College World Series 2015 score: Virginia slips past Florida, will meet Vanderbilt for national title

Sean Ryan

College World Series 2015 score: Virginia slips past Florida, will meet Vanderbilt for national title image

It’s a College World Series national title rematch.

Kenny Towns had three RBI, and Josh Sborz was terrific in relief as Virginia rebounded from Friday night’s loss to Florida to eliminate the Gators 5-4 Saturday night. The win puts the Cavaliers in the College World Series Finals for the second straight year, where they’ll meet Vanderbilt for the second straight year. The Commodores won last year’s title series in three games.

MORE: Vandy advances to finals | TCU eliminates LSU

College World Series impact players, results

Kenny Towns, 3B, Virginia: Towns only had one hit, but it was a two-run double that gave the Cavaliers the lead in the fifth inning. He later added a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning that proved to be the game-winning run.

Josh Sborz, RP, Virginia: Sborz battled some early control issues and allowed an inherited line, but was brilliant overall in finishing with four scoreless innings with three hits.

Matt Thaiss, C, Virginia: In addition to receiving a great game, the Cavaliers’ catcher went 2 for 3 with a homer and two runs.

Harrison Bader, LF, Florida: Bader closed a tremendous season by going 4 for 5 with a solo homer.

Peter Alonso, 1B, Florida: Alonso launched the longest homer in TD Ameritrade Park, a 429-foot shot just to the right of dead center, for a two-run bomb.

Stats of the Day

Virginia and Vanderbilt will meet for the national title for the second straight year. The last time that happened is 2007, when Oregon State beat North Carolina for its second straight national championship.

Vanderbilt and Virginia join South Carolina, Oregon State, North Carolina, Texas and Stanford as teams that have played in national championship finals in back-to-back seasons. The Gamecocks played in three straight from 2010-12.

The ACC’s last national champion in baseball was Wake Forest in 1955.

Odds & Ends

Virginia’s Brandon Waddell, who combined with Josh Sborz on a 1-0 shutout against Florida on Monday, kept Florida in check again for five-plus innings – the damage he allowed came on homers to Harrison Bader and Peter Alonso.

Florida was trying to reach its first title series since 2011, when it lost to South Carolina.

At one point, Virginia was 10-14 in the ACC and in danger of missing the ACC tourney.

Quotables

“You all are going to think I'm just hitting repeat here. But this team has, in this postseason run, just been amazing. The toughness and the resiliency of this group has been really, really impressive, the heart that they've continued to show is a lot of fun to watch. And this game is kind of a small microcosm of what our postseason's been like in that Florida is a tremendous opponent. I'll tell you, what they have coming back next year, they're going to be really, really good. And we just feel fortunate to have found a way to win. And our guys just wouldn't quit.” – Virginia coach Brian O’Connor

“I think we're a really tough team. We're really resilient. We've done a good job of, like, when teams put some runs up on us, we come back and return the favor and give ourselves a chance to win some games. But we've been in a lot of tight ballgames, and I think we just kind of have gotten not comfortable, we just feel confident in those situations especially with some of the guys we throw out there like Sborz and Waddell. So I think everything is just kind of clicking for us in those games and it's a testament how resilient we are.” – Virginia third baseman Kenny Towns

“So I'm really proud of our guys. We had a tremendous year. There's a lot to be proud of. It's just heart. When you get to this part of the season, the end of the season, it's just so abrupt. It's just like a runaway train that -- it's over, it's over like that.” – Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan

A Look Ahead to Monday

Game 14: Virginia and Vanderbilt will meet in the first game of a best-of-three championship series.

Sean Ryan