June 23, 2011

CWS Scores & Schedule

Wilson dominates on mound as Virginia tops Cal

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

@roadtoomaha

(photos by Jimmy Jones)

OMAHA, Neb. – Senior Tyler Wilson (right) pitched 7.2 strong innings as top-seeded Virginia defeated California 8-1 in an elimination game Thursday at the 2011 College World Series in front of a sellout crowd of 25,833 at TD Ameritrade Park.

The Cavaliers (56-11) will face fourth-seeded South Carolina on Friday at 6 p.m. CT. Virginia will have to beat the Gamecocks on Friday and again on Saturday to advance to the championship series.

Wilson scattered five hits and allowed one earned run to raise his record to 10-0. He tossed seven shutout innings and gave up the one run in the eighth.

“Tyler Wilson was spectacular tonight,” UVa head coach Brian O’Connor said. “All year long, whenever we needed a great outing, he’s responded every time for his teams. And he was the right guy to give the ball to tonight.”

Wilson did not walk a batter and struck out five.

“The Cal players were aggressive very early in the count,” Wilson said. “I knew it was going to be important coming in to establish my fastball, command of the fastball both in and out of the zone and to be able to pitch under the zone, try to get under the hands if necessary. But I think that was the key, was being able to command the fastball.”

Cody Winiarski got the final four outs to secure the victory.

The Cavaliers got a pair in the top of the third. Jared King had a base hit to start the rally. Keith Werman laid down a bunt and pitcher Dixon Anderson made an errant throw to first as Werman was safe and King made it to second. Both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice by Chris Taylor. King scored on a wild pitch and John Barr’s sacrifice fly brought in Werman as Virginia took a 2-0 lead.

UVa exploded with four runs in the sixth. With one away, Kenny Swab (right) hit a ball to center that got past Darrel Matthews. Swab raced around the bases to score on the single and three-base error to make it 3-0. With two away, Werman had a RBI single, Taylor added a run-scoring double and Barr drove in another with a base hit as the Cavaliers pushed the lead to 6-0.

The Golden Bears (38-23) finally got on the board in the eighth as Matthews (pictured below) had a one-out single and eventually scored on a base hit by Tony Renda to make it a 6-1 contest.

Virginia added two in the ninth to complete the scoring.

It was the second time in the CWS that Virginia defeated Cal. The Cavaliers posted a 4-1 win over the Bears on Sunday.

“Again, the University of Virginia is very well coached and they deserved to win,” Cal head coach David Esquer said. “They do so many things fundamentally well, they make it tough for you to beat them. You have to play an almost flawless game and you’ve got to be on your game to be able to beat them.”

Werman went 2 for 2 with two sacrifice hits, two runs and one RBI. Swab also had a pair of hits.

Austin Booker had two hits for Cal.