Florida Gators
Virginia (College World Series)
Gators Set for CWS Rematch with Miami after Virginia's Waddell Stifles Hot Lineup
Tuesday, June 16, 2015 | Baseball, Scott Carter
OMAHA, Neb. -- They kept stepping into the batter's box and then, after Virginia starter Brandon Waddell threw yet another thorny pitch to a spot difficult to hit, the Florida hitters trotted back to the dugout and envisioned a different outcome in their next at-bat.
The next trip to the plate yielded nothing better than the previous one in the Gators' 1-0 loss to the Cavaliers on Monday night in the College World Series.
"He was good,'' Gators second baseman Dalton Guthrie said. "He made it tough on us. He was throwing a change-up and curveballs in weird counts, and he wasn't missing."
A glimmer of hope surfaced in the top of the eighth inning when Guthrie fought off an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk. Ryan Larson followed with a single and Guthrie raced to third.
Virginia (41-22) broke a scoreless tie in the sixth when Robbie Coman's sacrifice fly scored Matt Thaiss for the game's only run.
With outs starting to vanish for the Gators (50-17) to avoid a loss into the loser's bracket and a rematch with Miami on Wednesday, Harrison Bader stepped to the plate against Cavaliers closer Josh Sborz, who replaced Waddell following Larson's single.
Bader smoked a line drive that appeared on its way to center field to tie the game.
Instead, Sborz reached out and knocked down the ball as his glove dropped to the turf. Sborz remained composed, collected the baseball, looked toward third to hold Guthrie, and threw to second to retire Larson.
He then retired Richie Martin on a soft liner to second and Josh Tobias on a grounder to second. Inning over, threat over, and Florida's 10-game winning streak over.
"Harrison put a really good swing on the ball,'' Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Sborz did a nice job, kept his composure and got the out at second. It's just one of those things. If the ball gets through it's a totally different ballgame."
Sborz retired the Gators quietly in the ninth for his 15th save, sending the Gators into another meeting with in-state rival Miami. The two programs had never met in the CWS until Florida's 15-3 victory on Saturday.
Now the Gators and Hurricanes will meet for the second time in five days thanks to Waddell's sharpest outing of the season.
The 6-foot-3 junior left-hander, who pitched a complete game against Vanderbilt to force a third game in the CWS championship series a year ago, surrendered just two hits over seven shutout innings against a Florida team that batted .338 during its 10-game win streak. He walked three and struck out three to outduel Gators starter A.J. Puk (5 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 5 strikeouts).
"When big games come around, he's ready,'' said Thaiss, Virginia's catcher.
Other than Larson's eighth-inning single, the only hit Waddell allowed was an infield single by Gators first baseman Pete Alonso to lead off the second. He then retired 12 consecutive Gators to establish the night's tone.
Puk escaped a shaky first inning when he walked two Cavaliers to match Waddell in an intense pitcher's duel. Puk retired nine consecutive batters until Thaiss stroked a one-out single in the sixth.
Kenny Towns followed with a single and Pavin Smith chopped an infield single to load the bases, prompting O'Sullivan to walk to the mound to replace Puk with reliever Taylor Lewis. The first batter Lewis faced was Coman, who lifted a sacrifice fly to center that stood as the winning run.
"It was a heck of a ballgame,'' O'Sullivan said. "Both teams played at a very high level. Both starting pitchers were outstanding. We didn't give them anything. They earned it."
The Gators quickly turned their focus to Wednesday and the road ahead to stay alive in Omaha. Virginia is now off until Friday, awaiting the winner of the Florida-Miami rematch.
The Gators must win their next three games to advance to the championship series, which starts June 22. Prior to Monday the Gators had not lost since a 7-6 setback against Arkansas on May 20 in their first game of the SEC Tournament.
The Gators stormed back to win four in a row and claim the tournament title. They plan to carry the same mindset into the rest of their games here.
"It's good to know we're not out of it because we've done it before,'' Guthrie said. "We've won big games against good teams consecutively, so we don't think we're out of it. We've got to win three games to get into the championship series, so we plan on making it happen."
The Hurricanes eliminated Arkansas with a dramatic 4-3 victory in the early game Monday. Miami's Jacob Heyward scored pinch-runner Carl Chester with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth.
Miami rebounded from its worst postseason loss in school history -- Florida's 11-run fourth inning turned a close game into a rout -- to stay alive.
"Big win for our team,'' Hurricanes coach Jim Morris said. "Florida's been hot. We've just got to be ready to play."
The good news for the Gators is that Waddell won't be pitching.
"Sometimes you've just got to credit the pitcher," O'Sullivan said. "I'm not going to fault our guys. We ran across a really good pitcher that located his pitches tonight and didn't give us a whole lot.
"We'll just have to work our way through the loser's bracket. We've done it before. Obviously everybody is disappointed right now, but we've got no choice but to move forward."
