June 22, 2011

CWS Scores & Schedule

Hill holds down Heels as Vandy advances

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

@roadtoomaha

(photos by Jimmy Jones)

OMAHA, Neb. – Senior Taylor Hill (right) hurled seven strong innings to lead sixth-seeded Vanderbilt past third-seeded North Carolina 5-1 in an elimination game Wednesday evening in the 2011 College World Series at breezy TD Ameritrade Park.

The Commodores (54-11) will face second-seeded Florida on Friday at 1 p.m. CT. Vandy will have to defeat the Gators on both Friday and Saturday to advance to the championship series.

Hill scattered four hits and four walks over seven innings. He allowed one run and struck out four.

“The story was Taylor Hill, from a pitching standpoint,” VU head coach Tim Corbin said. “I thought he came out and pitched very well. He set the tone early, throwing a lot of strikes, keeping them off base. He did a good job of neutralizing their offense and got us deep into the ballgame.”

Hill worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by striking out Jacob Stallings to end the threat. Stallings had doubled in his first two at-bats against Hill.

“We had a couple of opportunities, but I thought Hill pitched really well,” UNC head coach Mike Fox said. “He had a good sinker out there with the wind blowing out like it was. We had a lot of groundballs, especially early.”

Of Hill’s first 16 outs, eight were groundball outs and four were strikeouts.

Sophomore lefty Corey Williams finished the game for the Commodores, tossing two hitless innings with one walk and one strikeout.

The Commodores jumped on the board in the bottom of the first as speedy Tony Kemp led off with a triple to right center and came in on a sacrifice fly to right by Anthony Gomez.

The lead grew in the second. Mike Yastrzemski had a leadoff single and stole second with one away. Conrad Gregor walked and Connor Harrell (left) crushed a 2-1 pitch into the stands in left center for a three-run homer to give Vandy a 4-0 advantage. It was the second CWS dinger for Harrell, both against UNC, and his ninth of the season.

“The wind was a factor tonight,” Harrell said. “But I just tried to get my hands extended, get the ball in the jet stream and get it into the seats.”

Curt Casali kept the scoring going with a solo homer in the third, his seventh, as the lead grew to 5-0.

UNC (51-16) finally scored in the fifth as Brian Holberton has a one-out single and scored on a fielder’s choice by Ben Bunting. The Tar Heels left the bases loaded and trailed 5-1.

Greg Holt (7-2) was the starter and loser for UNC, allowing four hits and five earned runs in 2.2 innings. He walked one and struck out two. Holt was the first of five pitchers for the Heels.

Harrell and Gregor both finished with two hits for UNC.