CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Oh, Henry indeed.
Baylor School baseball fans will have at least a couple of reasons to root for the Virginia Cavaliers in the College World Series that starts Friday in Omaha, Nebraska.
Henry Ford and Henry Godbout, both former standouts for the Red Raiders, were key players in Virginia’s sweep of Kansas State in this weekend’s Charlottesville Super Regional.
A day after Godbout’s three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning provided the final runs of a 7-4 comeback win for Virginia, the NCAA tournament’s overall No. 12 seed, Ford’s two-run single in the fifth put the Cavaliers ahead for good in what wound up a 10-4 win on Saturday.
Ford, a freshman first baseman, had two hits in the second game of the best-of-three super regional, when Godbout, a sophomore second baseman, had a hit, walked twice and scored a pair of runs.
Virginia (46-15) advanced to the College World Series for the seventh time in program history, all since 2009. The Cavaliers won the national championship in 2015, and they’ll head west again with hopes of securing title No. 2.
Virginia went 3-0 at home last weekend to earn its ninth regional title.
“They played their best baseball the last two weekends,” said Cavaliers coach Brian O’Connor, who is in his 21st season leading the program. “Certainly we have more to do in front of us. We’re going to enjoy today and tonight and regroup tomorrow and get ready for our plan of what we need to do in Omaha to keep this thing going.”
Kansas State’s season ends at 35-26.
Casey Saucke had two hits, an RBI and scored twice on Saturday, and Luke Hanson put the icing on the victory with a three-run double in the ninth inning.
Virginia, playing as the visiting team on its home field for Game 2 of the super regional, took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Saucke hit a two-out homer and Ford reached on an infield single, moved over on a wild pitch and — after a walk — scored on Harrison Didawick’s single to right-center field.
The Wildcats got one run in the bottom half of the inning and another in the second, and it remained 2-2 for the next two innings.
In the top of the fifth, Eric Becker was thrown out at home trying to score on a bases-loaded grounder by Saucke, but the Cavaliers reloaded the bases for Ford, who delivered the single that scored two. Kansas State’s Brendan Jones hit a two-out homer in the bottom half to make it 4-3.
The Cavaliers picked up a run in the eighth on an RBI double by Becker and took a 5-4 lead to the ninth after Kyan Lodice’s leadoff homer for the Wildcats in the bottom of the eighth.
Josh Wintroub came on in relief for Kansas State in the ninth and gave up a two-out, two-run triple to Jacob Ference. Wintroub then loaded the bases, was pulled from the game and was charged with three more runs when Hanson doubled down the left-field line off JJ Slack for the final margin.
The Wildcats went down in order in the ninth.
Virginia’s Jay Woolfolk (6-1) pitched 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits, striking out seven batters and walking two. Chase Hungate got the save, his second of the season, after pitching two perfect innings.
Jackson Wentworth (5-6) took the loss.
Three of the eight CWS spots have already been filled, with all of the Omaha qualifers so far coming from the Atlantic Coast Conference as the Cavaliers were joined by league mates Florida State and North Carolina.
Clemson and North Carolina State are also still alive in the super regional round as part of separate series that will continue Sunday.
AP file photo by Gary McCullough / Florida State’s James Tibbs III hit a trio of two-run homers Saturday in the Seminoles’ 10-8 win in 12 innings against Connecticut to sweep the Tallahassee Super Regional.Florida State 10, UConn 8, 12 innings
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — James Tibbs III hit his third home run of the game, a two-run shot in the top of the 12th inning, and 12th-seeded Florida State (47-15) defeated the University of Connecticut (35-26) to sweep the Tallahassee Super Regional and earn the Seminoles’ 24th CWS trip.
After Max Williams led off the 12th with a single and Cam Smith flied out, Tibbs drove a 1-0 pitch deep over the fence in right field for the go-ahead runs. In the bottom of the inning, Conner Whittaker allowed a two-out single but struck out Paul Tammaro to end it.
Florida State will head to Omaha still seeking the accomplished program’s first national championship; the Seminoles have been runners-up three times (1970, 1986, 1999).
They are in the CWS for the first time since 2019, which was the program’s 40th and final season under head coach Mike Martin Sr., whose tenure included 17 appearances in the event. Martin, who died earlier this year, retired after that season and was succeeded in the job by his son Mike Jr., who was fired after three seasons that included two NCAA tournament appearances without advancing beyond the regional round. There was no NCAA tourney his first season due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Link Jarrett, who played shortstop for the Seminoles in the early 1990s, endured a losing record last year in his first season as head coach at his alma mater — the first in program history — but has Florida State in a familiar spot now.
“I couldn’t be more thankful to be here and help put Florida State baseball back on the map,” Tibbs said. “It’s been a wild ride.”
There were eight home runs in Saturday’s game, including six by Florida State, which won Friday’s super regional opener 24-4.
Tibbs’ dramatic homer was his third two-run shot of the game. It was his 31st home run of the season, and his 100 RBIs are tied for first in the nation. He went 5-for-6 with six RBIs on Saturday.
Afterward, he said he went up to teammate Daniel Cantu and others in the dugout before the 12th inning to tell them he was going to do it again for the win.
“That was just pure luck,” he said, “but I was confident and I was hoping I would get a pitch to hit — and luckily I did.”
North Carolina 2, West Virginia 1
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Vance Honeycutt hit a home run on the game’s first pitch after ending the opener with a two-run shot the night before, and No. 4 North Carolina (47-14) held off West Virginia (36-24) to complete a sweep of the Chapel Hill Super Regional.
North Carolina will play in its 12th CWS looking to win it for the first time. The Tar Heels finished second in Omaha in back-to-back seasons, 2006 and 2007, losing both times to Oregon State in the championship finals.
Honeycutt, who homered in the ninth inning of the Tar Heels’ 8-6 victory on Friday, went deep off West Virginia starter Tyler Switalski leading off Saturday’s rematch. Honeycutt’s home run was his school-record 26th of the season, moving him one past the single-season record he set two seasons ago. It was also the school-record 63rd of his career.
The Tar Heels scored their final run on a trio of two-out singles in the third. Honeycutt got it started when he bunted and beat it out, Casey Cook followed with a base hit up the middle to put runners at the corners, and Parks Harber plated Honeycutt with a single through the left side of the infield for what proved to be the winning run.
“What a team, what a team,” Honeycutt said. “Not done yet, though.”
The Mountaineers scored their lone run in the bottom of the seventh. Reed Chumley singled with one out, took second on a two-out walk to Spencer Barnett and raced home on a Kyle West single through the left side.
West Virginia, which advanced to the first super regional in school history, loaded the bases against Tar Heels reliever Dalton Pence with two outs in the ninth, but Ben Lumsden was retired on a groundout to end the game and earn Pence his eighth save of the season.
The game turned out to be the last for Randy Mazey, who announced he would step down as head coach of the Mountaineers after the season and turn the reins over to longtime associate head coach Steve Sabins. Mazey took over at West Virginia in 2013.
N.C. State 18, Georgia 1
ATHENS, Ga. — Noah Soles had two doubles and five RBIs in N.C. State’s 11-run second inning, and the 10th-seeded Wolfpack routed No. 7 Georgia in the Athens Super Regional opener.
Luke Nixon and Matt Heavner had back-to-back bunt singles in the top of the second, the former to drive in Brandon Butterworth and open the scoring, and the latter to load the bases with nobody out.
Soles followed with a three-RBI double down the line in right field, and Eli Serrano III hit the next pitch over the wall in right-center. Butterworth added an RBI single before Nixon and Soles each hit two-RBI doubles to give the Wolfpack (37-20) an 11-0 lead.
Sam Highfill (7-2) gave up a run on four hits and three walks in six innings to earn the win on the mound. Andrew Shaffner pitched three innings in relief without allowing a hit or a run.
With a win Sunday, N.C. State would earn the program’s third trip to the College World Series, with the most recent appearance in 2021.
Corey Collins singled to right in the bottom of the fifth for the Bulldogs (42-16) to make it 13-1. Georgia, seeking the program’s seventh CWS berth but first since a national runner-up finish in 2008, must win Sunday to force a third game on Monday.
Kentucky 10, Oregon State 0
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Trey Pooser pitched the first seven innings of a one-hitter, Ryan Nicholson drove in three runs, and No. 2 Kentucky (44-14) defeated No. 15 Oregon State (45-15) to open the Lexington Super Regional.
Kentucky is one win from the first CWS berth in program history, while the Beavers need to beat the Wildcats twice — Sunday and then Monday — to earn their seventh trip.
In his seven innings on the mound, Pooser (7-1) allowed one hit, struck out eight batters and walked four. Only one runner reached third base, and two others made it as far as second. Jackson Nove finished with two hitless innings, striking out four.
Kentucky broke it open with seven runs in the seventh, when the big hit was a two-run homer by Nicholson. A wild pitch, a throwing error and two more wild pitches by Noah Ferguson produced the last three runs of the inning.
Aiden May (7-1) pitched into the sixth inning for the Beavers, allowing three runs on seven hits, but their bullpen faltered in the seventh.
Joey Mundt was charged with two runs, AJ Hutcheson with four and Ferguson with one. Ferguson faced three batters, threw three wild pitches, struck out two batters and walked one, allowing two inherited runners to score.
Elijah Hainline had the lone hit for Oregon State with a single in the second inning.
Florida 10, Clemson 7
CLEMSON, S.C. — Jac Caglianone hit his 32nd home run of the season to spark Florida’s seven-run fifth inning, and the Gators (33-28) beat the sixth-seeded Tigers (44-15) in the Clemson Super Regional opener.
Florida can clinch the program’s 13th CWS berth with a win in Sunday’s game, when Clemson will be facing elimination. The Gators were runners-up last year — as well as in 2005 and 2011 — and won it all in 2017.
The Tigers have been to the CWS a dozen times but not since 2010. This is their first super regional appearance since then.
Caglianone hit an 0-1 pitch over the wall in left for a three-run homer to give the Gators the lead for good before Michael Robertson’s RBI single capped the explosion and made it 9-4 in the top of the fifth.
Tristan Bissetta hit a solo shot for Clemson in the home half of the inning, and Jarren Purify scored on a sacrifice fly before a groundout by Blake Wright drove in Alden Mathes in the bottom of the sixth to pull the Tigers within 9-7.
Caglianone, a projected top-10 pick in the upcoming MLB draft, finished 2-for-4 with a walk, while Dale Thomas went 2-for-5 with an RBI, and Tyler Shelnut hit a solo homer for Florida.
Clemson had leads of 3-0 after two innings and 4-1 after three, but Florida’s Tyler Shelnut hit a solo homer in the fourth to cut that advantage in half before the Gators really got going.
Florida’s Brandon Neely took over on the mound in the sixth and pitched four scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk while striking out seven batters to earn his fourth save of the season.
Texas A&M 10, Oregon 6
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Chris Cortez and Evan Aschenbeck combined for 7 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, Hayden Schott drove in three runs, and the third-seeded Aggies (48-13) battled back from an early three-run deficit to defeat mistake-prone Oregon (40-19) in the College Station Super Regional opener.
The Aggies can earn the eighth CWS trip in program history with a win Sunday, when Oregon will try to win to force a Monday rubber match. The Ducks, in the super regional round for the second year in a row, made their lone CWS appearance in 1954.
Anson Arroz hit a two-run homer in the first inning for Oregon, and the Ducks added four runs in the second, building a 6-3 lead.
Trailing 6-4 through three innings, Texas A&M took a 7-6 lead with three runs in the fourth on two errors and a fielder’s choice. The Aggies added three more in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk and two groundouts.
After Ryan Prager was charged with all six Oregon runs in the first two innings, Cortez (9-3) came on in relief and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out 10 batters. He was relieved after allowing a leadoff walk and hitting a batter with one out in the eighth.
Aschenbeck got out of the eighth with a foulout and a strikeout, then retired the side in order in the ninth. He pitched 1 2/3 innings without allowing a hit and struck out three batters for his eighth save.
In all, Oregon went seven innings with 10 hits, 13 strikeouts and no runs against Cortez and Aschenbeck.
Texas A&M’s 10 runs came on 10 separate plays. The Aggies’ last six runs scored on either an error, a fielder’s choice or a walk.
Schott’s RBIs came on a double in the first inning, a single in the third and a fielder’s choice in the fourth.