It doesn't seem fair to Griff McGarry.

It doesn't seem fair that the guy who took a no hitter into the eighth inning at the College World Series could only watch what remained of a four-run lead disappear with one swing of the bat. It doesn't seem fair that he could harness his immense potential and look electric in the three biggest starts of his four-year Virginia baseball career but not have a single win on his record to show for that profound turnaround.

But McGarry has been playing the game long enough to know that it's not about what's fair.

"I mean, that's just baseball," he said in the aftermath of UVa's 6-5 loss to Mississippi State in Omaha. "It's a game that can go back and forth. And Mississippi State got the best of us tonight. But I'm hoping we play them again and we'll get another chance at them."

McGarry spent much of Tuesday night making quick work of the Bulldogs. The senior right-hander sat them down in order five times, including a string of 12 consecutive batters retired between the second and sixth innings. His fastball sat around 95-97 mph. McGarry only fell behind 1-0 in the count eight times against the first 25 batters he faced, and struck out eight through seven no-hit innings.

He took a streak of 14.1 scoreless innings into the eighth. That streak began in the third inning of McGarry's first career postseason start, against Old Dominion in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. It was extended against Dallas Baptist in the Columbia Super Regional, when McGarry matched his career high with seven innings pitched and didn't give up a hit until that seventh inning.

Scotty Dubrule began the eighth inning by working an eight-pitch walk, becoming at that point just the third Mississippi State baserunner of the night and the first to lead off an inning. McGarry came back to get a fly ball for the first out, but freshman Kellum Clark took the first pitch he saw directly into the Bulldogs' bullpen.

The two-run home run ended not just McGarry's bid for a no-hitter at the College World Series but his shutout and his outing as well. His 7.1 innings pitched were a new career high.

"He was terrific," said UVa coach Brian O'Connor. "I mean, he responded like we had hoped that he would. And it's just unfortunate for him that we just couldn't finish it off because he was spectacular tonight. And it's too bad that it ended the way it did for him."

Even after that Clark's homer, O'Connor's team was still up 4-2, with a fresh bullpen and five outs away from improving to 2-0 in Omaha. But the Bulldogs wasted little time tearing up that cushion.

Zach Messinger lasted just two hitters, giving up an infield single and then a double. Closer Stephen Schoch took over with two runners in scoring position and Logan Tanner, the SEC player of the year who once played summer ball with Schoch, at the plate. Tanner took Schoch's second pitch into that same Mississippi State bullpen for a go-ahead three-run shot, his 11th of the season.

"I knew they weren't going to throw me a fastball," said Tanner, a former summer league teammate of Schoch's. "So I kind of had an idea. I was just trying to get a slider up in the zone so I could do some damage with it."

"He put a great swing on the ball," O'Connor said. "We didn't execute. And he made us pay for it. And that's what great players do."

The final blow was a two-out RBI single the other way by Dubrule on the first pitch from Nate Savino, the fourth UVa pitcher of the inning, that ran the lead to 6-4. That insurance run, which proved to be the difference after a Chris Newell solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, was also charged to Schoch.

Making his first appearance since throwing 75 pitches in UVa's extra-inning win against Old Dominion two weeks ago, the sidewinding sixth-year senior retired just one of the four batters he faced.

"I watched him throw two days ago. I thought he looked sharp," O'Connor said. "He told me two days ago, against Tennessee, that he was ready to go. And he told me that again tonight. And the guy's been our guy all year long. And he just couldn't hold them, just couldn't get the job done."

All of UVa's production at the plate came in the first two innings. The Hoos got on the board on a Kyle Teel RBI single in the first. Newell and Zack Gelof, who both finished with three-hit nights, had back-to-back RBI doubles in the second, followed by a Max Cotier single up the middle to drive in Gelof. All four runs were charged to Mississippi State starter Christian MacLeod.

But the Wahoos were unable to add to that lead. They left the bases loaded in that second inning and failed to score despite having runners at the corners and just one out in both the fourth and sixth innings. The Hoos ultimately left 10 runners on base. Seven Mississippi State relievers combined to keep UVa scoreless for the game's final 7.2 innings, with closer Landon Sims recording the final four outs to notch his second save at the College World Series.

Those six runs the Bulldogs put up in the eighth on are the only runs the UVa pitching staff has allowed in two games in Omaha. They were enough for Mississippi State to swipe control of the double-elimination bracket away from UVa and put the Hoos in a position where they'll need to win three-straight games starting Thursday to get back to the CWS Finals.

Mississippi State now gets two days off before facing the winner of Thursday's elimination game between the Hoos and Texas. The Longhorns ended Tennessee's season with an 8-4 win Tuesday afternoon at TD Ameritrade.

That was the first time Texas had faced elimination in this NCAA Tournament; the Wahoos are 6-0 when playing with their season at stake.

McGarry entered the NCAA Tournament with an 0-5 record and 7.46 ERA, with well-chronicled control issues that had cost him a spot in the Cavaliers' weekend starting rotation. With no-decisions in his three postseason starts, he remains winless on the season but he's got a 2.63 ERA with 26 strikeouts to nine walks in 17.1 innings during the NCAA Tournament.

McGarry didn't get a win on Tuesday night in Omaha. For the first time this postseason, his team didn't get a victory in his start either.

It would only seem fair that McGarry's teammates get him one more chance to take the hill in a Virginia uniform.

"It was a great game. And obviously tough ending for us," McGarry said. "But we're not out of the fight."

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