College World Series: Virginia vs. Tennessee in Omaha, Neb., 2 p.m. ESPN2
Virginia is set to play in its fifth College World Series starting this afternoon. The Cavaliers battle the 50-win Volunteers out of the SEC.
The CWS consists of eight teams split into two four-team brackets. Each bracket plays a double-elimination tournament, and then the survivor of each bracket will face each other in a best-of-three final series June 28-30.
No. 2 national seed Texas and No. 7 national seed Mississippi State join the Wahoos and Vols on their side of the bracket. The Longhorns and Bulldogs play each other at 7 p.m. today. The winners of each game will match up Tuesday at 7 p.m. while the losers will look to avoid elimination before that when they square off at 2 p.m.
The other bracket of the CWS includes No. 9 national seed Stanford, N.C. State (the only other team other than Virginia at the CWS not seeded nationally), No. 5 national seed Arizona, and No. 4 national seed Vanderbilt, Virginia's nemesis in the CWS finals in both 2014 and '15. Those squads began play Saturday, with N.C. State upsetting Stanford, 10-4. As I was finishing this post up, Vanderbilt defeated Arizona, 7-6 in 12 innings. The winners and losers of those games play Monday.
Depending on who Virginia faces Tuesday, I may be able to get around to previewing that next opponent. But for now, here's more on the Vols, with an updated look at the 'Hoos as well.
Tennessee
Seed: No. 1 seed at Knoxville Regional; No. 3 national seed
Record: 50-16, 20-10 SEC, 3-2 SEC tournament, 3-0 in Knoxville Regional (one win over Wright State, two wins over Liberty), 2-0 in Knoxville Super Regional (beat LSU)
Win streak: Five
Last 10 games: 8-2
CWS appearances: Fifth, first since 2005; national runner-up in 1951
Team batting average: .280
BA leaders: Liam Spence (.339), Jake Rucker (.331), Pete Derkay (.282), Drew Gilbert (.275)
RBI leaders: Jordan Beck (63), Gilbert (62), Rucker (55), Max Ferguson (46)
HR leaders: Beck (15), Luc Lipcius (15), Evan Russell (14), Ferguson (12)
SB leaders: Ferguson (15), Gilbert (10), Beck (8), Rucker (7)
Team ERA: 3.42
Top starter and likely pitcher vs. UVa: Chad Dallas (16 appearances, 16 starts, 11-1, 4.10, 118 strikeouts, 19 walks); also worth noting is Blade Tidwell (17 appearances, 17 starts, 10-3, 3.57, 87 strikeouts, 32 walks)
Common opponents with UVa: Tennessee went a combined 4-1 against South Carolina (2-1) and Liberty (2-0). Virginia went 2-2 against the Gamecocks (1-1) and Flames (1-1).
Virginia
Seed: No. 3 seed at Columbia Regional
Record: 35-25, 18-18 ACC, 2-1 SEC tournament, 4-1 in Columbia Regional (one win over Jacksonville State, one win and one loss against South Carolina, two wins over Old Dominion), 2-1 in Columbia Super Regional (beat Dallas Baptist)
Win streak: Two
Last 10 games: 7-3
CWS appearances: Fifth, first since 2015, when the Wahoos won it all
Team batting average: .263
BA leaders: Kyle Teel (.320), Zack Gelof (.298), Devin Ortiz (.284), Jake Gelof and Max Cotier (.257); note Brendan Rivoli at .275, but he has not played much in the postseason
RBI leaders: Nic Kent (45), Teel (40), Zack Gelof (39), Ortiz (34)
HR leaders: Teel and Zack Gelof (9), Ortiz and Kent (8)
SB leaders: Kent (14), Chris Newell (11), Teel and Marc Lebreux (5)
Team ERA: 3.61
Top starter and pitching vs. Tennessee: Andrew Abbott (18 appearances, 16 starts, 8-6, 3.04, 152 strikeouts, 30 walks)
Other notable pitchers: Mike Vasil (16 appearances, 15 starts, 7-5, 4.82), Nate Savino (15 appearances, 10 starts, 3-3, 3.86), Griff McGarry (13 appearances, 10 starts, 0-5, 6.06), Ortiz (3 appearances, 1 start, 0-0, 0.00), Zach Messinger (26 appearances, 4 starts, 3-2, 4.31), Matt Wyatt (19 appearances, 2 starts, 4-1, 3.79), Blake Bales (25 appearances, 3-0, 0.71), Brandon Neeck (22 appearances, 2-0, 1.93), Kyle Whitten (25 appearances, 0-1, 3.23, 1 save), Stephen Schoch (21 appearances, 4-1, 2.52, 8 saves)
For a more in-depth look into this game and Tennessee and the CWS in general, check out the articles by my Hoos Place colleague Karl Hess.
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