Cavaliers Even Up Series

Virginia Shakes Early Deficit to Force a Decisive Game 3: Virginia 4, Mississippi 3

OXFORD, Miss., June 6 -- The crowd behind the bullpen in left field had been jeering Virginia reliever Matt Packer and his teammates for much of the game. But as he made the slow jog to the mound in the top of the ninth inning, Packer tuned out the boos.

"I like to imagine all the fans cheering for me," Packer said.

Oxford-University Stadium on Saturday afternoon was the most pressure-packed environment that Packer had ever experienced, but with the Cavaliers two outs from evening their NCAA tournament super regional series against Mississippi at one game apiece, the junior pretended he was surrounded by people who wanted him to succeed. With the potential game-tying run at third, he also told himself to take deep breaths and throw strikes.

One shallow fly out and one groundout later, Virginia had sealed a 4-3 victory to force a decisive Game 3 on Sunday. And the Cavaliers (47-13-1), who are making history by the day, are one win from their first trip to the College World Series.

"This is the best," said Virginia Manager Brian O'Connor, whose team tied a school record for victories in a season. "This is what you want. This is a memory that these players will have forever."

After Ole Miss claimed Friday's Game 1 with a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 12th, O'Connor said he expected his team to regroup overnight. The Cavaliers have been resilient all season, and they needed some late-game magic on Saturday to quiet a stadium-record crowd of 10,323.

Mississippi, which was the visiting team, took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the eighth, then the unexpected: Virginia's Danny Hultzen (St. Albans) reached when second baseman Evan Button botched his throw to first after fielding a hard-hit grounder.

"I make that play 99 times out of 100," Button said. "I had all day to throw it. Wish I could have it back."

Virginia's Steven Proscia walked, and teammate Franco Valdes capitalized by scoring Hultzen on a single to right. Proscia scored the go-ahead run when the Rebels were unable to turn a double play on a ground ball to short.

"We've always bounced back, always played better in the back half of games," said Valdes, a junior catcher. "Being down 3-2, it just fires us up to be able to get back out there."

It took Mississippi all of three pitches to rough up Virginia right-hander Robert Morey in the top of the first. Leadoff hitter Jordan Henry blooped a double to left and Logan Power crushed Morey's next pitch -- a hanging fastball -- over the left field wall for a quick 2-0 lead.

Morey settled down after that, avoiding first-pitch fastballs, and the Cavaliers chipped away against Mississippi's Drew Pomeranz, a lanky left-hander who had pitched the Rebels to a pair of victories in regional play. Cannon singled in a run in the fourth, and Barr had an RBI double in the fifth. O'Connor made a crucial decision in the bottom half of that inning, opting to summon senior Andrew Carraway from the bullpen after Morey walked the first two hitters. Carraway had been penciled in as Virginia's Game 3 starter, but O'Connor said he had no choice: Virginia had to win this one first.

Kyle Henson stroked a run-scoring single to push Mississippi ahead, 3-2, but Virginia avoided any additional damage when David Phillips grounded into an inning-ending double play. Carraway scattered three hits over 3 1/3 innings before giving way to Packer with one on and one out in the ninth.

"Sometimes baseball can be fun," Carraway said, "even when you're in a competitive game like this."