Doherty, Cavaliers Rally Past Terps

By Sean Ryan

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

sryan@hodgespart.com @collbaseball

 

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Over his first two years at Virginia, Kevin Doherty made 13 appearances spanning 15.1 innings out of the Cavaliers’ bullpen.

 

The lefty, who has gone 3-1 with three saves in 44.2 innings this year, made his most important save Friday – with his bat.

 

Doherty launched a long fly to the gap in left-center, where Maryland centerfielder LaMonte Wade nearly made a sensational catch, that resulted in a three-run double in the top of the eighth inning highlighted a five-run inning that lifted the Cavaliers to a 5-3 win in the first game of the Charlottesville Super Regional.

 

The Cavaliers, beset by injuries much of the season, are one win from their second straight trip to the College World Series and fourth since 2009 – they dropped the first game of last year’s Super Regionals against Maryland before taking the final two.

 

“It doesn’t surprise me what happened because of what this club has showed me they’re made of all season,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor.

 

That Doherty played the role of hitting hero, and that the Terrapins surrendered the lead with ace Mike Shawaryn and closer Kevin Mooney on the hill was unexpected to most.

 

Doherty asked his coaches for the opportunity to get some time in the outfield, where Virginia found itself thin with 2014 starters Derek Fisher and Brandon Downes gone and Joe McCarthy injured for much of the 2015 season.

 

“I just kind of expected to play a fairly minor role and just help out where I can because I knew there were going to be holes this year, especially in the outfield,” Doherty said. “I never really envisioned it to be what it is now.”

 

In addition to helping on the mound, Doherty entered Friday with 30 starts and 18 RBI. A .238 hitter, Doherty found himself in the middle of a magical inning for the Cavaliers (38-22).

 

Shawaryn had allowed five hits and no runs entering the eighth. After getting leadoff man Adam Haseley to line out to short, Daniel Pinero and Matt Thaiss singled, ending Shawaryn’s day. Kenny Towns greeted Mooney with an RBI single to right to score Pinero with Virginia’s first run. Pavin Smith followed by lining a hanging breaking ball – the Cavaliers’ fourth straight hit – up the middle to make it 3-2.

 

A wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, and Mooney momentarily avoided danger by jamming Robbie Coman and smothering a comebacker for the second out. Maryland elected to walk McCarthy to get to Doherty.

 

Doherty, who had struck out his previous two at-bats on high fastballs, got a fastball up and drove it to the gap in left. Wade ran a long way and leaped at the wall, the ball bouncing off his glove as he crashed into the wall.

 

“Probably the same time,” Wade said when asked about when the ball hit his glove. “I hit the wall and missed the ball at the same time.”

 

Three runs scored on the play as Doherty’s near-grand slam gave the Cavaliers a 5-3 lead.

 

“It was a fastball, I think it was high,” he said. “Might have been a ball, I don’t even know. I gave it a good swing…I thought I got it good.”

 

The Terrapins (42-33) had a threat brewing in the bottom of the eighth but were stymied by a highly questionable call. Kevin Smith singled off Virginia closer Josh Sborz and took second when Pinero’s flip back to Sborz was high and bounced toward the plate. The next batter was Brandon Lowe, who was hit by a wild pitch off the dirt in the foot and started to first before called back by umpire Chris Coskey for not attempting to get out of the way.

 

“He felt like Brandon tipped his knee into it,” Terps coach John Szefc said. “First off it didn’t even hit him in knee, it hit him in the foot. I’m not going to get into the umpiring. You don’t want to know what I really think.”

 

Lowe lined out to left before Kevin Martir skied a ball to left and Nick Cieri hit a laser to McCarthy playing deep in right. Sborz retired the side in the ninth, earning his 14^th save.

 

Connor Jones (7-2) earned the win with seven innings, three hits and three earned runs. Wade had a two-run single in the fifth to score Cieri and Jose Cuas (1 for 3, 2 R) as the Terrapins took a 2-0 lead.

 

“I was hoping he’d be able to give us one more,” O’Connor said of Jones. “I didn’t know he’d be able to give us the seventh.”

 

In the seventh, Cuas ran in front of McCarthy in right to stretch a single into a double to start the inning. After Tim Lewis sacrificed him to third, Kevin Biondic plated him with a suicide squeeze and a 3-0 lead.

 

But the Terrapins couldn’t hold on, falling to 36-2 when leading after seven innings while the Cavaliers improved to 5-14 when trailing after seven. Mooney, Maryland’s masterful closer, had allowed five earned runs all season before allowing three to the Cavaliers.

 

“Obviously a pretty tough way for us to lose right there,” Szefc said. “We really have not lost many games in that fashion, in a long time actually, taking a lead into the eighth like that. But that’s just the way it goes. When you get to this level, you have to play nine clean innings. Unfortunately, we did not do that.”

 

Notes

·    The Cavaliers are likely to start Brandon Waddell (3-5, 4.12) in Saturday’s 3 p.m. game. Szefc was undecided on his starter after Friday’s game.

·    Virginia made several slick plays, starting with a nice 4-6-3 double play in the second from Ernie Clement to Pinero in the middle. Towns made a nice pick and throw at third in the third inning, and Pavin Smith ranged to the first-base line before a slip-and-flip to Jones covering at first in the sixth. Maryland countered with Biondic at first, who ranged to the line and robbed Pavin Smith of a hit. In the ninth, Lowe made a tough play look easy at second, barely getting Haseley at first, and Kevin Smith gloved a backhand short hop the next play.

·    Quotables

o    "I think they’ll come out and be aggressive and they’ll be loose like they have been in this postseason,” – O’Connor said of the Cavaliers.

o    “It’s a treat, it’s been a lot of fun…I’m just soaking it in, quite frankly, enjoying it as long as it lasts,” – O’Connor on the Cavaliers ride.

o    “And just took that mentality to be very aggressive and pretty much don’t let a fastball for a strike pass. I was aggressive and it all kind of worked out for me,” – Doherty on his big hit.

o    “It’s not frustrating. Sometimes, that’s just how baseball is. We played really well until that eighth inning,” Shawaryn when asked if it’s frustrating to lose a game in which he pitched so well.

o    “We were in a much better position last year, clearly after winning the first game,” - Szefc.