It had been automatic for the Virginia baseball team since late April: Get Andrew Abbott a lead and let the senior lefty do the rest. But that plan has hit a snag in his two NCAA Tournament starts thus far.
A week after taking the loss in the regional opener, Abbott failed to record an out in the fifth inning of Saturday’s start against Dallas Baptist. The Patriots wound up rallying from a three-run hole to win 6-5, moving DBU a victory from the program’s first-ever trip to the College World Series, and the Wahoos a loss away from elimination.
Game 2 of the best-of-three Columbia Super Regional is set for noon Sunday.
Abbott entered the NCAA Tournament pitching like an All-American. Before his turn against South Carolina last Friday, he had posted a sparkling 0.79 ERA and recorded wins and quality starts in each of his five previous starts. He didn’t allow a single run in the month of May. The Cavaliers hadn’t trailed with Abbott on the mound since the fifth inning of his start against Louisville on April 16th. They hadn’t lost an him turn in the rotation since April 9th at Clemson.
But his two starts in Columbia have strayed from that script. In both games, first-inning home runs have put the Hoos in early holes. UVa has rallied to take the lead in both, but neither lead made it past the sixth inning. Virginia bounced back to rattle off four straight to win last week’s regional; they’ll need to take the next two to do the same against DBU.
“They’ve been in this scenario a lot,” UVa coach Brian O’Connor said after Saturday’s loss. “Other teams have as well, but certainly our guys have been fighting for it for the last two months and so certainly we were in this position just a weekend ago in this ballpark and found a way to scratch back and found a way to win. So it wouldn’t surprise me if this team finds a way to win tomorrow and then everything’s on the line on Monday.”
Abbott was charged with four runs on eight hits in five-plus innings against the Patriots, who out-hit UVa 12-7 on the day. Half of those eight hits were for extra bases, including a two-run homer by DBU’s Jackson Glenn to get the Patriots on the board in the first and a leadoff double in the sixth by the Patriots’ Ryan Wrobleski. After Blayne Jones followed with a single to left, Abbott left with runners on the corners and nobody out in the sixth inning.
“They’re basically going to make their money’s worth on your mistakes,” Abbott said. “So it’s important to stay ahead in the counts, keep them off-balance at points. As a pitcher you’re going to make mistakes. It’s important to know that, but it’s all about trying to minimize and not try to compound mistakes at the same time.”
Even when Abbott was able to get in front, the Patriots were able to battle back and do damage. River Town was down 0-1 before leading off the game with a single. Glenn followed by fouling off three pitches before homering on a 1-2 count. In the sixth, both Wrobleski and Jones were down 1-2 before they reached base. Of the eight hits he allowed, five of them came when he was ahead in the count.
Afterward, Abbott (who has a 6.75 ERA in his two NCAA Tournament starts) dismissed the notion that he was laboring before exiting in that sixth inning.
“It was definitely hot,” he conceded. “I didn’t really get tired much, it was just really hot and the ball was just kind of slipping out of my hand. But it’s my job as the starting pitcher to go out and try to compete for my team as long as I can.”
Zach Messinger looked like he might get out of that sixth-inning jam after the Hoos turned a Christian Boulware fly ball to right field into a 9-6-3 double play. But Messinger (3-2) got behind Andres Sosa 3-1 before the first baseman ripped a shot to deep right-center for a two-out, two-run game-tying homer. Andrew Benefield followed in the seventh with his own solo homer to right on a 2-0 count against Messinger to put the Patriots in front for good.
Dallas Baptist’s three home runs on Saturday gave the Patriots an even 100 as a team on the season. The UVa pitching staff only surrendered four home runs in five games during last week’s regional round, giving up two apiece to Old Dominion (who hit 105 on the season) and the Gamecocks (80).
“Any time you give up home runs it is a missed spot, but guys miss spots all the time,” O’Connor said. “You got to be good to do something with it, and so that’s a credit to them. They put good swings on the ball in advantage counts, 3-1, 2-0, where we’re putting a fastball in there and credit them, they got it. That’s what good players and good teams do.”
The Cavaliers did all of their damage offensively with a five-run fifth against DBU starter Dominic Hamel. Alex Tappen and Jake Gelof led off the inning with back-to-back homers to tie the ballgame. With two runners in scoring position and two out, the Patriots chose to load the bases by intentionally walking Kyle Teel. That brought up Tuesday’s walk-off hero Devin Ortiz, who made DBU pay by clearing the bases with a double.
But Virginia managed just two hits in the final four frames. It looked like the Hoos had loaded the bases again with one out in the eighth inning when Tappen was hit in the leg with a breaking ball. But a replay review overturned that call, ruling that Tappen had leaned into the pitch instead of attempting to avoid it. He was called out on strikes, then Gelof followed with a ball to center field that, instead of serving as a game-tying sacrifice fly, was the final out of the inning.
“I’ll address that whole play after this series is over,” O’Connor said. “I’ll just say this: The rules put the umpires in a very, very difficult position. I don’t envy the umpires with the way the rule is, and it’s tough. But that’s not why we lost the game.”
The two teams were thrown one more late curveball when a storm descended on Founder’s Park before the top of the ninth inning. After a four-hour delay, the game ended with the tying run at third base when Max Cotier was robbed of a line-drive base hit by Sosa at first base.
Saturday’s loss snapped the program’s four-game winning streak in Super Regional games. The Cavaliers are 5-2 all-time when facing elimination in the NCAA Tournament’s second round, and have twice rallied after losing a super regional opener to reach Omaha: in 2009 and 2014.
This year’s team last lost two games in the same weekend during Louisville’s mid-April visit to Disharoon Park, and just went 4-0 when facing elimination last weekend. The Hoos will be the home team for Sunday’s Game 2 and again on Monday if they can force a deciding third game.
“I just know what our guys are made of,” said O’Connor, who wasn’t prepared to name a starting pitcher for Sunday in his postgame remarks. “I know they’re going to get a great night’s rest and I believe in them, and I’m going to leave it up to them. They’re going to decide tomorrow whether we have a chance on Monday. And that’s the way it should be.”
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