Florida, Vanderbilt win CWS routs
Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb.
The outcome was the same as last time — a loss — but the vibe after Nathan Kirby’s return to the TD Ameritrade Park mound was far different.
The Virginia ace couldn’t make it out of the third inning in Friday’s 10-5 loss to Florida in the College World Series. That wasn’t entirely a surprise, because he was on a 60-pitch limit in his first outing in nine weeks since he strained a back muscle.
The previous time he pitched in Omaha, he had a miserable opener of the 2014 CWS finals against Vanderbilt. Kirby didn’t make it out of the third in that game, either, but it was because of a sudden loss of control that caused him to walk in three runs and give up eight in a 9-8 loss.
Friday was more about Florida than Kirby.
“We were obviously hopeful that he could maybe give us three clean innings, and I thought he looked really good in the first couple, and he was fine in the third,” Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said. “Florida is talented and they’re going to make you pay when you leave pitches over the middle of the plate.
“So it was great to see. He’s certainly healthy and certainly he can build off that, that’s for sure.”
The Gators (52-17) scored four runs in the third inning and five in the sixth to set up a rematch today. The winner will go to the best-of-three finals starting Monday against defending champion Vanderbilt. Virginia (41-23), which lost for the first time in eight NCAA Tournament games, is trying to make the finals for the second straight year.
Richie Martin doubled twice and reached four times as the Gators scored in double digits for the fifth time in six games. They’re the first team since South Carolina in 2002 to score 10 or more runs in three CWS games.
“We have a tendency to have big innings,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “In order to have big innings, you have to have a consistent lineup, 1 through 9. We’re getting a lot of contributions up and down the lineup, and it just allows us when we get things rolling to build some big innings.”
The Gators also avenged a 1-0 loss to Virginia on Monday. In that game, Brandon Waddell and Josh Sborz combined on a two-hitter.
This time, Florida’s offense looked more like the one that outscored Miami 25-5 in two games the past week.
“They’ve got power. They’ve got speed. They’ve got a really, really nice club,” O’Connor said. “I don’t ever try to forecast what’s going to happen during the game, but I knew it would take a good effort, starting with Kirby.”
Florida tagged Kirby (5-3) for four runs on five hits in the third and made it 9-1 with a five-run sixth against Alec Bettinger and David Rosenberger.
“I just wanted to throw strikes, especially at this stage,” Kirby said. “You see what happens when you give the other team momentum and a couple extra bases. They’re going to capitalize.”
Vanderbilt 7, TCU 1
Defending national champion Vanderbilt returned to the College World Series finals after Walker Buehler and John Kilichowski combined on a five-hitter and Rhett Wiseman homered in a victory over TCU.
The Commodores (50-19) move to the best-of-three finals starting Monday against the winner of today’s game between 2014 runner-up Virginia and Florida.
Buehler (5-2), making his first start since June 1, allowed four hits and a run and struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings.