For the second year in a row and third time in the last four years, Virginia baseball is headed back to Omaha.
Behind another stellar combined effort from the UVA pitching staff and some timely fireworks from the Cavalier bats, No. 12 Virginia (46-15) pulled away for a 10-4 victory over Kansas State (35-26) on Saturday afternoon at Disharoon Park to win the Charlottesville Super Regional and clinch a trip to Omaha for the 2024 College World Series.
"I'm so proud of them. They played their best baseball the last two weekends," said UVA head coach Brian O'Connor. "And certainly we've got more to do in front of us."
Although both starting pitchers settled in to deliver quality outings, there were moments of early offense for both teams. As the visiting team, the Cavaliers took the initiative and drew first blood, as Casey Saucke crushed a 438-foot solo home run off the light pole beyond the left-center wall in the top of the first.
โ Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 8, 2024438-FOOT SAUCKE ๐ฃ to start your afternoon!
1-0 HOOS!
๐บ: ESPNU | #GoHoos pic.twitter.com/oDdoQNJSgG
Henry Ford then singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Harrison Didawick single to right-center field. Both of those runs were scored with two outs, a trend of timely hitting that would last for the entire game for the Cavaliers.
Kansas State fired back immediately with its patented small ball, as UVA starter Jay Woolfolk issued a leadoff walk to Brendan Jones, who stole second, advanced to third on a bunt, and came home on a sacrifice fly by Kaelen Culpepper. The Wildcats pulled even in the bottom of the second as Nick English and David Bishop hit back-to-back singles and then English scored on a Jaden Parsons RBI groundout.
After getting three hits in the first inning, UVA's batting order was stymied by Kansas State starter Jackson Wentworth for the next three innings. Woolfolk held serve on the other side after the game was tied at 2-2 in the second, retiring 11 of the next 12 batters he faced.
Virginia broke the tie in the top of the fifth as Eric Becker hit a leadoff double down the left field line. Bobby Whalen followed that up with an infield single and Griff O'Ferrall reached on a bunt single to load the bases with no outs, but the Cavaliers nearly squandered that opportunity. After Ethan Anderson struck out and Saucke hit a fielder's choice grounder, true freshman and Charlottesville native Henry Ford delivered the clutch two-out single into left field to score Whalen and O'Ferrall to put UVA back in front 4-2.
Kansas State got one back in the bottom of the fifth, as the top of the order came around and got solid contact on Woolfolk in three-straight at-bats. Brendan Jones blasted a 440-foot solo home run to right field, Kyan Lodice hit a triple to left-center field, and then Culpepper drove one to the warning track in center field, but Whalen made a great catch before crashing into the wall to preserve Virginia's 4-3 lead.
Woolfolk pitched an easy 10-pitch sixth frame, but then gave up a one-out double to Chuck Ingram in the seventh to spell the end of his outing. Angelo Tonas entered the game for the second-straight day and got a couple of routine fly balls to end the inning with UVA still ahead by one.
Read a full play-by-play and live analysis for the game here: Virginia vs. Kansas State Game 2 Live Updates | NCAA Baseball Super Regional
In the top of the eighth, Henry Godbout, the hero of Friday night's game 1 win, drew a two-out walk and then Becker delivered a double into the gap in right-center. Godbout raced around the bases and slid home ahead of the tag to give Virginia a crucial insurance run.
That run proved to be especially key when Tonas gave up a solo home run to Lodice to start the bottom of the eighth to bring the Wildcats back to within one at 5-4. Virginia pulled Tonas in favor of Chase Hungate, who needed just seven pitches to retire the 3-4-5 batters in Kansas State's lineup and get the game to the ninth inning with Virginia still holding a one-run advantage.
"On top of their poise, they're incredibly relentless. I believe 15 of our 17 runs over these two games are scored in the back half of the game and I believe 15 of those 17 runs are scored with two outs."
Virginia's penchant for delivering with two outs showed twice more in the top of the ninth, as Jacob Ference hit a two-run triple to right-center field. Kansas State reliever Josh Wintroub walked the next two batters before getting replaced by JJ Slack. Virginia pinch hit Luke Hanson for Eric Becker to get a better matchup with a righty batter facing a lefty pitcher. Hanson rewarded that move by hitting a grounder down the third baseline that just barely stayed fair and made it to the left field corner for a bases-clearing triple. Three runs scored on yet another two-out hit and suddenly, Virginia led 10-4.
"Just so many moments today and over the last two weeks that as the leader of the program, you're just so proud of them and what they stand for and who they are as young man," O'Connor said. "And that's the biggest thing: I'm proud of this program. We've got excellent young men that represent this uniform the right way and they're tigers. They're just completely relentless with everything that they do. And it just makes you so proud as a head coach.
Hungate remained on the mound in the bottom of the ninth and retired the side in order, striking out Ingram to end the game and send the Cavaliers to Omaha for their seventh College World Series appearance in program history.
โ Virginia Baseball (@UVABaseball) June 8, 2024๐๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐!
Sights and sounds from the final out!
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Woolfolk, who wasn't quite as good as his electrifying eight-inning outing last week against Mississippi State, still delivered a quality performance and was credited with the win, giving up three earned runs on six hits and striking out seven batters.
"Jay Woolfolk, who I'm sure he would tell you he didn't have his best stuff today, but he grinded it out and kept his team in the ball game and did everything that he could possibly do," said O'Connor.
The UVA bullpen has given up just one run in five NCAA Tournament games so far.
Casey Saucke, Henry Ford, and Eric Becker each had multi-hit games and all 10 of Virginia's runs were scored with two outs.
"You won't be able to get the smile off my face that they have the opportunity to go back to Omaha and I'm very, very confident that we'll be ready to play whenever they tell us to play and believe that we'll have a deeper run than we did last year," O'Connor said.
With the win, Virginia advances to the 2024 College World Series, which begins Friday, June 14th in Omaha, Nebraska, and runs through June 24th. On UVA's side of the bracket will be No. 8 Florida State, the winner of No. 1 Tennessee/Evansville and the winner of No. 4 North Carolina/West Virginia. The Cavaliers will face the winner of No. 4 North Carolina and West Virginia in their first game at the College World Series, which will be played on either Friday and Saturday.
