Virginia-Arkansas Postgame Notes
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Men’s College World Series Notes Game 9 June 17, 2009
Arkansas 4, Virginia 3 (12 inning)
Attendance: 21,383 (2009 SeriesTotal-203,208; 2009 Avg.-22,579)
Arkansas (2-1) advances to meet LSU (2-0) in Friday’s Bracket 1 Championship. Arkansas will need to defeat LSU twice to advance to the MCWS Championship Series. Virginia (1-1) is eliminated. (Arkansas will be the home team on Friday)
-The 2009 MCWS marks the eighth straight season with a MCWS attendance of over 200,000 and the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. Seven of the nine sessions have featured crowd of at least 21,000.
-It is the 81st extra-inning game in the MCWS and the second time in three seasons that two MCWS games have gone into extra innings (also 07) and the 28th game in the MCWS to last at least 12 innings.
-The game took four hours and 46 minutes, the fourth-longest game by time in MCWS history.
-The 28 strikeouts (Arkansas 17, Virginia 11) by the two pitching staffs ranks third in MCWS history and the most since Texas and Southern California combined for 29 strikeouts in a 14-inning game on June 16, 1970.
Virginia
-Virginia ends its season with a 49-15-1 record and went 1-2 in its first MCWS appearance.
-Virginia falls to 0-3 in extra-inning games, including an 0-2 mark in the NCAA Tournament. Both of Virginia’s NCAA extra-inning games in the NCAAs have been 12-inning contests (also at Mississippi on June 5).
-Virginia falls to 45-2 when taking a lead into the ninth inning. Both of the losses came during the NCAA Tournament, as Virginia lost 4-3 to Mississippi in the Super Regional on June 5 (UVa led 3-2 heading into the ninth).
-Virginia falls to 6-3 in the 2009 NCAA Tournament are 3-1 in elimination contests.
-Virginia, which entered today’s contest 3rd in the country in ERA at 3.25, falls to 41-4 on the season when holding opponents to four runs or less.
-The 14 runners left on base by Virginia matched a season high (also vs. LSU on June 13 and Norfolk State on April 1).
-In its two losses, Virginia left 28 runners on base, as UVa was 4-for-21 with runners on base against Arkansas.
-Virginia has been held to five runs or less in eight of its nine NCAA Tournament games, going 4-3 in the process.
-The 10th-inning at-bat by Shane Halley was his first plate appearance since April 22 and the first time he reached base since drawing a walk against Maryland on April 5.
-Tonight marks Virginia’s 65th game of the season, matching the school-record total originally set in 1996.
-Virginia is now 15-6 this season when hitting at least two homers in a game.
-Dean Grovatt’s eighth-inning homer was his first RBI in nine NCAA Tournament games, and his first RBIs in his last 10 games. Prior to tonight, his last RBI came against Duke in the ACC Tournament on May 23.
–Steven Proscia went 3-for-6 against Arkansas and finished the NCAA Tournament with a .375 average (15-for-40) with eight runs scored.
-John Hicks’ homer in the fifth was his first in the NCAA Tournament. Hicks went 3-for-6 on the night.
-Freshman starter Danny Hultzen finished the game with seven strikeouts, the most since April 24 when he tallied nine K’s vs. NC State.
-Hultzen’s 107 strikeouts this season rank sixth all-time in a single season.
-Sophomore Jarrett Parker recorded his first hit, a double, the first in his last 19 at-bats since going 2-for-6 in the first game of the Super Regional at Ole Miss. It was Parker’s 20th double of the season, which ties him for the third-most in a single season.
-Four Cavaliers made their first CWS appearances against Arkansas: Shane Halley, Jared King, David Coleman and Corey Hunt.
Arkansas
-Arkansas improves to 8-11 in its six all-time MCWS appearances, as the Razorbacks won their first elimination game of the 2009 NCAA Tournament. Arkansas had not lost in the Regional or Super Regional.
-With the win, Arkansas improves to 7-1 in extra-inning games this season. This is Arkansas’ longest game since a 12-inning contest against Vanderbilt on March 29, 2008.
-Arkansas improves to 2-1 all-time in MCWS extra-inning games. Both of Arkansas’ previous extra-inning games came in the 1985 MCWS.
-The 12-innning game is Arkansas’ longest NCAA game since 1985, when the Razorbacks won a 1-0 game against South Carolina at the MCWS.
-Arkansas scored three of its four runs with two outs tonight and have scored 11 of their 15 runs in the MCWS in two-out situations.
-Arkansas was just 3-17 when trailing entering the ninth inning this season.
-Andrew Darr, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the bottom of the ninth, delivered the go-ahead hit with a 12th inning RBI double. Darr is now hitting .778 (7-for-9) in five NCAA Tournament games with a homer, three doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored.
-Brett Eibner’s three RBIs is his highest total since driving in three runs against LSU on May 2. Eibner had driven in only one run in his last 14 starts entering Wednesday’s game (at Florida State, June 5). The ninth-inning homer was Eibner’s first since belting two homers against Oklahoma on April 28.
-Tonight marked Dallas Keuchel’s first relief appearance of the season, as his first 17 appearances were all starts. He went the final four innings for the win, upping his record to 2-0 in this year’s MCWS.
-Catcher James McCann tied his career best with three hits against Virginia. Both of McCann’s three-hit games have coming in the NCAA Tournament, as he also had three hits in the against Oklahoma in the Norman Regional on May 30.
-Over his last two starts, Drew Smyly has allowed two runs over his last 13 innings, fanning 19 and walking two over that stretch. The homer allowed to John Hicks to open the fifth snapped a streak of 12.1 innings without allowing a run.
-The 17 strikeouts by Razorback pitching ranks fourth in MCWS history (list is on page 84 of MCWS guide) and is the most by one team in an MCWS game since Clemson fanned 19 against Miami (Fla.) on May 31, 1996.
-The 17 strikeouts by Arkansas pitching was its 2nd-highest strikeout total of the season. Arkansas fanned 18 in a win against Missouri State on March 25.