Virginia’s Brian O’Connor saw Daniel Pinero bouncing around second base in the third inning so he wasn’t surprised when the sophomore shortstop took off for third base during a tie game in the eighth. That doesn’t mean the Cavalier coach was completely comfortable when Pinero made the move.
Asked about the key steal during UVa’s 5-3 win against Arkansas in the College World Series on Saturday, O’Connor said he was a little freaked out when Pinero sprinted for third.
“Yeah, a little bit,” O’Connor said. “He did it last year in the World Series. I’m not quite sure why he did it last year. But Danny is a heady player. He’s got really good instincts. And it was a good play. Certainly there’s one out. If he can get there and Thaiss can hit a fly ball, it’s the difference between a run or not. And so earlier on when he was on second base with two outs he was jumping around I thought he was going to go. And I was in the dugout saying please, Danny, not now. But good aggressive heads-up play [when he went later].”
The bold steal was not called in from the coaching staff, O’Connor noting that “was on his own, just so you know” in the press conference with reporters. Pinero eventually scored the go-ahead and winning run in the eighth inning before UVa added an insurance run in the ninth and won 5-3. Pinero, who also stole second base in that frame, finished with three steals in the game. That’s not only a career-high for the shortstop, it’s a record for Virginia in the NCAA Tournament. It’s the most steals in a single CWS game since Arizona’s Brad Boyer swiped three bags against Arkansas in the 2004 event. Pinero became the 22nd player in the history of the College World Series to post at least three steals in a game.
The steals were part of an overall big game for Pinero. He finished 3 for 4 with two runs scored and one RBI. He also netted three assists on defense. Apparently, Pinero likes the big stage in Omaha. As mentioned in O’Connor’s response above, he stole a base against Vanderbilt in last season’s CWS too. He also had a hit and RBI in a 3-2 win against TCU in Omaha a year ago – that RBI came in the 15th inning on a sacrifice fly.
Pinero said he saw relief pitcher Zach Jackson had a high leg kick and decided to go for it when asked about the steal against the Razorbacks.
“I don’t know, I saw something I could take advantage of, and I got a huge lead and I just kept creeping,” Pinero said. “It was like: All right, let’s go, whatever. And I knew having a person on third base with one out and [Matt] Thaiss up, it was almost a guarantee and I just wanted to be in a good position for him. I went on my own and it worked out.”
Pinero wasn’t alone with the aggressive base running. The Cavaliers stole five bases in the game, matching their season high that came against Towson back on March 17. Those were the second most steals in an NCAA Tournament game by the Hoos. Thomas Woodruff, pinch-running for Robbie Coman in the ninth inning, and Kevin Doherty had the other two base thefts in the game.
Virginia had just 38 steals on 62 attempts in the previous 61 games this season. Saturday, the Hoos attempted eight steals to end up with the five successful ones.
“Certainly Danny did a nice job having three stolen bases,” O’Connor said. “We were aggressive. Our plan was to be aggressive from the start if the situation presented itself. And we maybe didn’t get here today being in Omaha playing it close to the vest. So here we are and few chances taken today and they worked in our favor, most of the time. Three times they didn’t. But kept trying.”
Arkansas had allowed 69 steals in its previous 63 games of 2015. Teams have attempted 110 steals on the Razorbacks this season.
“Yeah, they took advantage of Jackson being a little slow to the plate,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “That was a good move, the very first pitch they stole second. But when they stole third, I think the runner kind of gave it away and I think we should have recognized that on the mound. Sometimes you just have to peek, you have to look around a little bit and get an idea what’s going on. He kept on creeping. Probably should have done a little inside move right there, whether he went or not, slowed it down. We threw him out three times, but they also stole five bases. So hats off to them.”
Defense Helps Hoos Get Out Of Trouble
Something Pinero didn’t do on his own Saturday also played a key role in the outcome: turn a double play. The Cavaliers turned double plays in the second, fourth, and ninth innings. Pinero was on the front end of the double play in the second inning when he teamed up with second baseman Ernie Clement. In the fourth, Clement took out two runners alone when he tagged the slide and then threw to first on a groundball up the middle. In the ninth, Kenny Towns started a 5-4-3 double play with Clement on a one-hopper to third.
That strong defense helped starting pitcher Connor Jones work through trouble during his six innings of work. He put the lead-off batter on base in each of the first four innings, three times without Arkansas putting the bat on the ball. He issued walks in the first and third innings and hit the batter in the fourth. Throughout the game, Jones couldn’t dial in with his fastball consistently and he left some breaking pitches up in the strike zone too.
Still, as he has done many times during his sophomore season, he figured out a way to keep his team in contention. Jones ended up with two walks and two strikeouts.
“Going back to earlier this year, I found myself in quite a few situations with runners in place and runners in scoring position,” Jones said. “It’s not the first time I’ve been in that position this year. It felt like almost every inning I threw with runners in scoring position. So I got pretty used to kind of pulling it together and having to make a big pitch there. And I thought Ernie made a great play on the double and Danny in the middle. Fortunate enough to make plays.”
McCarthy Homers
Junior Joe McCarthy waited until a good time to pull out his home run trot this season. After missing 35 games following back surgery, McCarthy returned to the line-up in April and he did not hit a homer in the limited regular season action. In the NCAA Tournament, however, he has sent the ball flying twice.
The first came in the Lake Elsinore Regional during a 3-1 win against San Diego State. McCarthy’s second homer of the season opened the 2015 College World Series scoring. He launched a no-doubt-about-it blast into the right field bleachers at TD Ameritrade Park that gave UVa 1-0 lead in the second inning. McCarthy now has 10 RBI this season after posting 49 RBI with six home runs last season.
Arkansas starting pitcher Trey Killian said he left what was supposed to be an inside fastball over the middle of the plate and McCarthy took advantage of it. The Cavaliers have six home runs all-time in the CWS.
