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Virginia Takes on Cal in Elimination Game at 7 p.m. Thursday
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OMAHA, Neb. – The top-seeded Virginia baseball team battles California at 7 p.m. Thursday (ET) in a elimination game at the College World Series. ESPN2 will televise the game from TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, with Mike Patrick, Orel Hershiser and Kyle Peterson on the call.
WINA 1070-AM will have the local radio call, as will WRVA 1140-AM in Richmond and WTON 94.3-FM in Staunton. The game also can be heard online at VirginiaSports.com (subscription service). Sirius/XM Radio will carry the national satellite radio broadcast on Channel 91.
Virginia defeated Cal, 4-1, on Sunday in the teams’ CWS opener. Cal rebounded to eliminate Texas A&M, 7-3, Tuesday while the Cavaliers fell, 7-1, to South Carolina to force a rematch with the Golden Bears. The winner of the game this evening will play South Carolina at 7 p.m. Friday and must beat the Gamecocks twice in order to advance to the College World Series Championship Series.
Virginia will be designated the road team tonight, while Cal will be the home team.
Virginia in the NCAA Baseball Championship
– Counting this year, Virginia has competed in each of the last eight NCAA tournaments and 11 overall.
– UVa is 28-24 all-time in the NCAA tournament, including 2-3 in the CWS.
– Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVa is 22-18 in the NCAAs.
Taylor Continues Strong NCAA Tournament
– Chris Taylor’s single in the fifth inning against South Carolina extended his team-best active hitting streak to 13 games.
– Taylor added a single in the eighth inning for his 26th multiple-hit game on the season, which ties Steven Proscia for No. 2 on the team.
– Taylor is now 15-for-34 (.441) in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
More Notes from Virginia-South Carolina Game
– Will Roberts’ start (3.1 IP) was the shortest by a UVa pitcher since April 10 at Georgia Tech when Cody Winiarski went 3.0 innings – a span of 32 games.
– John Hicks’ home run in the fourth inning gave him 31 career hits in the NCAA Tournament, passing teammate Steven Proscia (30) for most among active Cavaliers.
– LHP Scott Silverstein made his NCAA Tournament debut in the ninth inning. It was his first appearance since tossing 0.1 innings against North Carolina in the ACC Tournament on May 28.
Recapping the First Virginia-California Game
– Virginia and Cal squared off last Sunday for the first time ever.
– Virginia increased its program season wins record to 55.
– Branden Kline tied the UVa and ACC record with his 18th save on the season.
– Chris Taylor’s single in the third inning extended his team-best active hitting streak to 12 games.
– Danny Hultzen struck out six batters to increase his UVa season record to 157 and his UVa career record to 387.
– RHP Tyler Wilson’s appearance out of the bullpen was his fourth career CWS appearance; he appeared in each of UVa’s first four CWS games.
– Keith Werman was two for his last 20 before his single to start the seventh inning.
– With two singles Werman had his first multiple hit game since May 14 against Miami.
Odds and Ends
– Virginia owns the most wins in the CWS field, a school-record 55.
– Brian O’Connor coached his 500th career game on Sunday.
– UVa scored 33 of its 42 runs in the NCAA regional and super regional with two outs, but all of its runs in the CWS have come with one out.
– UVa is 52-5 when scoring three or more runs this season.
– Despite allowing seven runs Tuesday, UVa still owns a 1.77 team ERA in NCAA play.
– John Hicks leads the team with a pair of homers and nine RBI in NCAA play.