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."