SEC Baseball

Waddell, Sborz limit Gators to 2 hits

Virginia starting pitcher Brandon Waddell (20) works against Florida in the first inning of an NCAA College World Series baseball game at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb., Monday, June 15, 2015. (AP Photo/Ted Kirk)

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Virginia's Brandon Waddell sure has taken a liking to pitching in TD Ameritrade Park.

Waddell turned in his third straight strong outing in the College World Series on Monday night, this time combining with Josh Sborz on a two-hitter in a 1-0 victory over Florida and what had been a prolific Gators offense.

"It seemed like from pitch one to when he came out in the eighth inning, he was in command of the game," Virginia coach Brian O'Connor said. "It's the best he's been all year. He saved his best outing of the year for a real important time."

The Cavaliers (41-22), the 2014 national runners-up, took control of their bracket and are off until Friday. They need one more win to reach next week's best-of-three finals. The Gators (50-17) will play an elimination game Wednesday against Miami, the team they beat by 12 runs in their Omaha opener.

"We ran across a really good pitcher who located his pitches and didn't give us a whole lot," Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "I'm giving all the credit to Waddell. I trust our guys. We have to bounce back. We have no choice but to move forward."

Florida starter A.J. Puk held Virginia scoreless on one hit through five innings, but the Cavaliers strung together three straight singles to load the bases with one out in the sixth. That brought on Taylor Lewis in relief to face Robbie Coman, who lofted a sacrifice fly to score Matt Thaiss.

That was the only run the Cavaliers needed, thanks to the work out Sborz after the Gators started to get to Waddell (4-5) in the eighth. Dalton Guthrie drew a walk and reached third on No. 9 batter Ryan Larson's liner into right center.

Sborz, who pitched three innings of one-hit shutout relief against Arkansas on Saturday, came on to face Harrison Bader with none out. Bader sent a hard drive right back at Sborz, who had his glove knocked off as he protected his head. Sborz gathered himself and threw to second for the force out. Richie Martin then lined out to second and Josh Tobias grounded out.

"It was all reaction," Sborz said of knocking down Bader's shot. "From there, I got lucky throwing it to second. I was just happy because I didn't get hit in the head."

Sborz induced three groundouts in the ninth to earn his 15th save and end the Gators' 10-game win streak.

Waddell, the Pittsburgh Pirates' fifth-round draft pick, came into the game 4-1 with a 2.16 ERA in eight career NCAA Tournament starts.

In two CWS outings last year he held TCU to one earned run in seven innings, and he scattered five hits in a complete-game victory over Vanderbilt in the finals.

Until the eighth inning Monday, all the Gators could muster against him was Peter Alonso's infield single on a dribbler down the third-base line.

Waddell said he couldn't compare his outings in Omaha.

"I was happy I was able to go out and go seven innings and not give up a run," Waddell said. "That's my goal going into it. I've had some good starts the last part of the season. I've just been trying to keep it going."

Florida came in batting .338 in the postseason and having outscored opponents 68-15 in its first six NCAA Tournament games. The Gators had tied a CWS record with an 11-run inning in a 15-3 win over Miami on Saturday in what was the highest scoring total in the five years the event has been played at TD Ameritrade Park.

It was a dramatic turnaround for the Gators, who were shut out for the third time this season.

O'Connor said he wouldn't have imagined one run would be enough to win the game.

"We had the right guy on the mound tonight," he said.