The potent offenses of North Carolina and Virginia mustered just one run apiece through three innings of play in their College World Series opener, which was all Cavalier head coach Brian O’Connor could hope for from his starting pitcher.
Sure, UVA would love to take advantage of the stellar start by Evan Blanco to take a lead, but still, his performance in the early going was worth commending, since he largely kept North Carolina at bay. When asked about the start, O’Connor was fully positive on Blanco.
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“He’s done a nice job. Certainly, the wind is blowing in a little bit, and you could be a little bit more aggressive. But I thought he’s really done a nice job of managing innings and not giving in, and that’s what he’s done all year for us.”
Obviously, with Blanco starting in the CWS, his head coach has confidence in him. But Brian O’Connor has really loved what he’s seen from Blanco of late and said as much in his own press conference ahead of the games.
“As of late, the back part of the season, he’s been incredibly consistent and went out there and given us six or seven innings every time and given us a chance to win the ball game,” said O’Connor prior to first pitch on Friday.
“You’re going to go with your guy. He’s our guy. He’s earned it. It’s not about necessarily whether he’s the right matchup for them. Evan Blanco has earned the right to start tomorrow in this opening game for what he’s done all year long. That said, I know North Carolina will be prepared for him.”
When it comes to the offensive end, though, it took until the third inning for Virginia to even up the count at 1-1 vs. North Carolina, and O’Connor wants to see his batters get more aggressive at the plate.
“Well, you know, it’s been very aggressive and we need to do a little bit better job of that. We’ve been taking too many fastballs in these first three innings.”
Thankfully, Virginia did have one player step up to deliver a run.
“But Henry Ford stepped up. He drove that ball to right field as close to being out, he stepped up there and got a big RBI hit.”
It’s a dogfight out in Omaha to kick off what’s sure to be an electric College World Series.
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