Virginia faces must-win situation against Cal State Fullerton

OMAHA, Neb. – There was reason to point fingers.

On the sport’s grandest stage, the College World Series, Virginia was victimized by a handful of questionable rulings that helped alter a 9-5 loss to third-seeded Louisiana State.

From a botched fair ball that was ruled foul to a shady ruling on a bunt that send a bat-producing ping, the Cavaliers seemed to be on the short end of the stick.

Virginia coach Brian O’Connor protested both rulings and a would-be stolen base that was ruled as an out to no avail.

If the national coach of the year was miffed about the calls in his first trip to Rosenblatt Stadium as the skipper at Virginia, O’Connor was not tipping his hand.

When asked about the first incorrect call, a ball hit by Dan Grovatt that television replays showed landed clearly in fair territory, O’Connor danced around the topic.

“Those guys have challenging jobs, just like we all do,” O’Connor said. “I don’t know whether it was right or wrong but beyond that, frankly, I am not going to comment on it.

“Those guys are the best. They are the eight best in this country that come to work this tournament, and whether it was right or wrong they are not perfect, I am not perfect.”

The head-scratching calls against Virginia, which plays Cal State Fullerton today at 2 p.m. in an elimination game, seemed to kill momentum throughout the contest.

It was a complete backbreaker, however, O’Connor said. He pointed at a pair of homers that the Tigers hit to create the final separation.

“Unfortunately, there were a couple of breaks that did not go our way but nothing like that affected this ballgame,” he said. “It comes down to what we do. We didn’t make the pitches when we needed to make them. We just didn’t get quite enough clutch hits.”

Offensively, Virginia slapped out 14 hits, including two solo homers, but left 14 runners on base as it finished with just two hits and three walks with runners in scoring position. In all, the Cavaliers hit .125 (2 for 16) with runners standing at second or third.

“That’s a lot to leave on,” O’Connor said. “I felt in a lot of those situations that we had guys step up and hit the ball hard but LSU made two diving catches in the outfield and we couldn’t get that big hit to break it open.”

Virginia also suffered newfound pitching woes as three hurlers (Danny Hultzen, Matt Packer and Tyler Wilson) each allowed three earned runs. The Cavaliers earned run average in the NCAA tournament jumped from 1.45 to 2.53 following the Tigers’ offensive explosion.

Hultzen, Virginia’s ace on the mound, was chased after three innings, marking the shortest start of the rookie’s season. The struggles for the southpaw routinely came in two-strike situations, which ran Hultzen’s pitch count up rapidly.

“That kind of adds up as the game goes on,” Hultzen said. “Some of the good pitches that I made they barreled up and got base hits off of. They are a very talented team.”

As gloomy as the result felt for Virginia, O’Connor remained confident that his team would bounce back against Fullerton, the No. 2 national seed.

It was just a week ago that Virginia dropped the series opener at Ole Miss only to bounce back with two victories, punching the program’s first ticket to the College World Series.

“I can assure you [today] against Fullerton that our team will be ready to play and hopefully we will get another shot at LSU,” O’Connor said. “This team has shown a resiliency all year long. That toughness and that composure that they have had to bounce back that has gotten us to this point.

“This group has a tremendous amount of pride and I can assure you that they will be ready to play.”

O’Connor confirmed that RHP Robert Morey would start on the mound for the Cavaliers. The sophomore enters the game with a 3.11 earned run average and a 3-0 record.