OMAHA,
Neb. – For 60 years teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference have
failed to win the college baseball national championship. Some of the
most talented and skilled teams to ever slap on stirrups up on a
college diamond left Omaha without brining home the ultimate trophy.
Now finally, after six decades of disappointing losses and lovely
parting gifts, the national title is back in the hands of an ACC
team.
It
took the most unlikely of teams to break the streak. Had it not been
for a sweep of North Carolina at the end of the year Virginia
wouldn’t have even finished their conference schedule with a .500
record. They were the seventh seed in the conference tournament and
went 1-3 in the postseason tournament and were a bubble team to
receive a Regional bid.
Nevertheless,
here they were. One game away from making history.
The
Cavaliers went to junior Brandon Waddell to
get the historic win. Despite only getting three days rest since his
last start, there was no question that Waddell would be toeing the
rubber for UVA. Waddell had already etched his place into both
Virginia and CWS folklore and there was no one else Head Coach Brian
O’Connor could even remotely consider starting the game.
In
his four CWS starts in 2014 and 2015, Virginia won each of the games
Waddell had started. In those contests he posted a 1.93 ERA in 28
innings along with 16 strikeouts. On the grandest of stages he held
opposition to a .233 opponent batting average with a teeny 0.68 WHIP.
When he stymied a powerful Florida Gator team last Monday he became
just the second pitcher in the past 25 years to throw at least seven
innings while allowing a single run or less in Omaha (South
Carolina’s Michael Roth did it four times from 2010 to 2012).
Despite
his history and accolades, the Houston, Texas lefty had trouble
throwing strikes out the gate. He walked the first batter on four
pitches and a double to left field put runners in scoring position
before a single out was made.
A
RBI groundout to third brought scored the first run for Vanderbilt
and a sharp rap that hugged the chalk of the left field line
increased the lead to two. Waddell was able to induce a pair of
groundouts to escape any additional damage.
The
quick scores were even more troubling to the Cavaliers’ title hopes
because they had failed to score themselves in the top of the first
despite a great opportunity. The first two UVA batters batters
reached base on the first two pitches of the game, but Virginia
ultimately left the bases loaded when the third out was made.
Despite
Waddell settling down to retire the side in the second and third
innings, the momentum was unquestionably on Vanderbilt’s side;
Virginia needed something big to happen.
PAVIN
THE WAY TO HISTORY
Kenny
Towns was able to reach first on a full-count walk which brought
freshman Pavin Smith to the plate.
Before
the season Smith was projected to be a big-time contributor to the
Hoos’ future success. He had been positioned just outside of
Perfect Game’s Top 100 draft prospects in the previous year's
rankings and had been chosen by the Rockies late in the draft,
although the pick was done as more of a complimentary gesture than
one with realistic hope that he’d be suiting up in purple to play
in Colorado.
Smith
had made it well known that it was going to take an substantial
amount to cash to those to keep him away the Virginia campus.
Like,
Adam Haseley, the Cavalier’s hero from the night before, Smith was
a two-way standout in high school who was gifted with a big slider
that he paired with a low-90s fastball. He was also a smart,
formidable batsman who concluded his prep career by adding power to
his game with a short, productive swing. His all-around abilities
made him a highly touted recruit and was named a Third Team Perfect
Game High School Senior Preseason All American.
Brandon Waddell (Photo: Dennis Hubbard)
Unlike
Haseley, Smith concentrated exclusively on offense while in
Charlottesville. His bat helped fill the void left by two-time
All-ACC selection Mike Papi, who had been drafted in the first round
at the end of last season and Smith’s athleticism made him an asset
defensively at first base. He started every game for Virginia this
season and finished third on the team in hitting and second in home
runs.
Smith
launched a pitch that Walker Buehler grooved
down the middle of the plate deep to right field. It had just enough
clout to sneak over the fence and tie the game at 2-2. With one swing
of the bat the tenor of the game was completely changed.
“I
wasn't thinking about trying to hit a home run,” Smith admitted
afterwards, “I was just trying to get on base, trying to extend the
inning, trying to keep the rally going. When I hit it, I knew the
wind was blowing out and I was just, like, telling it to go.”
In
the bottom of the inning Vanderbilt’s Penn Murfee was determined to
score. He used his speed to turn a single into a double and then
raced aggressively raced to third on a foul pop-up to put himself 90
feet from putting the ‘Dores back on top.
With
the next pitch the third baseman Towns made an absolutely, positively
incredible play that is destined to become a part of CWS highlight
reels alongside Warren Morris’ walkoff home run for LSU in ’96
and Wichita State’s Jim Audley
game-saving, bottom of the 12th throw at the plate in ’91. Towns
made a diving snare of a blistering hit that was racing just inside
fair territory and somehow was able to get back on his feet and make
a strong throw to get the runner at first, with a nice assist by
Smith on the other end of the diamond to record the out. Towns’
grab and throw not only saved a run, but erased what would have been
another scoring position situation for Vanderbilt.
In
the top of the fifth Virginia was in business once again with some
help from the usually stout Vanderbilt pitching staff. A walk and
hit-by-pitch put two men on and Smith came back to the batter’s box
once again. He bounced a ball through the left side to plate the
third run for Virginia.
For
the first time of the game the Cavaliers had the lead.
After
making his big defensive play earlier in the game, Towns came up big
at the plate as well. At the start of the seventh Haseley singled to
second and advanced to third base on a pair of sacrifice hits. Towns
then pushed a single of his own through the middle of the infield to
score Haseley. The RBI increased the lead to two and established a
new single season school record for Towns.
Meanwhile
Waddell was money on the mound. He retired the side in order in the
fifth, sixth and seventh innings and was completely in control of the
game.
After
the game Waddell was asked how he was able to get his groove back
after his slow start.
“It's
just a matter of taking a breath, getting your mind right, kind of
simplifying things,” Waddell explained. “I knew what I had to do.
So it's a matter of going out there and executing. So I got focused
back on those things. I knew 2-0 wasn't going to be the final score.
I knew our offense was going to score, you know they were going to
put up some runs. So at that point it was a matter of trying to keep
them to two, keeping our team in the ballgame as long as I could.”
KIRBY’S
EPIC ARM
Waddell
had retired 11 batters in a row, but was losing steam. With
invaluable reliever Josh Sborz unavailable after an extended outing
the night before. Coach O’Connor needed to look elsewhere for an
arm to finish the game.
In
the eighth inning out came Nathan Kirby.
Nathan Kirby (Photo: Virginia Athletics)
Before
the season started Kirby was considered one of the best amateur
pitchers in the county and a shoo-in to be a top 10 selection in the
MLB draft. However injury and illness sidelined him since late April.
He had pitched once already in Omaha, but wasn’t particularly
effective, and hadn’t thrown in a relief role in over two years.
The
day before the CWS started O’Connor’s was asked how he
anticipated getting Kirby on the mound.
“It’s
out of the bullpen, probably in a clean inning,” O’Connor stated.
“This guy hasn’t pitched in eight weeks. It's like going out and
pitching in the World Series straight out of Spring Training. He's
fully healthy, the velocity's good, it's just not crisp right now. So
I've got to choose the right situation, put him in, get his feet wet
and maybe if we continue to advance it could take on a much bigger
capacity.”
Of
course Kirby was unhittable.
Kirby
struck out the side in the eighth, punctuated with a dominating
slider that bit into the dirt as it crossed the plate. Kirby looked
every much like the dominating ace that threw a no-hitter with 18
strikeouts against Pitt last spring.
Kirby
talked about his turnaround on the mound after the game.
“A
couple days ago I felt like I was learning to ride a bike again,
especially being out here in front of this big a crowd as we had and
as great a team as Florida was,” Kirby stated. “But tonight,
starting and coming in for relief are two different things, I knew
this was the last six outs of the season and I was going to go out
and give it everything I could.”
The
ninth inning was almost a carbon copy of the eighth. Kirby fanned the
first and last batters in the ninth. Each of his five strikeouts were
on sliders. He earned the first save of his collegiate career… and
the first baseball national championship for Virginia.
Afterwards
O’Connor spoke on his team’s season and improbable run to the
title.
“Not
many people thought that this could happen,” the newly crowned
champion coach stated. “I think my brother told me this afternoon
the odds in Vegas today were 310 to 1 that we'd win this thing. So I
don't know, I'm just proud of these guys that they just hung in
there. And it's an unbelievable example to people that if you stay
together as a group, if you've got a group of guys that work hard, a
group of guys that really love each other and care about each other
and are passionate about what they're trying to accomplish and just
fight and won't go away.
“Certainly
you need some breaks, and we had breaks in this, in Omaha. But I'm
proud of them and couldn't have forecasted it, but we're darned glad
we're sitting up here with this trophy.”
SBORZ
NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER
Josh Sborz (Photo: Dennis Hubbard)
Not
surprisingly, Virginia righthander Josh Sborz was named the event's
Most Oustanding Player as voted on by the media. Sborz, who was
selected in the second round by the Los Angeles Dodgers in this
year's draft, didn't allow a run in 13 innings at the 2015 College
World Series.
Sborz
provided three innings in Virginia's CWS opening win over Arkansas
while picking up the win, two innings in relief of Waddell in
Virginia's 1-0 shutout of Florida on day three of the CWS, another
four innings (and another win) in relief of Brandon Waddell last
Saturday to advance to the CWS Finals, and four more last night in
relief of Adam Haseley to force game three.
In
total Sborz worked 13 innings in four games, allowing just seven hits
and four walks while fanning 10 batters. He picked up his fifth,
sixth and seventh wins of the year (7-2) as well as his 15th save.
Here
is the entire All-Tournament Team from the 2015 College World Series:
Catcher:
Kade Scivicque, LSU
First
Base: Zander Wiel, Vanberbilt
Second
Base: Ernie Clement, Virginia
Third
Base: Kenny Towns, Virginia
Shortstop:
Daniel Pinero, Virginia
Outfield:
Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt
Outfield:
Harrison Bader, Florida
Outfield:
Jacob Heyward, Miami
Designated
Hitter: Connor Wanhanen, TCU
Pitcher:
Josh Sborz, Virginia
Pitcher:
Brandon Waddell, Virginia