OMAHA, Neb. — That insurance run Virginia invested in Friday night in the ninth inning didn’t provide the coverage the Cavaliers needed to secure a first-round victory at the College World Series.
Right fielder Casey Saucke led off with a walk and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Anthony Stephan. Then with one out, Harrison Didawick tripled down the left-field line to score Saucke and put Virginia ahead 5-3.
That lead then dissolved into a 6-5 loss in the bottom of the ninth inning before a stunned crowd of 24,801 at Charles Schwab Field. Solo home runs by Florida’s Ty Evans and Wyatt Langford off UVA reliever Jake Berry tied the game at 5.
Designated hitter Luke Heyman hit a sacrifice fly to center field off the Cavaliers’ Jay Woolfolk to bring home first baseman Jac Caglianone with the winning run. Caglianone singled after Langford’s home run before shortstop Josh Rivera walked and catcher BT Riopelle reached on a hit by pitch to load the bases for Heyman.
“Their power showed in the late part of the game,” UVA coach Brian O’Connor said. “Jack Berry just couldn’t finish them off.”
Berry was the third pitcher O’Connor brought in from the bullpen after starter Nick Parker limited the Gators (51-15) to just one run on four hits through six innings.
In his 1 2/3 innings of work, Berry gave up four hits — the three home runs and a single — after facing 12 batters and throwing just 46 pitches. O’Connor said the Cavaliers were planning on leaning on their bullpen in the late innings of their series opener.
“I don’t feel great about how we finished out of our bullpen,” O’Connor said. ‘It’s been a little bit of a mixed bag all year. The plan coming into the game was if we had a lead in the eighth inning, the plan was to go with Jake Berry.
“That formula’s worked for us a lot this year. I don’t know for sure, but I would be surprised if all year that we’ve lost a game putting Jake Berry in the eighth inning or beyond with a lead.”
UVA fans left the stadium in disbelief after witnessing the Cavaliers’ streak of 93 games with a lead after the eighth inning end. A leadoff solo home run by Riopelle in the bottom of the eighth cut Virginia’s lead to 4-3 before the ninth-inning dramatics.
O’Connor finally pulled Berry with the bases loaded, and Woolfolk threw just three pitches.
Virginia will play TCU in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Sunday. The loser will be the first team knocked out of the eight-team tournament. The Horned Frogs fell 6-5 to Oral Roberts in Friday’s first game.
The come-from-behind wins by Florida and Oral Roberts were the first time that both teams earned their victories that way on Day 1 of the CWS.
Now the Cavaliers (50-14) will have to win four consecutive games to reach the best-of-three championship series scheduled to begin June 24.
Both right fielder Griff O’Ferrall and Parker said that is just what they plan to do. It was part of the conversation the team had in center field before heading to the locker room.
“That’s kind of what we talked about at the beginning, just this team has fought all year long,” O’Ferrall said. “Obviously, no one wants to lose the first game. But it is what it is and we’re going to ride with our guys no matter what.
“So basically, we’re not going to put blame or be down on ourselves. We’re just going to get back to work.”
Florida opened the scoring with a run in the second inning. Riopelle led off the inning with a walk, advanced to second on a single by Heyman and moved to third on a fielder’s choice.
With runners at first and third, Gators third baseman Colby Harter laced a single through the left side of the Cavaliers’ defense. That plated Riopelle and put the Gators ahead 1-0.
That run came between a pair of baserunning blunders that prematurely ended UVA’s first and third innings. O’Ferrall led off the game with a first-pitch single to left. The Cavaliers followed that hit with two outs before catcher Kyle Teel coaxed a walk from Florida starter Brandon Sproat.
O’Farrall was on his way to second when ball four turned into a wild pitch and the ball got away from Riopelle. O’Ferrall tried going to third base, but Riopelle recovered in time to throw and easily get O’Ferrall for the third out.
UVA’s third inning also ended earlier than the Cavaliers had planned. Ethan O’Donnell reached base with two outs after getting hit in the back by a pitch from Sproat. Moments later, O’Donnell got caught in a rundown trying to steal second base.
Florida couldn’t take advantage of those gaffes to extend its lead, though Sproat was pitching both effectively and efficiently through the first six innings. It took Sproat just 87 pitches to get the first 18 outs.
The junior from Pace, Florida, recorded just one more out, and that came on an RBI groundout in the seventh inning that scored Cox High graduate Ethan Anderson to tie the game at 1. Sproat threw 22 pitches in the seventh inning before giving way to the bullpen.
That was just the start of Virginia’s big inning. Three more runs came home, with the big hit being a two-run double down the left-field line by O’Ferrall that gave the Cavaliers their first lead at 3-1. He eventually scored on a single to center field by O’Donnell.
