College World Series score: Virginia blanks Vanderbilt, forces third game

Sean Ryan

College World Series score: Virginia blanks Vanderbilt, forces third game 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.

Adam Haseley, who had thrown 23 2/3 innings on the season and hadn’t lasted more than 4 2/3 innings in any of his four starts, tossed five-plus scoreless innings, and Josh Sborz continued his dominance in Omaha with four shutout innings Tuesday night as Virginia blanked Vanderbilt 3-0 to force a third and deciding game in the College World Series Championship Series.

The Cavaliers (43-24) used three hits apiece and three RBIs from Ernie Clement and Thomas Woodruff to scrape out a win over the Commodores (51-20). Virginia took advantage of a ground ball that bounced off second base and an error at first to keep the sixth inning alive, and Clement drove in the first run with a single to left before Woodruff plated two with a single to center.

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The teams will meet Wednesday night, with Vanderbilt going for its second straight national title and Virginia shooting for its first in program history.

Impact Players

Adam Haseley, SP, Virginia: Haseley, a freshman lefty making his first appearance since May 23, allowed four hits in five-plus scoreless innings.

Josh Sborz, RP, Virginia: Sborz picked up the win with four scoreless innings with three hits and three strikeouts.

Thomas Woodruff, RF, Virginia: Woodruff, who entered a .235 hitter with only 51 at-bats and five RBIs, went 3 for 4, including a two-run single in the Cavaliers' three-run sixth inning.

Ernie Clement, 2B, Virginia: Clement went 3 for 4 and had a two-out single to get the Cavaliers on the board in the sixth.

Daniel Pinero, SS, Virginia: Pinero didn’t have a hit, but started two big double plays.

Philip Pfeifer, SP, Vanderbilt: Pfeifer threw well and was hurt by a two-out error at first that should have ended the inning; he finished with three unearned runs in 5 2/3 innings.

Glove Work

Daniel Pinero started two big double plays. He leaped to rob Rhett Wiseman of a hit, then fired to first to double up Ro Coleman to end the third inning. With runners on first and second in the sixth, Pinero gloved a Bryan Reynolds grounder up the middle, tagged second and narrowly doubled-up Reynolds at first.

Stats of the Day

Virginia is trying to become the first team since Fresno State in 2008 to win a title after losing the first game of the Championship Series.

Should Virginia win, it will be the first ACC team since Wake Forest in 1955 to win the national title.

Should Vanderbilt win the national title, it would become the third team in the past 10 years to win back-to-back titles (Oregon 2006-07, South Carolina 2010-11). Should Virginia lose, it would be the third team since 2000 to finish as the national runner-up two years in a row (Stanford 2000-01, North Carolina 2006-07).

Last year between these teams, the visiting team won all three games as the Commodores took home the title. This year, the home team has won the first two games. Vanderbilt will be the home team Wednesday.

Sborz is 3-0 with a save in Omaha. He hasn’t allowed an earned run in 13 innings at the College World Series and 27 straight innings overall.

Odds & Ends

Speaking of Sborz, his run in Omaha (13 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 10 K) is reminiscent of Stanford’s John Hudgins, who won three games and tossed 350 pitches as the Cardinal fell short of a title in 2003, and Cal State Fullerton’s Jason Windsor, who carried the Titans to a title by throwing 322 pitches over nine days in 2004.

Another comparison from College World Series past: Michael Roth, who helped South Carolina to back-to-back titles in 2010-11, was 1-1 with a 1.37 ERA in 26 1/3 innings when he shut down Clemson in his Omaha debut in 2010. Virginia’s Haseley, also a lefty, entered having not pitched for a month and with a 2-1 record, 2.66 ERA and 23 2/3 innings.

Vanderbilt was shut out for the second time this season. Virginia has four shutouts this season, with two coming in Omaha.

The Commodores’ nine-game winning streak in the NCAA tourney came to an end.

Virginia has only faced SEC teams in Omaha and has gone 4-2, allowing 3.7 runs per game.

Quotables

“Tomorrow will be no different than any game that we've played here in Omaha this year. I'm going to say it again. This team's earned the right to play another ballgame, and that's how they will treat it. I don't think they'll put any more into it than they have at this point. Certainly we're going to have to play great baseball to beat a great Vanderbilt club. And they'll just continue to go out there and play the best they can and hopefully in the end have a chance to win the ballgame.” — Virginia coach Brian O’Connor

“The whole game they battled. They were able to get my pitch count up quickly. I was just trying to get out of it, just trying to win with a lead. I wasn't really thinking about giving up runs. I mean, if they scored one or two, I wasn't going to get upset. I was just thinking about get this game over with, win, try to kind of save the bullpen as much as possible.” — Virginia closer Josh Sborz on Vanderbilt’s lineup

“I think when there were runners in scoring position they just made good pitches. You just have to give Haseley and Sborz a lot of credit, because I thought they did a good job of commanding the ball. And then their defense did a good job of — their coaches putting their defense in good position. The ball that Reynolds hit was hit relatively hard back up the middle, but Pinero was in the right spot, tagged the bag and converted it into a double play. We had some hard-hit balls at certain times that were just caught. So that happens.” — Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin

A Look Ahead to Wednesday

CWS Championship Series Game 3: Virginia vs. Vanderbilt, 8 p.m. The Commodores will capture their second straight national title with a win; the Cavaliers would claim their first in program history.

Sean Ryan