Virginia's Waddell
and Sborz combine to blank Florida
By Phil Stanton
CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder
@roadtoomaha
(photo by Matt Riley of Virginia Athletics)
OMAHA,
Neb. - The pitching was dominant.
Brandon Waddell (right) and Josh Sborz combined
on a two-hit shutout as Virginia nipped No. 4 Florida 1-0 in
Game 6 of the 2015 College World Series Monday evening in
front of 19,544 fans at TD Ameritrade Park.
The Cavaliers (41-22) advance to the Bracket 1
Finals on Friday at 2 p.m. CT. The Gators (50-17) will play an
elimination game against fifth-seeded Miami on Wednesday at 7
p.m. CT.
Waddell (4-5) hurled seven scoreless innings
with two hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
"Waddell was really good tonight," Florida head
coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "He was moving the ball back and
forth. He kept throwing two different speeds on his fastball
and looked like he was throwing a bit of a cutter in on our
right-handers and he just kept moving the ball back and forth
and just didn't give us a whole lot."
Waddell's catcher agreed.
"He had command of all four pitches today,"
Virginia's Matt Thaiss said. "He did a great job keeping the
ball down, keeping them off balance. Different counts, he was
able to throw his off-speed pitches. And he did a great job."
His head coach was impressed as well.
"A tremendous outing by Brandon Waddell,"
Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor said. "I think that was
really the story of the game. It felt like from pitch one to
when he came out of the game there in the eighth inning, he
was in really good command of the game, the best he's been all
year. Certainly saved his best outing of the year for a
really, really important time."
Waddell started the eighth and surrendered a
leadoff walk to Dalton Guthrie. No. 9-hitter Ryan Larson
couldn't lay down a bunt, so he ripped a single to right
center that moved Guthrie to third.
That ended the evening for Waddell and brought
in Sborz from the bullpen. Harrison Bader lined a pitch back
to Sborz, who was able to get a glove on it. He kept his cool,
looked Guthrie back to third and forced Larson out at second.
"It was basically all reaction," Sborz said,
"and from there I got lucky throwing it to second. 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."
Richie Martin lined out
to second and Josh Tobias grounded out to second to end the
threat.
"Obviously we had a chance there in the eighth
with first and third," O'Sullivan said, "and Harrison put a
really good swing on the ball. And Sborz did a nice job, and
kept his composure, got the out at second. It's one of those
things, if the ball gets through it's a totally different
ballgame."
Sborz got a pair of
come-backers and a groundout to second in the ninth to record
his 15th save.
Virginia broke the scoreless tie in the bottom
of the sixth. Thaiss had a one-out single to center and moved
to second on a base hit to left by Kenny Towns. Pavin Smith
hit a slow bouncer to the left of the mound. Puk fielded it
but threw late to first, giving Smith an infield single and
loading the bases for the Cavs. Puk departed and was replaced
by Taylor Lewis. Robbie Coman hit a fly ball to center deep
enough to score Thaiss from third, giving Virginia a 1-0 edge.
"We were fortunate to scratch across a run,"
O'Connor said. "Puk was tremendous. What a talented young man.
And just proud of ours guys. We battled enough to find a way."
Both pitchers struggled in the first. Waddell
retired the first two hitters, but surrendered a walk and hit
a batter before a groundout ended the inning. Waddell threw 21
pitches, 10 for strikes.
"In the first inning I was trying to do too
much with it," Waddell said. "I was trying to put a little bit
too much behind things, make pitches move more than they
normally do. So my command fluttered a little bit there. After
I got out of the first inning I was able to take a step back,
breathe, get my head right again and go back to what our plan
was and try to get some early outs. I was fortunate enough to
do that, calm down and settle into the game."
Florida had averaged 11.3 runs per game in its
six NCAA Tournament contests, outscoring its opponents 68-15.
"We knew going into it they were a really good
hitting team," Waddell said. "They showed it all through the
season and postseason. They've just been scoring a tremendous
amount of runs. So you knew going in that you were going to
have to compete. There wasn't going to be any easy at-bats and
they would make you make quality pitches and they were going
to take advantage of your mistakes. So you know going in
you've got to limit those mistakes, continue trying to make
those quality pitches, get hitters off balance, and that was
our game plan going into it."
Two hits were the least in a game this season
for the Gators.
"Sometimes you've just got to credit the
pitcher," O'Sullivan said. "I'm not going to fault our guys.
You gotta remember he's a fifth-round pick. He beat Vanderbilt
last year in the second game, forced a Game 3. He's good.
Probably the best he's pitched all year. He was on tonight. I
don't want to take anything away from him,"
Waddell has pitched 23 career innings in the
College World Series and has allowed just two earned runs. He
had a complete-game victory against Vanderbilt in Game 2 of
the CWS Championship Series to force a third and final game.
Puk worked 5.1 innings
with four hits, one run, three walks and five strikeouts. He
allowed a pair of walks in the first, throwing 26 pitches in
the inning of which 16 were strikes.
"It was tough today with the rain delay and
everything," Puk said. "I was in the hotel room all day, and I
was really excited to get out here. In the first inning, I was
struggling with my command and just found a groove and was
able to attack the zone."