Game 13: Virginia 5, #4 Florida 4
After a week filled with one-sided games, the Virginia Cavaliers and Florida Gators gave us a back-and-forth classic to decide who would face the reigning champion Vanderbilt Commodores in the College World Series Finals.
Florida got home runs from sophomore first baseman Peter Alonso and junior left fielder Harrison Bader. Each one gave them the lead, but in the end, Virginia was able to do a little bit of everything to match the Gators until senior third baseman Kenny Towns hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the Cavaliers a 5-4 lead and send them on to face the Commodores.
“This team has, in this postseason run, just been amazing,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said of his ball club. “The toughness and the resiliency of this group has been really, really impressive. The heart that they’ve continued to show is a lot of fun to watch. This game is kind of a small microcosm of what our postseason has been like in that Florida is a tremendous opponent … We just feel fortunate to have found a way to win. Our guys just wouldn’t quit. They would go up and we’d battle back, and find a way to drive in a run or two.”
Early on it didn’t appear that Virginia junior starting pitcher Brandon Waddell had his best stuff on the mound. After holding Florida to two hits in seven scoreless innings on Monday night, the Gators finally broke through in the top of the second inning against the Cavaliers left-hander. Peter Alonso hit a 429-foot bomb out to dead center field to give Florida a 2-1 lead after sophomore catcher Matt Thaiss gave Virginia the lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the first.
Virginia tied it up on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth inning by junior right fielder Joe McCarthy, but Harrison Bader put Florida right back in the lead with a solo home run off Waddell in the top of the fifth inning to make it 3-2.
Kenny Towns’ two-out, two-run double in the bottom half of the fifth put Virginia up 4-3, but Florida freshman designated hitter Mike Rivera singled to right-center field with a man on third to tie the game, 4-4. Over the three middle innings — the fourth, fifth, and sixth — there were two ties and one lead change.
With the score still tied and junior closer Josh Sborz shutting down the Florida offense on the mound, the Cavaliers felt they just needed one run to put this game squarely in their favor. In the bottom of the seventh inning, they got it — with runners on second and third and one out, Florida junior closer Taylor Lewis intentionally walked Thaiss to load the bases and set up a force out. Unfortunately, that brought up Towns, the other big run producer in the Cavaliers lineup, to hit with the bases loaded. Already with two runs driven on the day, the senior and team leader in runs batted in delivered yet another go-ahead play when he lifted a ball into deep right field for a sacrifice fly that gave Virginia a 5-4 lead.
“He’s gotten so many big hits for us,” O’Connor said of his senior third baseman. “Kenny’s played a lot of games in our uniform in four years. He’s come through so many times, especially in this postseason. There are a lot of guys you’d want up, but certainly you know the pride he has in this program, and he’s going to go up there and get his money’s worth. He’s going to be prepared to give himself a chance to succeed. The three runs that he drove in tonight were crucial, and everybody has a lot of confidence in him when he steps up.”
That was all the cushion that Sborz would need as he retired 11 of the final 13 batters he faced, allowing only a pair of singles to Harrison Bader in the seventh and ninth inning. He finished off the Gators season by getting a fielder’s choice ground out that forced Bader out at second base and kicked off the celebration for the Cavaliers, who earned a College World Series Finals rematch with Vanderbilt.
During a season filled with injuries to key contributors that saw Virginia earn three-seed in a regional out on the West Coast, then fight their way to Omaha with only 39 wins under their belt, and then beat the No. 4 national seed Gators not once, but twice to make it to the finals for the second consecutive season. A long shot to even get to Omaha are now two wins away from their first national championship in school history.
“They’re all special,” O’Connor said of making it to championship series, “but this one is different. We’ve been really fortunate in this program to be in Omaha four out of the last seven years. I think we just finished our 11th game in two years in this ballpark. They know what to expect here, but how this team navigated and what they’ve been through to get here is really, really special and memorable.”
“This group has a lot of pride. They have a lot of pride in playing for each other, and they’re going to give it everything they’ve got. They’re going to be prepared, and it’s been a lot of fun to coach.”
Virginia (42-23) and Vanderbilt (50-19) will meet for the second consecutive season on Monday in Game 1 of the College World Series Finals. The Commodores took two out of three from the Cavaliers last season to win their first title. Starting at 7:00 p.m. on Monday at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, Virginia will get their shot at payback and school history.
Game 13 Highlights
Bottom of the 1st: Florida starting pitcher Dane Dunning breezed through the first two hitters, and looked to be on his to a clean first inning. Virginia sophomore catcher Matt Thaiss put a stop to Dunning’s momentum, however, when he hammered a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.
Top of the 2nd: Virginia starter Brandon Waddell did what Dunning couldn’t do and got through the first inning without allowing a base runner. He wasn’t very efficient, though, and Florida made him pay for it in their second trip to the plate. Freshman catcher JJ Schwarz worked a full count against the Cavaliers’ left-hander before drawing a walk, then sophomore first baseman Peter Alonso launched a 429-foot home run out to dead center field, the first in TD Ameritrade Park Omaha history, to put the Gators in front, 2-1.
Bottom of the 4th: Virginia didn’t let the game get away from them and struck back to tie the game. Freshman first baseman Pavin Smith hit a ball over Buddy Reed’s head in center field, and coasted to third for a triple with one out. Two hitters later he came home to even things up at 2-all when junior right fielder Joe McCarthy lined out to center for a sacrifice fly.
Top of the 5th: The Gators used the long ball to take the lead again when with one out, junior left fielder Harrison Bader cracked his 17th home run of the season out over the NCAA logo in left-center field to take a 3-2 for Florida.
Bottom of the 5th: Another one-run deficit, another clutch at-bat by a veteran member of the Virginia baseball team. Singles by Matt Thaiss and sophomore shortstop Daniel Pinero put runners on first and third with two outs. Then, after working a 2-0 count against Florida relief pitcher Kirby Snead, senior third baseman Kenny Towns lined a go-ahead two-run double down the left field line to make it 4-3 and give the Cavaliers the lead once again.
Top of the 6th: Brandon Waddell allowed a lead off single to his final batter of the game, JJ Schwarz, then gave way to Virginia junior closer Josh Sborz. After walking Peter Alonso to move Schwarz into scoring position, a one-out single to right-center field by freshman designated hitter Mike Rivera scored Schwarz to tie the game, 4-4.
Bottom of the 7th: As he did back with his double back in the fifth inning, Kenny Towns came through the big swing that gave Virginia the lead again. The Cavaliers put runners in scoring position with a single, a walk, and a sacrifice bunt to start the frame. The Gators intentionally walked Matt Thaiss with one out to set up the force out as Towns stepped to the plate. The Virginia senior hit the second pitch he saw into deep right field just shy of the warning track for a sacrifice fly that scored freshman second baseman Ernie Clement to put the Cavaliers ahead, 5-4.