Virginia Battles Ole Miss Friday in CWS

Story Links

June 19, 2014

OMAHA, Neb. – The Virginia baseball team faces Ole Miss Friday night in the NCAA College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha. Game time is 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT in Omaha, Neb.

TCU and Ole Miss played in an elimination game on Thursday night with Ole Miss coming away with the 6-4 victory to remain in the tournament. The Rebels will need to defeat Virginia twice to advance to the CWS Finals, which begin Monday in Omaha. If necessary, UVa and Ole Miss would play again at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.

Vanderbilt and Texas are playing in the other CWS bracket. Vandy needs one win to advance to the CWS Finals, while Texas has to win twice to move on the championship series. The teams will play at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

Broadcast Information
ESPN will air Virginia’s Friday game, while the broadcast also will be streamed online via the WatchESPN app. WINA 1070-AM and WINA.com will carry the live radio broadcast, while SiriusXM Channel 91 will air the national broadcast on satellite radio. Select stations also the Virginia Sports Radio Network also will pick up the coverage.

Live statistics (GameTracker) also will be located on VirginiaSports.com. The live stats also can be accessed through the Virginia Sports app, which is available through iTunes.

Probable Starting Pitchers
UVa: RHP Josh Sborz (5-4, 3.04 ERA)
Ole Miss: LHP Jeremy Massie (4-3, 2.73 ERA)

Virginia in the NCAA Baseball Championship
Virginia has competed in 14 NCAA tournaments, including the last 11. UVa is 40-30 in the tournament, including 28-14 over the last six seasons. Under Brian O’Connor (since 2004), UVa is 34-24 in the NCAA tourney. UVa is 5-4 in CWS games (1-2 in 2009, 2-2 in 2011, 2-0 in 2014).

Virginia vs. TCU, Ole Miss
Virginia is 5-2 all-time against Ole Miss, with all of their meetings coming in NCAA tournament play (1-1 in 1972; UVa 2-1 in 2009 Super Regional; UVa 1-0 in 2010 Regional, UVa 1-0 in 2014 CWS). Virginia and TCU met for the first time on Tuesday in the Cavaliers’ epic 3-2 win in 15 innings.

Pitching Reigns Supreme in CWS
Virginia has allowed 10 hits and two earned runs in 24 innings of the College World Series (CWS-best 0.75 team ERA). UVa’s bullpen has not allowed a run in 10 innings in the CWS and has surrendered three runs in 26 innings in the NCAA tournament. UVa has lowered its team ERA to 2.24 (second nationally to TCU’s 2.16) and now ranks first in the nation in WHIP (1.02) and hits allowed per nine innings (6.39).

Second-Most Wins in Program History
With the win Tuesday against TCU, Virginia has tied for the second-most victories in a season in program history with 51. The 2009 team also won 51 games. The program record is 56, set in 2011. UVa has won 50 games or more four times – all in the last five seasons.

Cavaliers Familiar with Tight Games
UVa is 16-7 in one-run games and is tied with Florida, Miami and San Diego State for the most one-run wins in the nation. This marks the most one-run wins in the Brian O’Connor coaching era. The 2004 team posted 14 one-run victories. The Cavaliers are 26-9 in games decided by three runs or fewer.

Cogswell Highlights Offense at CWS
Branden Cogswell is 4-for-6 at the CWS and has reached base safely in 8-of-10 official plate appearances; he also has two sac bunts. Cogswell currently is riding a season-high 8-game hit streak.

Nate Irving (3-for-9), Mike Papi (3-for-9) and Kenny Towns (3-for-10) all are batting .300-plus in the CWS; UVa is hitting .234 as a team, which is second best in the field behind Vanderbilt (.281).

Random CWS Notes
• The 15-inning game was the longest by innings and time (4:51) in program postseason history. It also marked the third-longest game by innings in school history (17 at Coll. of Charleston, 2006; 16 at Clemson, 1974).
• UVa has four walk-off wins this year – two have come in the CWS.
• Kenny Towns (22) and Mike Papi (17) each have extended their streaks of reaching base safely. Joe McCarthy had his 25-game streak snapped Tuesday.
• Thomas Woodruff has scored four runs this season and six in his career – he has scored each of the game-winning runs for UVa in the CWS.