May 31, 2014

Kirby Dominates as Virginia Blanks Arkansas

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

phil@collegebaseballinsider.com @RoadToOmaha

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - It was truly a dominating performance.

Sophomore lefty Nathan Kirby allowed just one hit over eight innings as top-seeded Virginia shut out second-seeded Arkansas 3-0 Saturday evening in front of 4,579 fans at Davenport Field.

The Cavaliers (46-13) advanced to the Sunday evening's first championship game. They will face the winner of the 1 p.m. elimination game between the Razorbacks (39-24) and fourth-seeded Bucknell.

The one hit for Arkansas created its best scoring opportunity. And it was the defining moment for Kirby in the contest.

The Razorbacks were hitless over the first four frames. Eric Fisher had a leadoff double just inside the first base bag in the top of the fifth. Tyler Spoon then hit a bouncer back to Kirby, who looked Fisher back to second but threw wildly to first, allowing Fisher to move to third and Spoon end up at second.

"[Pitching coach] Karl [Kuhn] always talks about not worrying about the guys on second and third," Kirby said. "They've already accomplished that. If they're going to get a hit off of me then that's what's going to happen. I think that was big for me."

Kirby was able to get a strikeout, a lineout to second and a groundout to third to keep the Razorbacks off the scoreboard.

"I got on my heels a little bit," Kirby said. "We've played defense well all year. That's a level of comfort for me out there, knowing that I can throw the ball and let them hit it. Fortunately enough for me they missed some balls and it went my way."

Over eight frames, Kirby walked a pair and struck out nine, including the final five batters he faced.

"Nathan Kirby again showed how great of a pitcher he is," said Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor. "He has been calm and has had a presence about him all year long and certainly he showed his ability tonight. He was outstanding for eight innings. He kept making really good pitches."

Junior closer Nick Howard took over in the ninth. He allowed a leadoff single to Eagan Clark, but rolled a 5-4-3 double-play ball to erase the runner. Another groundout to second ended the contest, giving Howard his 19th save.

The Cavaliers had the bats going from the start. Leadoff hitter Brandon Cogswell singled to left center and tried to stretch it to a double, but was thrown out at second. Daniel Pinero reached on an error and trotted home ahead of Mike Papi, who deposited his 11th home run in the front row of the bleachers in right field for a 2-0 UVa lead.

Virginia added to its lead in the third. Papi laced a one-out base hit to right and moved aggressively to third on a base hit by Derek Fisher to shallow right. Papi came home on a single to center by Kenny Towns to make it a 3-0 advantage.

"That was one of the more complete ballgames that we've played this year," O'Connor said. "What we did offensively in the first three innings, I was really impressed. Our guys were locked in, taking good swings and battling."