TCU eliminates Virginia from College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. — Sam Stoutenborough and two relievers limited Virginia to five hits, Cole Fontenelle drove in two runs and TCU eliminated the Cavaliers from the College World Series with a 4-3 win Sunday.

The Horned Frogs (43-23) will try to extend their stay when they play Tuesday against Oral Roberts. ORU beat TCU 6-5 in the CWS opener.

“I think everybody was wondering, after the punch to the gut on Friday, how they were going to respond?” coach Kirk Saarloos said. “I didn’t have any question about how they were going to respond. I could see it on the bus. I could see it on Saturday at our practice. … We outlasted them.”

Virginia (50-15) lost a second straight one-run game and went 0-2 for the first time in six CWS appearances. Four of the first five CWS games were decided by one run.

“Two one-run losses certainly hurts, and I feel for our guys because they’ve had a terrific year,” Cavaliers coach Brian O’Connor said. “That said, we didn’t win, and our goal is to win here in Omaha and have a chance to win a national championship. We certainly fell short of that.”

The Cavaliers entered the game batting a nation-leading .334 for the season, but they never found a rhythm against Stoutenborough, Garrett Wright and Ben Abeldt.

Wright, who typically enters games late and throws fewer than 25 pitches, was called on for middle relief and threw 43, his second most in an outing this season.

“I just wanted the baseball,” Wright said. “I just wanted to give our team the best chance to win. And so ‘Loos thought it was the best idea to come in earlier and get it to Ben in the back end. That’s what I did.”

Virginia starter Connelly Early, who came in having allowed two earned runs in 13 1/3 innings in the NCAA Tournament, gave up single runs in the first and third innings and was relieved by Brian Edgington to start the sixth.

Edgington, who pitched a complete game in the super regional-clinching win over Duke last week, allowed a base hit and walk before Elijah Nunez’s two-out single gave the Frogs a 3-1 lead.

Ethan Anderson homered leading off the seventh — Virginia’s first hit since the first inning — but the Frogs got that run back the next inning when 9-hole batter Austin Davis drove a ball over center fielder Ethan O’Donnell for an RBI double.

Virginia was within a run in the eighth when Harrison Didawick singled, stole second, moved over on a fly and came home on O’Donnell’s RBI groundout.

Abeldt pitched the ninth for his second save. He struck out .400-hitter Kyle Teel and got Anderson to ground out before Casey Saucke singled up the middle and took second when center fielder Elijah Nunez bobbled the ball. Abeldt struck out Anthony Stephan to end the game.

FLORIDA 5, ORAL ROBERTS 4: Hurston Waldrep struck out 12 in six innings, and Florida homered three times to break its single-season record in a victory over Oral Roberts in the College World Series.

Florida took control of Bracket 1 — but not before Matt Hogan’s inside-the-park home run pulled ORU within two runs and having to escape a bases-loaded situation in the eighth when its closer was forced out of the game because of a mound-visit rules violation and another threat in the ninth.

The Gators (52-15) will play Wednesday against the winner of the Tuesday elimination game between ORU and TCU.

The Summit League’s Golden Eagles (52-13), the first No. 4 regional seed since 2012 to play in the CWS, are known to punch above their weight, but they looked outclassed early against the No. 2 national seed Gators.

Ty Evans, Josh Rivera and Luke Heyman hit home runs for Florida. Evans’ homer was the Gators’ 133rd of the season, breaking the record of 132 by the 1998 team.