College World Series 2015 scores and bracket: Miami and Vanderbilt walk off, Virginia shuts out Florida

If you can clamp down on the top three or four hitters in most lineups, you have a pretty good shot at shutting down that offense. But the trouble with Miami is that the order is so balanced that every guy coming to the plate can burn you at any time. On a night that Arkansas held the top eight hitters in the Hurricanes’ order to 4-for-28, a monster performance from nine-hole batter Jacob Heyward sent the Razorbacks home on the first bus out of Omaha with a 4-3 loss.

Heyward went a perfect 3-for-3, including a two-run homer in the fifth and a walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth. This guy is hitting .340 on the season, but he finds himself at the bottom of a loaded Miami lineup with just 22 starts on the season. But he put the team on his back when they needed him, carrying them through an impressive start from Keaton McKinney and a strong relief performance by the Razorback bullpen.

After surviving a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth to keep things tied at 3, the Canes led off the bottom of the frame with a double. Then Hayward stepped to the plate to deliver the game-winner.

Credit the Hogs, who fought from behind to tie the game twice in the final four innings. Down 3-2 in the top of the eighth, Brett McAfee delivered a clutch single to plate the tying run, and just like that, the Hogs had a rally cooking.

Arkansas had a golden opportunity to push into the lead in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with two outs. But Miami closer Bryan Garcia was able to coax a grounder to escape the inning and set up Hayward’s walkoff heroics.

The Hogs get the dubious distinction of being the first team eliminated from Omaha. Miami, meanwhile, advances to face Florida in an elimination game on Wednesday.

Virginia pitcher Brandon Waddell hasn’t had the season he hoped for -- his ERA shot up from 2.45 in 2014 to 4.15 in 2015 -- but the problem might just have been that he wasn’t throwing in Omaha. The Wahoos’ most decorated postseason pitcher, whose last CWS outing was a complete game against Vandy in the national championship series last year, came up big again in TD Ameritrade on Monday night. Against a Gators team that had won 10 straight and averaged over 11 runs a game during the NCAA Tourney, Waddell pitched seven scoreless innings to move his club within a game of the finals.

It did get a bit dicey for Waddell towards the end, though. With Virginia clinging to a 1-0 lead, a walk and a single to begin the top of the eighth put men on the corners with no outs. In came big-time reliever Josh Sborz, who came within inches of giving up an RBI to the first batter he faced, but knocked down a screaming come-backer to get the out at second.

That was the closest to tying the game Florida would come. Sborz got a lineout and a grounder to escape the jam, then worked a perfect ninth to pick up his 15th save of the year. He and Waddell combined for a two-hitter against the prolific Gator offense.

You hate to think a weather delay was a deciding factor in a College World Series game, but it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t in this one. Cal State Fullerton was up 3-0 and ace pitcher Thomas Eshelman was cruising along Sunday night before lightning and rain suspended the game in the sixth inning. After play resumed on Monday -- with Eshelman watching from the dugout -- the Dores rallied all the way back, getting a two-run homer from freshman Jeren Kendall to walk it off in the bottom of the ninth.

Fullerton entered the last half-inning with a 3-1 lead, just three outs away from a date with TCU in the winners bracket. But two Vandy doubles cut the lead to one run and brought Kendall up with a runner on second. Then Kendall sent it over the wall to break Fullerton’s hearts and Karl Ravech’s voice box.

It’s entirely possible that Vandy would have come back even without the weather delay. Eshelman was at 95 pitches through 6.2 innings, so it’s doubtful he would have still been pitching in the ninth anyway. But the suspension certainly changed the momentum.

On the very first pitch on Monday, Chad Hockin, who had the awkward job of “starting” the resumption with a full count and a runner on third, gave up an RBI double to put the first run on Vandy’s score box and a charge into its dugout. Vandy had just four hits in 20 at-bats against Eshelman on Sunday. They equaled that hit total in just 13 at-bats after the delay.