Virginia stopped the Florida offense's hot streak and pulled out a 1-0 win to put the Gators on the brink of elimination:
Florida came into its Monday night matchup with Virginia as the hottest team in the 2015 College World Series field.
The Gators left it as the coldest — and with an exasperating 1-0 loss.
Florida scratched out just two hits, both singles, over the nine innings in Omaha, and while Gators starter A.J. Puk and relievers Taylor Lewis and Bobby Poyner limited the Cavaliers to only five hits of their own, Virginia did manage to plate a run.
A.J. Puk and Brandon Waddell dueled with high efficiency early, each allowing only one single apiece through the first five innings. Waddell kept it going through the top of the sixth, but Puk allowed three hits in the bottom of the inning. Two singles to the outfield and an infield hit loaded the bases, at which point Puk gave way to Taylor Lewis. The first batter he faced, Robbie Coman, hit a sac fly to center that scored Matt Thaiss for the game's only run.
Florida's only real threat to score late came in the eighth. Dalton Guthrie walked to start the inning, and Ryan Larsen singled to right center to advance Guthrie to third. Waddell came out in favor of Josh Sborz at that point. Harrison Bader grounded to Sborz, who kept Guthrie on third and got Larsen out at second. Riche Martin lined out to second and Josh Tobais grounded out to second to end the inning, stranding Guthrie. Sborz worked a 1-2-3 ninth with three ground outs to seal the victory.
Florida will now have a rematch with Miami (FL) in an elimination game after the Hurricanes defeated Arkansas in the game before this one. It's unlikely that the Gators' bats will come up empty again, and they'll need to get back going again to keep the team in Omaha.