As the euphoria of Virginia’s Super Regional win against Maryland fades into College World Series preparation, there is a chance to look at some extra wrinkles from Saturday’s thrilling finale. Three Cavaliers were in the shuffle, but not lost from the conversation.
First, relief pitcher Alec Bettinger took the mound in the top of the ninth inning with Maryland leading 4-2. He needed to hold the score in order for UVa to have a chance to rally. He did his job by allowing zero hits in a one-two-three inning that featured a strikeout. The Hoos came back to win 5-4.
It was an impressive bounce-back performance for Bettinger, who had struggled in the NCAA Tournament’s Lake Elsinore Regional. Bettinger got the start for Virginia in the decisive game three, but left the game without recording an out. He allowed five runs on four hits against the Trojans. When the time came to send someone to the mound in the ninth inning against Maryland, however, coaches Brian O’Connor and Karl Kuhn settled on Bettinger. The sophomore had fared well in that sort of short relief, set-up role during the season before having to shift to varying roles – starter, closer, and potential reliever – after Nathan Kirby’s injury.
“The last time I saw him he struggled too,” a smiling O’Connor said. “Bett has done a great job for us all year. He obviously didn’t get us off to a great start in the Southern Cal game, but we know what the kid is made of and we’re not going to give up on him. We felt like he could go out there and keep us in it. He’s done it in that role and done a nice job in that role all year long. It was clear in that scenario that he was the right guy. I believe Alec will pull a lot of confidence from that outing and be able to contribute more for us out in Omaha.”
After Bettinger set up the potential rally, Virginia delivered with three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Pavin Smith, Joe McCarthy, and Kevin Doherty each drew walks in the inning, while Robbie Coman sandwiched a hit between Smith and McCarthy. When Coman reached base, he gave way to pinch runner Thomas Woodruff, who once again found himself in the middle of some Cavalier magic. The senior appeared as a pinch runner in last year’s College World Series and scored game-winning runs in walk-off wins against TCU and Ole Miss. Against the Terps on Saturday, he crossed the plate to tie the game ahead of McCarthy’s winning run.
“It’s pretty amazing how much he’s scored big runs. He scored two runs in walk-off wins in Omaha last year,” O’Connor said. “Thomas Woodruff really stands for our program. Here’s a kid that has grinded out his whole career, hasn’t had a whole lot of opportunities, had more opportunities this year than he ever has before, and graduated from here as the top student-athlete in the Engineering School. Pretty special. I decided in my mind if Coman got on base, then Woodruff was going to run for him. Not that I thought there was any magic in it, but he’s a better runner than Robbie. Fortunately he’s right here in the middle of it. That kid’s got some experiences that he’ll have for the rest of his life.”
As mentioned above, one of the walks in the inning came from Doherty, who had played the hero role in an eighth inning comeback on Friday. In that game, Doherty hit a three RBI double with the bases loaded on the first pitch of the at-bat and UVa went on to win 5-3. As fate would have it, Doherty stepped into the batter’s box in the same scenario Saturday. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning and the memories of the previous day still fresh in the air at Davenport Field, it would have been easy for Doherty to hack away for another shot at glory. He didn’t. He laid off pitches outside the zone and that set up Ernie Clement’s game-winning shot to left field.
“Kevin Doherty, he’s up there bases loaded and I’m sure the kid is excited,” O’Connor said. “But he had enough patience and calmness to not swing at pitches off the plate and draws the walk. Then your nine-hole hitter comes up there and wins the game against what I think is one of the best closers in the country. It’s amazing and hard to explain.”
Kenny Towns Continues To Be Clutch
Virginia third baseman Kenny Towns did not figure into Saturday’s dramatic finish, but he did have a hand in Friday’s eighth inning comeback with an RBI that set up Kevin Doherty’s huge double. On Saturday, Towns didn’t come to the plate in the ninth inning but he already had notched another RBI in the first inning. That extended his UVa record for career RBI in the NCAA Tournament to 21.
“Kenny’s been around here for four years,” O’Connor said after Friday’s game. “He has the right mentality at the plate in those situations. He’s been right in the middle of it for a few years now and that’s a quality you want your guys to have. You want guys that want to be in that scenario at the most important time. You can see why on this ballclub he is so important to this team. He has more experience than anyone else out there on the field and it shows.”
Yes, This Actually Happened …
Speaking of Kenny Towns, he was part of a surprising moment in the postgame press conference Saturday. Towns and Daniel Pinero interrupted the questions to take a selfie photo with coach Brian O’Connor, who had started the pre-Super Regional press conference by taking a selfie himself.
You don't celebrate a trip to Omaha without interrupting a press conference and taking a selfie with the big dog! pic.twitter.com/K9NiASLSDS
— Daniel Pinero (@dpinny22) June 7, 2015
