Daunting Challenge Ahead In CWS For Virginia Baseball

CWS

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Jim Quist @ACCTheQ –

It was another trip to Puckersville for the Hoos fanbase as Virginia faced off with Mississippi State Tuesday night in Omaha. This time, instead of coming away with their typical late inning do-or-die rally and win the Cavaliers came up short. The Bulldogs squad found their second wind and delivered on offense when it counted most. Virginia’s offense flip-flopped on premium innings with most of the runs coming at the front-end of the game. There were a number of excellent opportunities to run up the score that ultimately didn’t come to fruition. A potential no-hitter was in the offing for starting pitcher Griff McGarry who led the Cavaliers through 7 innings and a 4-0 lead. McGarry had 98 pitches and 64 strikes on the night before things went south in the 8th.

Mississippi State head coach Chris Lemonis said of McGarry, “I thought their guy was for six, seven innings as good as a pitcher we’ve faced in the last couple of years, was electric. We couldn’t get on it.” And that’s what played out on an inning by inning breakdown as the Bulldogs just couldn’t get their offense going while facing McGarry.

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It was just the opposite for Virginia facing starter Christian MacLeod who was about to face his own daunting challenge from the Cavaliers. MacLeod only made it through a portion of the 2nd inning before Lemonis pulled his starter. The Cavaliers jumped on the ball with their first at bat as Zack Gelof sent a shot into center-field for single. Max Cotier’s SAC bun advanced Gelof to 2nd. Kyle Teel delivered another single that brought Gelof home to make it a 1-0 game. Next up, Nic Kent was walked moving Teel to 2nd. MacLeod threw a wild pitch that allowed Kent and Teel to advance but the Cavaliers couldn’t cash in any further finishing the inning with 2 hits and a run.

Daunting Challenge

The second inning for Mississippi State ended the same way as the first with no hits and no runs as McGarry and a tight defense kept the Bulldogs in check. The Hoos jumped all over MacLeod again when they came up to bat. Jake Gelof started off with a walk and was advanced to second on a Logan Michaels SAC bunt. Chris Newell had a solid shot into left center to pick up a double while Gelof scored making it a 2-0 game. Gelof’s brother, Zack doubled down the left field line and brought in Newell to up the score to 3-0. Cotier’s single to center-field brought Zack Gelof home to make it a 4-0 Virginia lead.

Lemonis decided it was time for a change on the mound as he brought Preston Johnson in to relieve MacLeod. Initially, the switch didn’t impact the Cavaliers as Teel singled moving Cotier to 2nd. Devin Ortiz was hit by a Johnson pitch thus loading the bases and presenting an opportunity for Virginia to blow the game wide open. The Cavaliers couldn’t capitalize as Johnson found his stride and sat the next two batters down to wrap the 2nd.

The third inning brought on a drought for both teams as did the fourth inning for Mississippi State as McGarry continued to baffle their batters. Virginia continued their aggressive offensive strategy in the fourth which started with Zack Gelof shooting the ball down the left side for a single. Cotier SAC bunted putting Gelof on second. Teel followed up with a single to center-field putting Gelof on 3rd. The Bulldogs pulled Johnson and brought in Chase Patrick to try to stem the momentum. The inning ended with Ortiz grounding into a double.

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Daunting Challenge
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com

The fifth, sixth and seventh innings were stalemates. Mississippi State opened up a revolving door to their bullpen with Parker Stinnett coming in for Patrick in the fifth, Cam Tullar for Stinnett in the sixth and Cade Smith for Tullar in the seventh.

The eighth inning turned into a disaster for Virginia with McGarry getting off on shaky ground with a walk, fly out and then Kellum Clark opening the flood gates with a home to right-field that made it a 4-2 game. O’Connor brought in Zach Messinger to relieve McGarry. The change wasn’t the answer he was looking for as the Bulldogs put men on second and third.

Who Would Be The Answer?

O’Connor went back to his bullpen and looked to Stephen Schoch to stem the bleed. It was not to be as Tanner Allen sent the ball over the right-field fence to add three more runs to the scoreboard and Mississippi State took the lead, 5-4. Two more runners made it to base on a single and walk before Nate Savino was called in for Schoch. Before all was said and done another run crossed the plate to make it a 6-4 game. Mississippi State collected 6 hits and 6 runs for the inning.

There was hope for Virginia though as things looked up as Newell tightened the game with a homer to left-field. Cotier singled but the dominos didn’t line up for the Cavaliers as they finished with 2 hits and 1 run to make it 6-5. What lay ahead was a daunting challenge.

At the top of the ninth with two men on base Kyle Whitten came in for Savino. Whitten loaded the bases with an opening walk but the Virginia defense stepped up to get the final outs of the night for the Bulldogs.

Virginia had three outs to make up for the deficit and it wasn’t to be as Ortiz grounded out, Kent flied out and Tappen struck out.

What’s Next?

Virginia moves to the Elimination Bracket where they’ll take on No. 2 seed Texas on Thursday, June 24 at 7:00pm E on ESPN2. The winner will face Mississippi State on Friday, June 25 at 7:00pm E on ESPN and if necessary, play on Saturday, June 26 at 7:00pm E on ESPN2. The Cavaliers will need to win the next three games for a shot at the CWS title. Considering their history thus far, it’s not out of the question but it will be a daunting challenge.