College World Series 2011: Florida, South Carolina To Meet In Championship Series

With the shine of the bright lights focused squarely on the Florida Gators’ first trip to the College World Series Finals since 2005, an abrupt symphony of errors ruined what seemed to be a sure-fire series opening win against South Carolina.

Gamecock sophomore Christian Walker’s attempt to steal second base in the top of the 11th inning somehow devolved into the winning run after successive throwing errors by Gators catcher Mike Zunino and centerfielder Bryson Smith. Video highlights after the jump.

Florida and South Carolina have run the table thus far and something has to give as the College World Series moves into the championship round. Both the Gators and Gamecocks completed a sweep on Friday, advancing to the finals following three-consecutive wins. Florida knocked off Vanderbilt in the early game, 6-4, and South Carolina finished off a marathon by eliminating Virginia, 3-2 to set up the three-game series for the title.

The Gators did it the easy way, at least by comparison. Florida opened with an 8-4 over Texas and knocked off Vanderbilt, 3-1, to take control of the top-half of the bracket. On Friday, the Gators downed Vanderbilt a second time, earning the right to play for the NCAA championship.

Someone forgot to tell the Virginia and South Carolina managers that closers are only supposed to be used in short spurts. Instead, both closers were left in with the College World Series matchup knotted at two on Friday, and both had ridiculous pitch counts -- South Carolina’s Matt Price at 95, Virginia’s Branden Kline at 107.

↵And this is what happens when you make your closer pitch too long.

Virginia and South Carolina appeared to be destined to play all night in the College World Series. But thanks to back-to-back errors by Virginia pitcher Cody Winiarski, South Carolina was finally able to break a 2-2 tie, advance to the College World Series finals on a walk-off bunt-single-error, or something of the sort. Virginia heads home after putting up a valiant fight, but falling just short in the end.

With a runner on second, the Gamecocks were trying to just bunt the runner over with a sacrifice. Winiarski fielded the bunt cleanly, appeared to have time to get the runner at second, but threw the ball into center field. Fast forward to the next batter with the same situation. Again Winiarski field the ball, but this time he tries to get the lead runner at third -- who would’ve been safe anyway. The throw was off-line, Adam Matthews took home on the throwing error and South Carolina had itself a 3-2 win.

It’s clear neither manager in the College World Series matchup between the Virginia Cavaliers and South Carolina Gamecocks wants to burn his bullpen. So when the closers were called into pitch the worst-case scenario was a game that stretched deep into extra innings. Yet here we are in the top of the 13th inning, and the closers are still pitching.

Virginia’s Branden Kline has thrown 107 pitches while South Carolina’s Matt Price has thrown 87. Both have thrown well, though, and have stayed out of trouble. Neither has given up a run as the Gamecocks and Cavaliers battle back-and-forth in extras. The game’s been knotted at two since the eighth inning, when Virginia scored a run to make it a ballgame and stave-off elimination.

Virginia doesn’t want to go home and South Carolina doesn’t want to come back on Saturday for a decisive game with a berth in the College World Series finals on the line. In the nightcap in Omaha, the Cavaliers and Gamecocks are deadlocked through 11 innings, and the end appears to be nowhere in sight. It’s all tied at two heading into the 12th in Omaha as both teams partake in a pitchers duel.

The closers for each team have still been going strong, throwing multiple innings after being called in late. With the possibility of a game on Saturday, the managers are still conserving their pitching staff, though with the South Carolina closer above 70 pitches one has to wonder if he’ll be run into the ground.

I’ve never seen a bat break in a college baseball game and, to be honest, I didn’t think it was possible. After all, until this year aluminum bats were the standard and those don’t shatter too easily. This year, bats are made of a composite material meant to perform more like wood bats. For Florida’s Mike Zunino, the bat performed a little too much like a wood bat.

Here’s Zunino getting sawed-off in the College World Series on Friday. No, the bat doesn’t slip out of his hands; It breaks right near the handle and flies into the crowd.

You knew this was going to happen. Virginia pitcher Danny Hultzen struck out eight of the nine batters he faced and generally flustered the South Carolina offense through the first three innings. He was almost unhittable.

Hultzen also had the flu. Which might make the performance all the more impressive, though stifling the offense of the defending national champions through three innings is impressive to begin with.

The Florida Gators booked a ticket to the College World Series final on Friday afternoon and remained perfect in Omaha with a 6-4 win over the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Commodores clawed back after falling to Florida earlier in the week, eliminating North Carolina in a loser-out game on Wednesday to set up the rematch. The Gators only needed to win once in two attempts, but took care of business right away to take drama out of the equation.

Florida fell behind early, giving up a run in the top of the first on an Aaron Westlake home run. In the third, the Gators got the run back before scoring two more in the fourth take take a 3-1 lead. Florida added one more in the sixth and were seemingly in control, leading 4-1 heading into the late innings.

It’s crunch-time in the College World Series and two berths in the finals are on the line on Friday. For the South Carolina Gamecocks and Florida Gators, one win in the next two days will get them through to the finals -- both are in the driver’s seat in their respective brackets after surviving the week without a loss. The Vanderbilt Commodores and Virginia Cavaliers, on the other hand, face an uphill battle, and must win twice in consecutive days while facing the same team.

The day begins in Omaha at 2 p.m. as Florida and Vanderbilt battle it out in the top-half of the bracket. A Florida win puts the Gators in the final while a Vanderbilt win brings both teams back for another matchup on Saturday. At 7 p.m., South Carolina and Virginia square-off in the nightcap, and the situation is the same as the first game. A South Carolina win sends the Gamecocks through and a Virginia win forces the decisive game on Saturday.

The California Golden Bears’ dream run at the College World Series is over after the Virginia Cavaliers staved off elimination with an 8-1 win. Cal dropped its first game in Omaha, but bounced back to eliminate Texas A&M before falling to Virginia on Thursday evening.

Virginia scored in bunches while relying on its pitching to keep the Bears at bay. The Cavaliers scored two runs in the top of the third before pouring it on in the sixth, scoring four runs to take a 6-0 lead. Cal finally got on the board in the eighth, but Virginia added two more insurance runs in the ninth inning to put it away.

The Cal Golden Bears are going to need some late-inning offense if they want to advance to another 2011 College World Series elimination game on Friday. But they’ll need to do just that, as they are down, 6-0, to the Virginia Cavaliers.

After scoring two runs in the third inning, the Cavs came back in the top of the sixth inning with four more runs. Kenny Swab put the first run on the board when he singled to center field, but a fielding error by Darrel Matthews sent Swab all the way home. David Coleman followed with a double and scored on a Keith Werman single. Chris Taylor doubled in Werman, and Taylor scored on a John Barr single.

The Virginia Cavaliers scored first in their 2011 College World Series elimination game with the Cal Golden Bears to lead after three innings. After two scoreless innings to start the night, Virginia found Jared King and Keith Werman on first and second after a single and a throwing error by Dixon Anderson (he pulled Devon Rodriguez off the bag). A sacrifice moved the runners to second and third base. A wild pitch by Anderson and a sac fly put two runs on the board.

Dixon was able to work out of the inning, but he’s up to 48 pitches through three innings. Virginia’s Tyler Wilson has kept the Cal offense to two hits in three innings and has struck out two. Cal still has plenty of time left to keep its storybook run going.