The decisive sequence unfolded with two outs in the seventh and runners on the corners. Facing Kansas State sidearm reliever Cole Wisenbaker, Godbout deposited an armpit-high offering several rows deep over the wall in left field for the final margin. It was Godbout’s third homer of the postseason and ninth this season. He is the only Cavaliers player to homer during this NCAA tournament, and he has done so twice.
In winning for the eighth time in nine games and fourth in a row, the Cavaliers (45-15) are one victory from advancing to the College World Series next week in Omaha for the seventh time in program history and the third time in four years. Game 2 is Saturday afternoon at 3.
“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit, stay with my approach,” said Godbout, whose team earned its 23rd comeback win of the season and third of the postseason. “I got a pitch to hit. It kind of blacked out on me to be honest with you. Pretty special moment.”
Godbout finished 2 for 4 with a game-high three RBI and two runs. Virginia starter Evan Blanco (8-3) collected the win, working seven innings. The sophomore left-hander yielded five hits and four runs, all earned, with nine strikeouts and one walk on 102 pitches, his fourth game this season surpassing 100 and third in five starts.
Griff O’Ferrall’s two-run ground-rule double in the sixth put Virginia in front for the first time at 4-3. With Godbout and designated hitter Ethan Anderson on base, O’Ferrall yanked a 3-2 breaking ball down the third base line, smacking his chest and shouting upon arriving at second.
The lead was short-lived, however, thanks to first baseman David Bishop’s homer to right center off Blanco on a 1-2 fastball in the seventh.
“They’re a winning program. That’s what winning programs do: They come back,” said Wildcats Coach Pete Hughes, who is familiar with Virginia after he served as Virginia Tech’s coach from 2007 to 2013. “When you’ve won as much as they have, you get a nice home-field advantage.”
After leaving six runners on base over the first four innings, the Cavaliers broke through in the fifth with a pair of runs. O’Ferrall began the rally with a walk and moved to third when an error by third baseman Jaden Parsons landed Virginia’s Bobby Whalen on second.
O’Ferrall scored and Whalen moved to third on Casey Saucke’s flyout to right. Henry Ford grounded sharply to third during the next at-bat, pushing Whalen across the plate for a second consecutive unearned run against starter Owen Boerema, who allowed four runs (two earned) and seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.
Blanco found himself in trouble in the third. He plunked the Wildcats’ Brendan Jones in the helmet to put runners on first and second. Parsons’s bunt trickled down the third base line, allowing both runners to advance, and Kaelen Culpepper followed with a two-run double to left for a 3-0 lead.
Blanco shook off that bit of misfortune to keep the Cavaliers in the game, and one of the country’s most prolific offenses eventually delivered.
“A pivotal part of this team was when we moved Evan Blanco to our Friday night starter,” Virginia Coach Brian O’Connor said, “His growth and development as a pitcher throughout this year is really impressive. He’s a bulldog. You have a hard time taking the ball away from him. Trust me, he wanted to go back out there in the eighth inning.”
The shimmering evening sun impacted the game during the first at-bat, when Jones popped up to right center field. Whalen tried to locate the baseball but was unable to make a play, and it dropped to the ground as Jones made his way to third. He came home on a Parsons groundout.
“I told the team after the game a lot of time it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” O’Connor said. “I thought Evan Blanco’s performance was really special. He kept us in the ballgame enough, and he knows what our offensive capability is. There’s a lot to be said of the three-run homer by Godbout, but I feel Evan Blanco’s outing to get us to the eighth inning was the difference.”