Cavaliers lose to end NCAA regional run

By Jay Jenkins

Published: June 2, 2008

FULLERTON, Calif. — In 1998, Rick Hartzell and his officiating crew botched a call late that cost Virginia an upset over Duke in men’s basketball at University Hall.

That play — and others that occurred from Texas to Boise and beyond — now has company in Cavalier lore.

Unfortunately, the call contributed to the end of Virginia’s baseball season.

Thanks to an odd interference call on a slide made by Greg Miclat into second base in the sixth inning by umpire Marc Lewis that eliminated a run and potential rally for the Cavaliers, Cal State Fullerton cruised to a 4-1 win at Goodwin Field.

The loss, the Cavaliers’ second in the Fullerton regional, eliminated them from the NCAA tournament in opening regional play for the fifth straight year and snapped Virginia’s string of 40-win seasons at four. The Titans advanced to play UCLA late Sunday night.

Despite the call, which television replays proved was unsubstantiated, Virginia coach Brian O’Connor

remained mum on the situation, taking the high road and avoiding a potential fine from his employer.

“We are obviously disappointed our season has ended. It is a tough way to lose,” O’Connor said. “To be honest with you, I am not going to say anything about it. We had bases loaded, no outs — [it was] the biggest play in the ballgame, quite frankly.

“Regarding the umpire, I nor these players will make any kind of comment about it. [Umpires] have a very, very difficult job. These guys are some of the best guys in the country. These players are not perfect and [umpires] are not either. Beyond that, I am not going to make any comment.”

When “the play” occurred, Virginia trailed 4-0 and appeared poised to strike against Fullerton starter Cory Arbiso for the first time.

In succession, John Barr, Tyler Cannon and Miclat singled to load the bases.

On the next pitch from Arbiso (12-3), rookie David Coleman bounced a grounder to Fullerton first baseman Jared Clark, who spun 90 degrees and fired to shortstop Christian Colon.

As the ball arrived, Miclat slid directly into the bag to break up the double play as Colon made no attempt to throw back to Clark.

Lewis promptly signified that Miclat was out and pointed to first while making the out signal again.

Miclat popped up, pleading his case with Lewis as O’Connor sprinted to the scene of the crime.

O’Connor said he was told that Miclat “rolled into the bag.”

When asked by a pool reporter about the play, crew chief Mitch Mele — a frequent umpire in ACC games, said — “[Shields] interpreted that to be an illegal slide, which constituted the interference call. It was ruled that the runner lashed out, kicked out at the fielder which by rule is an illegal slide.”

Due to the interference, the umpires returned Barr, who had scored, to third and Cannon back to second.

O’Connor had another issue with the play, but it did not pertain to the slide itself.

“I am more frustrated that we swung at a pitch that was down in the zone rather than trying to see a ball up in the zone and trying to drive a ball to the field, which is what you want to do in that situation,” the skipper said. “We needed to be a little bit more selective at the plate.

“It is not [Coleman’s] fault that we lost this game, but it is those little things that make a difference in whether you win championships or not at this time of the year.”

Virginia scratched for a run in the seventh off Arbiso on an RBI single by catcher Franco Valdes, but did not threaten again as Fullerton’s right-hander retired eight of the last nine Cavaliers he faced.

Virginia actually fell behind early in the contest when Pat McAnaney lost command of his pitches and walked two batters and hit the next two to allow a run. Colon followed with an RBI single.

McAnaney also allowed back-to-back doubles with one out in the third, which ended his day in favor of reliever Matt Packer.

“Nobody feels worse than Pat about what happened in the ballgame,” O’Connor said. “He tried to gut it out, but he just lost his command.”

Packer, who leads the nation in earned run average, allowed only two hits and one earned run in 6.2 innings.

“I think Matt Packer pitched his heart out and gave us a chance to win,” O’Connor said. “I thought we battled and we never gave in.

“We just couldn’t get one or two big hits when we needed them.”

For the game, Virginia managed eight hits and stranded six runners.