Tennessee pitcher Chad Dallas, a West Orange-Stark alum, was cruising along without much trouble for most of Sunday afternoon to start the College World Series.
Then the seventh inning came around, and the Virginia Cavaliers took over. They scored four runs in that frame, chasing Dallas from the game during what turned out to be a 6-0 loss for Tennessee in Omaha, Nebraska.
Dallas, who led Tennessee’s rotation all season and was coming off arguably his best start of the year last time out, was the recipient of some tough luck Sunday, his coach said.
“Chad threw the ball really well,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “Like I said, at times, there was a pitch here or there that lacked conviction. That’s going to pop up when you throw 75 pitches or so. They did a great job of executing on some of those pitches.”
Through the first six innings, it looked like Dallas was up to his usual high standards. The Orange native allowed just one run on five hits up to that point.
But Dallas wasn’t getting any run support from a suddenly quiet Tennessee lineup. Virginia’s Chris Newell hit a solo homer over the left field wall in the third inning to give the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead that stuck until they extended it in the seventh.
Dallas was pulled after allowing three hits in that seventh frame, leaving the game with Tennessee trailing 3-0. Vitello though pulling his ace might stop Virginia’s momentum, but it didn’t work.
“I think the freedom to do things offensively opens up a little bit as you have a lead, or you kind of call it the pour-it-on approach — when there’s a run or two scored and guys can get emotional or down in the field and thoughts can start spiraling a little bit out of control,” Vitello said.
Dallas won’t start Tennessee’s next game against Texas today. It will be an elimination game, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Volunteers will need to win four straight elimination games to advance to the best-of-three finals series.
mfaye@beaumontenterprise.com
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