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OmaHoos Back in College World Series

OmaHoos Back in College World Series

By Josh Burton


For the second consecutive season and third time in the last four years, the University of Virginia Baseball team is headed to Omaha for the College World Series. The Hoos earned the right to play in Omaha by picking up a quick 2-0 sweep of Kansas State in last weekend's Super Regional round. They’ll now turn their attention to North Carolina for the first game in Omaha, scheduled for 2 pm EST on Friday (6/14). This game will air on ESPN. Let’s take a look at how they got here, and also what lies ahead.

Super Regional

The Hoos started the regional with a 7-4 victory Friday night before finishing off the sweep with a 10-4 victory on Saturday. Although the series only played the minimum, it was fairly close for much of both contests before timely hitting allowed the Hoos to pull away. 

UVA ace Evan Blanco had yet another solid outing in game 1, going 7 complete innings allowing just 4 runs on 5 hits. With the score tied at four in the bottom of the 7th inning, Henry Godbout delivered the knockout blow, a three-run homer to deep left field.

 

 

In game two, Jay Woolfolk had yet another quality start.  He went  6-1/3rd innings allowing just six hits and three runs. While Jay wasn’t as dominant as he was the previous weekend, he put together another solid outing to build on heading into the College World Series. Jay did appear to have trouble with a right leg issue.  The trainer come out to check on him at one point, but he powered through to keep pitching. His status is certainly worth monitoring, although he was able to continue pitching and throw over 100 pitches on the day. 

 

 

Offensively, although the Hoos never trailed in this one, they did have to use a lot of two-out rallies to find production. Amazingly, all 10 of UVA’s runs in the contest came with two outs. While ten runs is very impressive, the idea of the UVA lineup producing with its back against the wall is nothing new, as they’ve been doing so all season on the way to being one of the best offensive groups in the country. 

The once shaky bullpen was once again very solid for the Hoos on the series, with three different players stepping up and shining. Matt Augustin was able to build on his incredible regional performance, collecting the last two outs to seal the game 1 victory on Friday night. On Saturday, Chase Hungate was once again dominant as he went the final two innings to close the door and send the Wahoos back to Omaha. Maybe most impressive this weekend was Angelo Tonas, who made middle relief appearances in both games, going a combined two complete innings and only giving up 1 hit (a homerun in the 7th inning of game 2). These three arms appear to be heading up UVA’s bullpen, and all will almost certainly be called upon at some point in Omaha. 

College World Series

The College World Series is one of the greatest events in college sports. It’s set up as two separate brackets of 4 teams that will play a double elimination style tournament (think Regionals), culminating with the two winners playing a best of three games series for the National Championship (think Super Regionals). As previously mentioned, the Hoos will first play North Carolina in the opener. Also in UVA’s bracket are Tennessee and Florida State. 

 

 

The difference between Regionals and the first rounds of Omaha are that there is some extra rest between games. Win or lose, the Hoos won’t play again until Sunday. And should they advance farther, they would not play again until either Tuesday or Wednesday. This extra rest could prove pivotal for a Hoos team that still lacks a little pitching, as Blanco could potentially make another start in a game 4 scenario. With that in mind, the best way to go is much like Regionals, try to get to 2-0 to avoid having to play extra games.

Expect the Hoos to continue to follow their successful formula, with a starting pitching rotation of Blanco, Woolfolk, and Savino followed by their surging bullpen. Offensively, expect the Hoos to continue to play the matchups, platooning third base between Luke Hanson (starts against left-handed pitchers) and Eric Becker (starts against right-handed pitchers). Additionally, watch for O’Connor to continue managing the lineup to play the matchups, generally moving Bobby Whalen from the 9 hole to second in the order against left-handed pitching. With so much production coming from all over the lineup this season, the Hoos can not only stress the defense but also move the lineup around to make it harder for opposing pitchers to prepare. 

Every game in Omaha will be nationally televised on ESPN, with games scheduled for 2 pm EST and 7 pm EST each day. Be sure to follow along on the Locker Room Access forum to keep up with all the action!

(Featured Image Credit: Jamie Holt/UVA Athletics)

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