Two Shutouts Put an End to Troy and Texas in Omaha
West Virginia sends Troy home in their rematch
Everyone loves a Cinderella story in college baseball, but as most Cinderella stories do, they have to come to an end at some point. For the Troy Trojans, one of the final four teams into the field of 64 out of the Sun Belt, their journey came to an end on Tuesday afternoon.
The first game between Troy and West Virginia, which happened to be the very first game of the College World Series, was a lot closer than it was on Tuesday as it was apparent that this Trojans team simply ran out of steam. The Mountaineers not only put up 12 runs, but also held an offense that had been surging throughout the tournament to zero runs on the afternoon. Junior right-hander Dawson Montesa got the start for the Mountaineers, throwing the first 5.1 innings of the shutout. It was the first start of his season in which he didn’t surrender a run in at least five innings of work. While he did walk four Trojans hitters, he only gave up two hits while striking out six. Ben McDougal, Reese Bassinger, and Carson Estridge followed out of the bullpen, combining for 3.2 scoreless innings on two hits, three walks, and seven strikeouts.
You of course couldn’t have asked for a better performance from the offense if you’re a West Virginia fan. Nine different hitters hit safely in this one, while four different hitters logged multi-hit games, that being Armani Guzman, Gavin Kelly, Matthew Graveline, and Matt Ineich. Gavin Kelly led the way with three hits, one of which was a back-breaking three-run home run in the sixth that extended West Virginia’s lead to five. That big fly was huge at the time considering Troy’s recent ability to battle back and flip a game on its head. The rest of the lineup only produced two more extra-base hits, but they also managed to walk eight times, which highlights the feature of West Virginia’s offense that I’ve harped on before - they are a very disciplined group that is going to find a way to get the ball in play, create chaos on the bases, and find a big hit somewhere in there, which is exactly what they did all afternoon against Troy.
West Virginia will get their rematch with North Carolina on Wednesday at 1 PM CT, but if they manage to come away with a win, they will have to beat them a consecutive time on Thursday to advance to the final as North Carolina is still undefeated.
The Georgia arms are the difference-makers against Texas once again in their rematch
We got a second rematch from the opening round on Tuesday, and another shutout as Georgia put away Texas by a score of 2-0. In a match-up between two high-powered offenses, this was surprisingly a pitcher’s duel as both starters were shoving early.
Junior right-hander Dylan Vigue was on the mound for Georgia while senior left-hander Luke Harrison went for Texas. Neither arm gave up a run until the Bulldogs put together a little rally to push across the first run of the game against Harrison in the fifth. Both pitchers were equally as dominant, but neither pitched particularly deep into the game as each head coach was ready to turn to the bullpen at a moment’s notice considering the stakes of the game. Luke Harrison’s day ended with two outs in the sixth inning, finishing with one earned run on two hits, four walks, and a career-high 11 strikeouts. Vigue went four innings after he was removed with no outs in the fifth, finishing with two hits, two walks, and eight strikeouts.
From there, it was the top relievers from each bullpen who dueled the rest of the way. The big freshman right-hander Sam Cozart took over for Texas while junior right-hander Justin Byrd took over for Georgia. Byrd threw the final five innings for the Dawgs which tied a career-high in innings, while Sam Cozart got the final 3.1 innings for Texas. Georgia managed to push one more across in the top of the seventh inning in a series of events in which the ball simply didn’t roll the way Texas needed it to. A diving catch from center fielder Dariyan Pendergrass was overturned as a no-catch, Tre Phelps hit a squibber through the infield against the shift, and a wacky pop fly in shallow left field turned into a sacrifice fly that could have gone either way on the play at the plate. Despite the run in the seventh, Cozart was excellent, surrendering just the one unlucky run on three hits, one walk, and six strikeouts.
Justin Byrd was just a little bit better on the other side, allowing just three base runners via two walks and one hit across his five innings of work with four strikeouts. Texas had their best shot at Byrd in the eighth inning as they put two on with two outs as Adrian Rodriguez, the hottest hitter in Omaha, came to the plate. However, the sophomore would roll over to first base to end the threat. The bottom half of the Longhorns lineup would go quietly in the ninth as Georgia survives.
The narrative around this Georgia team coming into Omaha was the notion that they could be beat when you take away the long ball - which Charles Schwab Field in Omaha often does. However, the Bulldogs have proved otherwise. Texas owned the best lineup in the tournament not named Georgia, yet the Dawgs held them to just a single run across two games while only needing a total of three pitchers to do it. They pieced together rallies elsewhere to get it done offensively without relying on the home run.
They are going to need this level of pitching as they will take on Oklahoma once again - a team that is simply firing on all cylinders right now. They will have to beat Oklahoma twice to advance to the final as the Sooners remain undefeated. Georgia has lost to the same team twice just one time all year - a regular season series with Florida in April. With that being said, I would still feel pretty good about this rematch if I’m a Georgia fan. We’ll find out just how much weight that hold on Wednesday night.
