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Cavaliers Eliminate Cal State Fullerton at CWS, 7-5
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OMAHA, Neb. Virginia recorded its first-ever win in the College World Series with a 7-5 victory over No. 2 national seed Cal State Fullerton Monday afternoon in front of 17,589 at Rosenblatt Stadium. The Cavaliers advance to face the loser of the Arkansas-LSU game, while Cal State Fullerton is eliminated.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Virginia (49-14-1) avenged a 2008 loss to Cal State Fullerton in which the Titans ended the Cavaliers’ season in the NCAA Fullerton Regional. UVa built on its record season with its school-record 49th win of the year. Three of those wins have come in the NCAA tournament over national seeds (two vs. No. 6 UC Irvine).
Andrew Carraway (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) earned the win for Virginia with 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. Carraway (9-1) notched his 20th career victory tied for sixth most in Virginia history. Matt Packer (Jr., Germantown, Tenn.), Tyler Wilson (So., Midlothian, Va.) and Kevin Arico (So., Flemington, N.J.) combined to pitch the last 2.1 innings to finish off the win.
Virginia starting pitcher Robert Morey (So., Virginia Beach, Va.) worked four innings, giving up three earned runs, four hits and two walks with one strikeout. Cal State Fullerton All-America starting pitcher Daniel Renken (11-3) suffered the loss after giving up a career-high six earned runs, six hits and three walks while fanning five.
At the plate, UVa second baseman Keith Werman (Fr., Vienna, Va.) continued his fantastic CWS with a 2-for-4 day, including two runs scored and two RBI. Werman is now 6-for-9 with three RBI in the CWS. Seven more Cavaliers recorded a hit, with Danny Hultzen (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) posting a two-run single in the second inning to give UVa a lead it would not relinquish.
While the Cavaliers led for the majority of the day, it was Fullerton (47-16) which jumped ahead early. The Titans took the lead in the second inning on a two-run home run into the left-field bleachers by Dustin Garneau.
Virginia responded with four runs in its half of the second while batting around. With one out, Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.) lined a double into the left-field corner. After Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) walked, John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) singled to left to plate Proscia. One out later, Werman singled to center to bring home Parker and tie the game. Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) then walked to load the bases, and Hultzen slapped a single to left-center to plate Hicks and Werman to give UVa a 4-2 lead.
The Titans got a leadoff home run from Christian Colon in the third inning to cut the lead to 4-3. Fullerton then put runners at first and third with none out, but Morey battled back to get Jared Clark to foul out and Khris Davis to pop out before Josh Fellhauer was caught stealing to end the inning.
UVa took advantage of a leadoff walk to tack on a run in the fifth inning. Cannon drew the leadoff walk, moved to second on a Hultzen sacrifice and scored when Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) cranked a double to left-center.
The Cavaliers used a two-out rally to add a pair of runs in the sixth inning while knocking Renken from the game. Franco Valdes (Jr., Miami, Fla.) doubled on an 0-2 pitch, and Renken was replaced with left-hander Nick Ramirez. Werman again came up big with an RBI double to center field, and Cannon ripped the next pitch to right-center to plate Werman and give UVa a 7-3 advantage.
The Titans made things interesting in the ninth inning against Arico, getting RBI singles from Gary Brown and Clark. They had the go-ahead run at the plate with two out before Davis grounded to Cannon for a fielder’s choice to finish things.