June 13, 2015

College World Series Scores & Schedules

 

Two-Out Runs Carry Virginia over Arkansas

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

@roadtoomaha

 

OMAHA, Neb. - One recipe for success in the postseason is to score with two outs and keep your opponent from scoring with two away.

 

Virginia scored all its runs with two outs in a 5-3 victory over Arkansas in Game 1 of the 2015 College World Series Saturday afternoon at TD Ameritrade Park.

 

The Cavaliers (40-22) will play on Monday, June 15 at 7 p.m. CT against the winner of tonight's Florida-Miami contest. The Razorbacks (40-24) will face the loser of the Florida-Miami game on Monday at 2 p.m. CT in an elimination game.

 

Virginia snapped a 3-3 tie in the top of the eighth. Daniel Pinero had a one-out single and stole second and third. With two away, Kenny Towns fell behind 1-2 against Arkansas closer Zach Jackson, before taking a pair of close pitches to run the count full. He doubled to the opposite field to plate Pinero with the go-ahead run.

 

"I saw his fastball and his breaking ball, but he got ahead on me," Towns said. "I was in the defensive right away. When I got to 1-2, I wanted to put the ball in play with two strikes. And I was able to take some close pitches and get myself in a better count, a full count, and was able to see that breaking ball pretty well and put a good swing on it."

 

Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor knew it was a key point in the contest.

 

" I thought it was the at-bat of the game," O'Connor said. "Jackson's their guy. Kenny's driven in runs for us all year long. What a great two-strike approach he had for those last three pitches. And Jackson throws him a 3-2 breaking ball and he's got a great approach and just hits the ball the other way.

 

"Those are the kinds of the things that your players that have talent like Kenny does, and they need to rise up to win games like this. The difference between winning and losing is so fine, and sometimes it's one hit like that that makes a difference, and Kenny certainly delivered it."

 

The Cavaliers added an insurance run in the ninth. Robbie Coman reached on an infield single and pinch-runner Thomas Woodruff stole second and moved to third on a groundout. With two outs, Ernie Clement singled to left to drive in Woodruff and make it 5-3.

 

"I'm proud of our team for continuing to find a way to win a ballgame," O'Connor said. "That ballgame is kind of how we've played for the last couple of weeks.

 

Joe McCarthy started the scoring for the Cavaliers by going deep with two away in the top of the second, his second dinger of the season.

 

The Razorbacks took the lead in the third. Joe Serrano had a leadoff walk and moved to third on a base hit by Bobby Wernes. Andrew Benintendi delivered a sacrifice fly to left to plate Serrano, knotting the score at 1-1. Wernes moved to second on the play and came home on a double to left by Clark Eagan to give Arkansas a 2-1 advantage.

 

Virginia reclaimed the lead in the fifth. No. 9 hitter Clement was hit by a pitch with one away and was sacrificed to second. Pinero doubled to left to drive in Clement with the tying run. Pinero would score on a single by Matt Thaiss to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 edge.

 

Arkansas tied it in the bottom of the fifth as Benintendi homered to right. He has 20 long balls this season, the top mark in the nation. Benintendi is the first 20-20 player for the Razorbacks, with 20 home runs and 24 stolen bases.

 

Pinero went 3 for 4 with two runs and one RBI. He stole three bases after having six thefts coming into the contest. Virginia attempted eight steals and was successful five times.

 

"Certainly Danny did a nice job having three stolen bases," O'Connor said. "We were aggressive. Our plan was to be aggressive from the start if the situation presented itself."

 

Connor Jones worked the first six innings for the Cavs with six hits and three runs. He walked two and struck out a pair.

 

Josh Sborz (5-2) (pictured above) hurled the final three innings of scoreless ball for Virginia with one hit, one walk and five punchouts. Arkansas did not fan any in the first five innings, but seven of their final 12 outs were via strikeouts.

 

"Josh's stuff is really good," O'Connor said. "Certainly he's got a fastball on some days that touches 95, 96. He didn't have his real good fastball today. He has a good slider. He has a curveball that he uses every so often. But he throws strikes. He attacks you. So you have a lot of confidence in him that he's going to go at them and give his best. And he's been pretty darned near as good as you can be all year long for us."

 

Trey Killian (3-5) suffered the loss. He went 7.1 innings with seven hits, four runs, two walks and six strikeouts.

 

"I thought both starting pitchers, Jones and then Trey, they both did a tremendous job pitching their teams into six, seven innings," Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said, "and both teams had a chance to win it. It was a fairly well-played game. A couple things hurt us. We hit into three double plays. We didn't get a bunt down. A lot of times when you don't get the bunt down you end up hitting into a double play. That's kind of the way the game works.

 

"Just give credit to Virginia. They got the big hits. And their pitchers got out of some good jams. And we left too many runners on early in the game. We had a chance to bust it open, and Jones did a great job of getting out of it."