In the opening game of the Men’s College World Series, TCU led 5-2 after 8 innings Friday afternoon. Three outs from victory, the Horned Frogs couldn’t put away Oral Roberts and ended up losing 6-5 at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. A similar story played out in the second game. Virginia led Florida 5-3 after 8 innings and was three outs from victory. But a calamitous 9th inning followed for the Cavaliers, who gave up two solo home runs and a walk-off sacrifice fly and lost 6-5 on Friday night.
The unexpected happens often at this stage of the season, and now two teams who were on the verge of moving into the winners’ bracket will meet in an elimination game Sunday at 2pm ET, as Virginia takes on TCU at Schwab Field. Florida faces Oral Roberts on Sunday night. The UVA-TCU winner will play the Florida-Oral Roberts loser in another elimination game Tuesday afternoon.
In the best-of-three NCAA super regional at Disharoon Park last weekend, the Wahoos dropped the opener to Duke and then bounced back to record two straight one-sided victories. The Hoos pride themselves on their resilience, sophomore shortstop Griff O’Ferrall said, and “it’s something we talk about all the time. It’s just one thing about our team, we’re not going to go down without a fight. I think getting back tomorrow in practice and getting our plan ready for Sunday, I think we’ll be good to go.”
This is Virginia’s 6th appearance in the Men’s College World Series. Not since their first trip to Omaha in 2009 had they lost their opener here, and now their margin for error is gone. UVA pitcher Nick Parker, sitting next to O’Ferrall during the postgame press conference, echoed his teammate’s comment.
“Not ideal to lose the first one, but who cares, right?” Parker said. “We’re going to come out and keep winning ball games. That’s what we’re going to do.” Parker, a right-handed graduate transfer from Coastal Carolina, turned in his third straight quality start in this NCAA tournament. He scattered four hits and allowed only one run in six innings. In the top of the 7th, Virginia scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead.
Sophomore designated hitter Anthony Stephan’s RBI groundout made it 1-1, and O’Ferrall’s two-run double pushed the Hoos’ lead to 3-1. That brought up junior center-fielder Ethan O’Donnell, who singled in O’Ferrall to make it 4-1. With Parker at 90 pitches, O’Connor turned to freshman left-hander Evan Blanco in the bottom of the 7th, and Florida’s slumbering offense began to stir. With one out and a runner on first, another freshman, right-hander Jack O’Connor, replaced Blanco. O’Connor (no relation to the head coach) gave up a double and an RBI groundout.
Junior left-hander Jake Berry finished the inning on the mound, retiring cleanup Josh Rivera with the bases loaded to keep it 4-2, but the Gators proved to be relentless. Florida catcher BT Riopelle led off the bottom of the 8th with a home run off Berry. Berry retired the next three batters keep it a one-run game, though, and freshman left-fielder Harrison Didawick’s RBI triple in the top of the 9th pushed UVA’s lead to 5-3.
Berry pitched brilliantly in Virginia’s two wins over East Carolina at the NCAA regional in Charlottesville early this month, and O’Connor had confidence Berry could keep the Gators at bay in the 9th inning. It didn’t happen. Ty Evans led off with homer that made it 5-4. Berry struck out Cade Kurland, giving Virginia a momentary reprieve, but Wyatt Langford followed by crushing a 456-foot home runs that cleared the stands in left field at 24,000-seat Schwab Field. That tied the game at 5-5, and Florida wasn’t done.
The next batter, Jac Caglianone, singled, and then Berry walked Rivera. Finally, after Berry hit Riopelle with a pitch, loading the bases with one out, Brian O’Connor summoned sophomore right-hander Jay Woolfolk from the bullpen. The pitching change didn’t halt the Gators’ momentum. Caglianone tagged at third and scored on Luke Heyman’s fly ball to center, and the game was over.
O’Connor, who’s in his 20th season at Virginia, said he had “zero regret” about staying with Berry in the ninth. “When you’re in this situation that we are on Sunday, we’ll do whatever it takes to win that game to try to advance on to the next one,” O’Connor said, “and we have other guys that haven’t been used that have done the job for us all year long. So it’s going to take a collective effort by our entire group. Blanco and [Jack] O’Connor didn’t throw many pitches today, and we have several other guys. But it’s going to start by getting a high-quality start on Sunday, whoever that is, and then piecing it together.”
Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor, Griff O’Ferral, and Nick Parker spoke about the loss after the game. Video is courtesy of the NCAA.