CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.– They are known for their comeback wins this season. They are known by their resiliency.
“You either crumble when you fall behind or you step up,” Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor said. “You continue to fight, right? And this ballclub all year long no matter what the situation is, for the most part, has been there at the end.”
For the third time this postseason, the Cavaliers rallied from behind to beat Kansas State 7-4 in the Charlottesville Super Regional – putting the ‘Hoos one game away from returning to the College World Series.
“They’re a winning program. That’s what winning programs do,” Kansas State coach Pete Hughes said. “They come from behind.”
It wasn’t even a crisp performance by O’Connor’s men, but as one has come to expect, they only need a few big moments to change the momentum of the game – so even when they were trailing 3-0 after a few uncharacteristic mistakes, and after living some scoring runs stranded on the bases – UVA continued to persevere.
“The way we approach hitting is one pitch, one at bat at a time,” said second baseman Henry Godbout. “And it really doesn’t matter if we’re down or up, we’re going to keep stringing together hits and we trust ourselves to make it happen.”
Virginia may have a knack for comebacks, Godbout has a knack for some big homeruns in some big moments. He hit a three-run blast in the seventh inning, which ultimately secured the win for the ‘Hoos – the homer was his second home run in the NCAA Tournament and his ninth this season.
“After he’d had a couple of at bats, I reminded him that, ‘It’s not how the game starts. It’s how the game ends,'” O’Connor said.
“I kind of blacked out, to be honest with you,” Godbout said. “It was a pretty special moment.”
“Coach Oak, the at-bat before, was telling me you got to buckle up in the back half of the game and stay in it,” Godbout said.
“Henry played almost every day for us last year,” O’Connor said, “and didn’t hit home runs. But his skills at that time allowed us to win and he worked hard. You look at him physically and he’s a completely different player. I grab his arms this year and it’s completely different from grabbing them last year. That’s work. He takes an incredible amount of pride in his craft and has shown this year, through his lessons learned last year, that he can step up in big moments and that he’s an incredibly talented player.”
The ‘Hoos’ come back started in the fifth inning when the Cavaliers cut the K-State lead to one when Casey Saucke’s sacrifice fly scored Griff O’Ferrall, and Whalen scored on an RBI ground out by Henry Ford.
“You give this team a gap and an opening, a lot of times this year, they’ve capitalized on it,” O’Connor said.
“That’s kind of how the game goes sometimes,” Godbout said. “You’ve got to rally back from those types of at-bats and rely on our approach.”
Cavaliers starter Evan Blanco said knowing that he can rely on his team to bounce back helps him
“It’s been big, especially pitching,” Blanco said. “I know it doesn’t really matter how many runs I give up because each game, I know, is going to be competitive when we have a lineup like this.”
Blanco himself has shown his own resiliency on the mound.
“Your job as a starter,” O’Connor said, “is even though if you fall behind, is to go out there and keep your team in the ball game and [Blanco] kept us in the game enough.”
Blanco pitched 7.0 innings while surrendering only four runs on five hits. Blanco struck out nine opposing batters while walking only one. Angelo Tonas and Matt Augustin combined to retire the final six Wildcat batters.
Virginia is one away from clinching its seventh College World Series berth under O’Connor – the program’s third in the last four seasons. UVA will go with Jay Woolfolk as the starter on Saturday.
“Jay threw the ball exceptionally well last weekend when we needed him the most,” O’Connor said. “Certainly, [Joe] Savino was an option as well and he’s been pitching great baseball for us, but this time of year, you look at things a little bit differently.
“Jay earned the opportunity,” O’Connor added. “He stepped up as good as I’ve seen somebody and he’s earned that opportunity to start Game 2 for us.”
