OMAHA, Neb. — Six weeks ago, it looked as though Virginia might not even qualify for its conference tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
OMAHA, Neb. — Six weeks ago, it looked as though Virginia might not even qualify for its conference tournament, let alone the NCAA Tournament.
Look at the Cavaliers now.
They’re national champions for the first time in baseball after finishing a magnificent postseason run with a 4-2 victory over Vanderbilt on Wednesday night.
“This team was a crazy ride this year,” said coach Brian O’Connor, who was born in Omaha. “Certainly, we had a lot that went against us through the year, but this team found a way and got into the NCAA Tournament. It’s an amazing example of what you can do if you put your mind to it, play for each other and have each other’s backs.
“Not many people thought this could happen. I couldn’t have forecast it. But we’re darn glad we’re sitting up here with this trophy.”
Freshman Pavin Smith homered and drove in three runs and Brandon Waddell turned in another strong College World Series pitching performance. The Cavaliers (44-24) prevailed in the CWS finals rematch against the defending champion Commodores and won the Atlantic Coast Conference’s first title in baseball since Wake Forest in 1955.
“We were just a team that never gives up,” Smith said. “Really resilient. It showed in the first inning when we were down 2-0 and didn’t stop playing.”
Waddell (5-5) went seven innings and allowed only two hits after Vanderbilt (51-21) scored twice in the first. He retired the last 11 batters he faced in his third CWS start and fifth of his career. Virginia won each of them.
“At this point, everything goes. If you’ve got anything in the tank, you’re giving it,” Waddell said. “You’ve got nothing to save it for.”
Nathan Kirby, who missed nine weeks because of injury and returned to start a game in the CWS, pitched the last two innings and struck out five of his eight batters for his first save. Reliever John Kilichowski (3-4) took the loss.
When pinch-hitter Kyle Smith got caught looking at a fastball to end the game, Kirby threw his glove and hat into the air as catcher Matt Thaiss ran to the mound to embrace him.
“It was awesome to be able to close it out because I felt like that I finally got back on the mound for the eight guys behind me and the 20 guys in the dugout,” Kirby said. “You basically come out and throw as hard as you can.”
Virginia’s 44 wins were the fewest by a national champion since the 1968 Southern California squad had 43. The Cavaliers didn’t assure themselves a spot in the ACC Tournament until the last weekend of the regular season, and they entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 regional seed.
The Commodores had a second straight season with more than 50 wins, and they came into Wednesday having outscored their first nine NCAA Tournament opponents 70-15. They couldn’t generate much after scoring their two runs in the first.
Pavin Smith stepped up for Virginia in Game 3 after going 1 for 8 and striking out four times in the first two games of the finals. He hit a two-run homer off Walker Buehler to tie it in the fourth, singled in the go-ahead run in the fifth and flashed defensively all night at first base.
“This kid has done a great job of hitting in the middle of our order all year long,” O’Connor said. “Him and I had a brief talk in the dugout before the game and I just told him to relax and enjoy the moment.”
Waddell was pitching on three days’ rest after working the first five innings of the Cavaliers’ 5-4 win over Florida on Saturday. Before that, he and Josh Sborz combined on a two-hit, 1-0 shutout of the Gators on June 16.
Sborz, who won three games and pitched 13 scoreless innings, was selected as the CWS Most Outstanding Player.
Waddell got stronger after the first inning.
“I thought Waddell in a lot of ways was left for dead, but he just got himself up in the fifth, sixth and seventh and just turned the game around — went 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3,” Vandy coach Tim Corbin said. “When they brought Kirby out, he pitched with a lot of adrenaline.”
Kirby struck out the side in the eighth. With a man on first, he fanned No. 1 overall draft pick Dansby Swanson for the second out.
Swanson, the 2014 CWS Most Outstanding Player, stood with his hands on his hips and shouted “No!” as first-base umpire Perry Costello ruled he didn’t check his swing on the third strike, ending his final collegiate at-bat.
The Cavaliers also got another big game from Kenny Towns. He saved what would have been the go-ahead run for Vanderbilt in the fourth when he made a diving stop of a smash down the third-base line and threw out Tyler Campbell to end the inning. He later drove in an insurance run in the seventh.
“We were underdogs the whole NCAA Tournament,” Pavin Smith said. “We were probably the team everybody was writing off.”