting Smith off with ball one, Kirby got him to swing and miss twice before catching him looking for strike three to kick off the celebration.
An improbable celebration. The Cavaliers had 39 wins entering the College World Series. Their 44 wins were the fewest by a College World Series champion since Southern Cal finished with 43 victories back in 1968.
They became the first school from the Atlantic Coast Conference to win the College World Series since Wake Forest back in 1955.
They are only the third team to win the College World Series after being seeded third or lower in Regional play, joining Oregon State and Fresno State.
They are the first team since Roger Clemens and Texas back in 1983 to win the very first game of the College World Series and the very last game.
An improbable celebration, but one Brian O’Connor was no less happy to partake in.
“Hey, not many people thought that this could happen,” O’Connor said. “I think my brother told me this afternoon the odds in Vegas today were 310 to 1 that we’d win this thing. I’m just proud of these guys that they just hung in there. It’s an unbelievable example to people that if you stay together as a group, if you’ve got a group of guys that work hard, a group of guys that really love each other and care about each other and are passionate about what they’re trying to accomplish, and just fight and won’t go away.”
“Certainly you need some breaks, and we had breaks in this, in Omaha, but I’m proud of them. I couldn’t have forecasted it, but we’re darned glad that we’re sitting up here with this trophy.”
Game 3 Highlights
Bottom of the 1st: Vanderbilt starting pitcher Walker Buehler stranded the bases loaded in the top half, and the Commodores offense built off the momentum. Sophomore center fielder Bryan Reynolds led things off with a four-pitch walk, then junior right fielder Rhett Wiseman moved him to third on when Virginia left fielder Kevin Doherty lost Wiseman line drive in the sun and let it drop in for a double. Junior shortstop Dansby Swanson traded a run for an out with a slow rolling ground out down the third base line. Junior first baseman Zander Wiel followed that up with an RBI double down the third base line to plate Wiseman and gave Vanderbilt a 2-0 lead.
Top of the 2nd: With the game settling into a bit of lull, Virginia first baseman Pavin Smith woke everyone up. The freshman, hitting out of the five-hole in the Cavaliers lineup, followed up a lead off walk by senior third baseman Kenny Towns with a game-tying, two-run home run that hit just over the top of the right field wall to make it 2-2 and give Virginia some new life after Vanderbilt’s fast start.
Top of the 5th: The game-tying home run wasn’t the only big hit in this game to come off the bat of Pavin Smith. With a runner in scoring position and two outs, Smith smacked a single through the left side of the infield to bring center fielder Adam Haseley around to score from second base and put the Cavaliers in front, 3-2.
Top of the 7th: Virginia added an insurance run thanks to a big two-out hit by Kenny Towns. The inning started with an infield single by Adam Haseley. A sac bunt and a grounder to second base moved him over to third, then Towns went back up the middle for an RBI single to bring in Haseley and extend the lead to 4-2 for the Cavaliers.
2015 College World Series – All-Tournament Team
- Catcher – Kade Scivicque, Sr., LSU
- First Base – Zander Wiel, Jr., Vanderbilt
- Second Base – Ernie Clement, Fr., Virginia
- Third Base – Kenny Towns, Sr., Virginia
- Shortstop – Daniel Pinero, So., Virginia
- Outfield – Bryan Reynolds, So., Vanderbilt
- Outfield – Harrison Bader, Jr., Florida
- Outfield – Jacob Heyward, So., Miami (FL)
- Designated Hitter – Connor Wanhanen, Fr., TCU
- Pitcher – Josh Sborz, Jr., Virginia
- Pitcher – Brandon Waddell, Jr., Virginia
- Most Outstanding Player – Josh Sborz
