Waddell, Cavs force deciding 3rd game

Omaha, NE - Thanks to Brandon Waddell, there will be one, final college baseball game in 2014.

Waddell threw a complete game, five-hitter and Virginia’s offense came alive late in a 7-2 victory over Vanderbilt in game two of the College World Series championship series at Ameritrade Park.

The teams, each trying to win their school’s first-ever national title, will play a deciding game three Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Vanderbilt led 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning after Waddell served up John Norwood’s run-scoring double, but that was all the Commodores would get against the Virginia southpaw. Waddell got a pair of strikeouts sandwiched around a pick off of Norwood at second to escape further trouble in that inning, then didn’t allow another hit until Norwood’s infield single with two outs in the ninth.

Virginia, which bounced back from a 9-8 loss in the opener, got all the runs it would need in taking the lead for good in the sixth.

Facing Vanderbilt starter and losing pitcher Tyler Beede, the Cavaliers scored a pair of runs on infield outs, then Brandon Downes ripped a run-scoring triple to put the ACC school up 3-2. Beede, who was selected 14th overall by the San Francisco Giants in the Major League Baseball Draft earlier this month, allowed six earned runs in his 6 2/3 innings of work, including a two-run single by Kenny Towns that chased the right-hander with two outs in the seventh.

Vanderbilt got on the scoreboard first, thanks in large part to a missed call by the second base umpire. Norwood had drawn a one-out walk and appeared to have been tagged out before reaching second on a steal attempt. Instead, the Commodores’ center fielder was ruled safe and two batters later he scored on Chris Harvey’s ground out.

The Cavaliers used a pair of infield singles by Brandon Downes and Robbie Coman and a successful safety squeeze from Branden Cogswell, which chased home Downes to tie the game at 1-1 in the third.

Norwood delivered the lead for the Commodores in the fourth when after Zander Wiel reached on a two-base error, Norwood ripped an RBI-double to put Vanderbilt ahead 2-1.