College World Series 2015 CWS scores: Vandy edges TCU; LSU bounces Fullerton

Sean Ryan

College World Series 2015 CWS scores: Vandy edges TCU; LSU bounces Fullerton image

Each night of the College World Series, we'll provide you with a recap of the day’s games and a look ahead to what’s next in Omaha.

Defending champion Vanderbilt, behind the pitching of Philip Pfeifer and Kyle Wright and a solo homer by Zander Wiel in the seventh inning, edged TCU 1-0 Tuesday night in a winners’ bracket game. Wiel's homer broke up a no-hit bid by Horned Frogs starter Alex Young.

MORE: College World Series schedule, TV info

It was the second 1-0 game in as many nights; Virginia defeated Florida 1-0 in a winners' bracket game Monday.

Earlier, LSU erased a three-run deficit with four runs in the third inning and went on to eliminate Cal State Fullerton 5-3.

Impact players

Philip Pfeifer, SP, Vanderbilt: Pfeifer, who has made 18 relief appearances this season, made his eighth start Tuesday. He allowed four hits and struck out seven in seven scoreless innings.

Philip Pfeifer (Vanderbilt Athletic Communications)

Kyle Wright, RP, Vanderbilt: Wright struck out four in two scoreless innings to earn the save.

Zander Wiel, 1B, Vanderbilt: After striking out his first two at-bats, Wiel hit an inside breaking ball from Alex Young down the left-field line for his 15th homer of the season and the game's only run.

Alex Young, SP, TCU: Young was masterful. He struck out 12 and allowed three hits over 7 2/3 innings.

Alex Lange, SP, LSU: Lange overcame a three-run first inning to toss a complete game. He allowed six hits and struck out 10.

Alex Bregman, SS, LSU: Bregman went 4 for 5 with a run out of the leadoff spot for the Tigers. It was the first time he has batted leadoff this year.

Kade Scivicque, C, LSU: Scivicque had two hits, two runs and an RBI. After delivering an RBI single in the third inning, he doubled and scored an insurance run in the seventh.

Jerrod Bravo, 3B, Cal State Fullerton: Bravo had a pair of hits, including an RBI single in the first inning, and scored a run as the Titans took an early lead.

Miles Chambers, RP, Cal State Fullerton: Chambers kept LSU in check with four innings of relief. He allowed five hits and one run, which came in his last inning.

Glove work

LSU’s Mark Laird made a leaping catch before running face first into the wall in right field to rob Tyler Stieb of a hit in the fifth inning.

TCU second baseman Garrett Crain robbed Bryan Reynolds of a hit in the ninth inning, ranging to his left and spearing Reynolds’ hard shot on a short hop, the corralling the ball and firing to first.

Stats of the day

TCU was shut out for the first time this season. The Horned Frogs were shut out three times last year, including a 1-0 loss to Rice.

Vanderbilt and Virginia — the teams that met in the last year's championship series — are both 2-0 for a second consecutive year.

This is the second straight year TCU has won its first game and lost its second game by a run. The Frogs lost to Virginia 3-2 in 15 innings in Game 8 last year.

This is the second time there have been multiple 1-0 games in a CWS. There were three such games in 1972, including the championship game when Southern Cal beat Arizona State 1-0.

Odds and ends

LSU’s Chris Sciambra collected the 1,000th College World Series hit at TD Ameritrade Park, a single in the second inning. The CWS has been at the park since 2011.

After a rough first inning, Lange faced only 27 batters, allowing two hits and a walk and striking out 10, over the final eight innings.

In five games over the past two years in Omaha, TCU has allowed a total of 15 runs. The Horned Frogs are 2-3 in those games.

Quotables

“(F)rom a game standpoint, it felt like a championship-style game in every way. I think once we got through the third or fourth, you felt like one run could possibly make the difference. And that's the way it shaped up. (TCU coach) Jim (Schlossnagle)'s team is good, very good, in a lot of different ways. I thought Young was obviously very, very effective. And I credit him, because once he found that we were going to make moves to pitches below the strike zone he kept forcing that. And he pitched very, very well. One ball made the difference. And that's the one Zander hit out.” — Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin

“I mean, he just did a great job against us. He was locating the fastball in and out. He was able to backdoor the slider and put — like Coach said — he would throw them low and we were going after them today. So he was just really able to keep us off balance and in that at-bat, I was just — he threw me a changeup and it had been higher than the rest of the ones he had thrown. It still wasn't a terrible pitch. But it was hittable.” — Wiel on Young

“I think they'll handle it the way they've handled everything else all year long. The way we handled losing a game in the regional, the way we handled losing a game in the Super Regional. They'll be ready to play. That doesn't guarantee success at all. But we certainly — we feel confident in our pitching staff, that can give us a good chance. We know that LSU has a great team. And obviously Vanderbilt is sitting there after that, if we're fortunate enough to advance. But in 25 years I've never trusted a team more than this team. They're unbelievable human beings, and I believe in them, and I still believe we're going to be hanging around here before this thing is said and done.” — Schlossnagle on how his team will react to the loss

“Obviously the story of the game was this young, right-handed pitcher on our team who has been just absolutely terrific all year. He just put the team on his shoulders after a rough first inning. Listen, I thought he made good pitches in the first inning and they just did a good job against him. The three-hole hitter smoked that one in the gap and then they had a fortuitous chopper through the right side to set something up. They executed a safety squeeze. They did some good things. It wasn't so much that he was making bad pitches. But I just think the true character of a player shows when they get knocked on the ground like he did in the first inning, and then he just regrouped, never lost his confidence, never lost his aggressiveness.” — LSU coach Paul Mainieri on Lange

“You know, this was a blast. This was a lot of fun. Growing up only three hours away in Kansas City, it's something that every kid dreams of is to play in the College World Series. And being able to go out there and play in it is kind of a dream come true. It was a lot of fun especially with the group of guys we have, how close-knit we are and just being able to share the moment with them and moving on. That's pretty cool.” — Lange

“I think like Coach said, we need to get more physical; just standing on the line next to those guys, there's an obvious difference. You guys probably all see it. And so that's something that we're really going to work on next year for sure. And I really think we went toe to toe with those guys, though. Being from the Big West, not the powerhouse SEC like you call it, I thought we handled our own.” — Cal State Fullerton’s David Olmedo-Barrera on how the Titans compare against SEC powers.

A look ahead

Wednesday's game:

Game 9: Florida vs. Miami (losers’ bracket; 8 p.m. ET, ESPN): The teams will meet for the second time in Omaha; this time in an elimination game. The winner will advance to meet Virginia.

Sean Ryan