A gutsy performance by starter Nick Parker was wasted as the Virginia baseball team blew leads of 4-1 and 5-3 in the late innings of the opening game of bracket-play at the College World Series in Omaha. The Cavaliers dropped the opening contest against the Florida Gators, 6-5.
Parker delivered his sixth quality start of the season and third of postseason play. He left the game after the sixth inning and handed the bullpen a 4-1 lead. The graduate transfer allowed his lone run in the second inning, limiting Florida to 4 hits with 3 walks. Parker was not the precision pitcher we’ve seen over the last six weeks, but he grinded out a solid outing.
“They have a good offense and I kind of fell behind early,” Parker said. “But just found a way. I felt I did a good job of mixing in and out and making big pitches when I had to. This point of the year is just finding a way, any way possible, keep moving forward.”
Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said Parker battled throughout the contest.
“I thought Nick Parker did a terrific job,” O’Connor said. “He was at about 90 pitches and it was time to make the change. [Florida] did a tremendous job against our bullpen.”
Parker gave way to Evan Blanco to open the seventh inning.
Admittedly, I was surprised Parker was lifted for a new pitcher. Over his last seven starts he’s posted a 5-0 record and averaged over 97 pitches per game, including three games over 100 pitches with a high of 106 against Duke back in April.
Parker threw 6 pitches in the fifth inning against Florida and 11 in the sixth. He retired the final 7 hitters he faced on 20 pitches. He seemed to be maintaining his velocity on the fastball and off-speed offerings seemed even more effective later in the game. He deserved the opportunity to start the seventh. If somebody got on, then take him out.
The move to the bullpen had ripple effects and eventually capsized UVA’s hopes.
Blanco retired the first batter he faced and walked the second. O’Connor went to matchups when Florida skipper Kevin Sullivan brought in right-handed hitter Ty Evans to face the freshman reliever.
Coach O’Connor countered with Jack O’Connor, who faced three hitters. He gave up a double to the first batter, putting runners on second and third. The freshman righty then forced a groundout but the runner at third scored making it 4-2 Hoos. With 2 outs, O’Connor induced the groundball he wanted to get the out of the inning but shortstop Griff O’Ferrall bobbled the ball transferring from his glove and could not record an out.
Coach O’Connor elected to go back to the pen and called for Jake Berry.
“The plan coming into the game was, if we had a lead in the eighth inning, was to go with Jake Berry,” O’Connor said. “And that formula’s worked for us a lot this year.”
The stats back up O’Connor. Berry pitched in 3 of the previous 6 NCAA Tournament games, going 4.2 innings while allowing 0 earned runs and just 2 hits. He had a walk and 4 strikeouts with a save in the 2-1 win over ECU. The bullpen has a 3.67 ERA over the last 10 games, 8 of them in the postseason. Berry this season is responsible for 4 of UVA’s 22 holds. Blanco has 7.
But since the first of May, the Wahoo bullpen recorded only 4 holds with 2 in postseason games. One was the 8-3 final game against ECU in the Charlottesville Regional and the opening game loss of the Super Regional against Duke. Blanco was credited for both.
Friday night in Omaha, however, was a fiasco.
Berry pitched 1.2 frames, allowed 4 runs on 4 hits that included 3 solo home runs. The lefty hurler allowed a run in the eighth that cut the Virginia lead to 4-3. The Hoos added an insurance run in the top of the ninth to boost the lead back to 5-3, but Berry was tagged for 2 more solo home runs in the bottom of the ninth.
At that point, however, he remained in the game as the lead dropped to 5-4 and then to a 5-5 tie. Following the second dinger, Berry gave up a single, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with 1 out.
The call finally went to the bullpen for closer Jay Woolfolk. Only a double play ball, a strikeout, or a play at the pate were likely to get the Hoos out of the jam in the moment as the lead was completely gone at that point. Woolfolk entered the game with no wiggle room.
Woolfolk fell behind with two misses and on a 2-0 count, he was forced to put a pitch into the zone. Florida Designated Hitter Luke Heyman got the bat on the ball and lifted a high fly ball to centerfield as the Gators walked off the game winning run on the RBI sacrifice fly.
The loss was the first of the season when the Cavaliers led after eight innings. The Hoos are now 47-1 when leading or tied after eight frames. It could not have come at a worse time as Virginia now must climb out of the loser’s bracket in the double elimination format. The win-or-go-home quest begins against TCU on Sunday at 2 p.m.
This was not the first time Berry struggled to close out games.
During the finale of the NC State series, Berry entered the game with 1 out in the eighth with UVA down 2-1 and held the Wolfpack in check. The Hoos scored 3 in the top of the ninth to take a 4-2 lead. Berry, however, allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the frame and the Cavaliers suffered a 5-4 loss.
In the rubber game of the Virginia Tech series and the Hoos leading 6-5, Berry took over for Kevin Jaxel and surrendered 2 runs in the sixth and 3 more in the seventh as Hokies moved to a 10-6 lead. UVA lost the contest 12-7. Against Pitt in game two of the mid-April series, Berry took over for Parker with the score tied at 3, 1 out and runners on first and second in the fourth. Berry induced a fielder’s choice to get the runner at second and fanned the next hitter to get out of the inning with no damage, but the junior southpaw gave up a run in the sixth and 2 in the seventh as the Hoos eventually lost the game 6-4.
Coach O’Connor admitted that he did not feel “great” about the bullpen effort Friday.
“It’s been a little bit of a mixed bag all year,” O’Connor said.
During D1 Baseball’s CWS Preview Show, analyst Mike Rooney expressed concerns about the Cavalier bullpen heading into Omaha.
“Jake Berry struggled against Duke. Jay Woolfolk struggled against Duke,” Rooney said. “When coaches start taking main relievers out of games quickly, that makes me nervous. It hasn’t been glorious for the bullpen.”
Friday’s finish certainly wasn’t glorious.
Against Florida, UVA’s four relievers gave up 5 runs in 2.2 innings (16.36 ERA) and allowed 5 hits, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts, a hit batter, and 4 extra-base hits – including the three home runs charged to Berry.
O’Connor defended his player stating that Berry’s done a good job for this team all season.
“I have zero regret,” O’Connor stated. “Berry’s been tremendous when we’ve had a lead and closed games out for us. And they did a terrific job against him and got his pitch count up and executed very, very well.”
The Hoos hope to still have no regrets at the end of the weekend as it will be a short visit to Omaha for the loser of Sunday’s elimination game.
Virginia now will try to win four straight games in the loser’s bracket of the College World Series. TCU will be up first on Sunday with the winner taking on the loser of Sunday’s Oral Roberts and Florida game, who both rallied to win in the ninth inning Friday. The winner there will then have to take two from the remaining team in the winner’s bracket.
