Texas advances to super regionals
Indiana loads bases in 9th before Shugart preserves 3-2 victory with pair of strikeouts
AUSTIN — Indiana had to be exhausted. Had to be, even if the Hoosiers would rather not admit it.
Just to advance to Sunday night’s championship game against Texas, the Hoosiers had to outlast Texas A&M over 3 hours, 28 minutes, playing in the oppressive sauna Disch-Falk Field had become. About two hours after that 9-7 win, they were back on the field to face the Longhorns.
Had the Hoosiers not exerted all that energy earlier, maybe Logan Kaletha’s deep fly to the leftfield warning track would have flown over the fence, rather than drop into Masen Hibbeler’s glove for IU’s first out. And maybe IU would have managed more than two runs in the second inning
with UT starter Blair Henley backed into a corner.
But Texas, by defeating Texas Southern on Friday and Texas A&M on Saturday, earned the right to spend its day preparing and lounging and luxuriating in the presence of air conditioning while the Hoosiers battled for the right to play on. And that untapped reservoir of stamina might have made the difference in the Longhorns’ 3-2 win over Indiana.
The victory completed a three-game sweep of this NCAA regional and moved Texas (4022) through to the super regionals for the first time since 2014. That season also marked UT’s most recent trip to the College World Series.
Credit the Hoosiers (40-19) for keeping it interesting — Longhorns fans might describe it as “severely nerve-wracking” — until the bitter end. IU starter Andrew Saalfrank struck out eight over 51⁄3 innings, the defense made a handful of spectacular plays, and the bats were lively early on.
Aside from Masen Hibbeler’s advancing to third on a hit-andrun single by Ryan Reynolds and scoring on a fielder’s choice double play in the second inning, UT was unable to inflict much damage on Saalfrank early. At one point, he struck out five straight Longhorns.
But UT’s collection of talent eventually proved too towering for the Hoosiers to overcome, as it was for the Aggies and Tigers.
Texas starter Blair Henley was temporarily sidetracked in the third inning when an error committed by Reynolds at third placed runners on the corners with no outs. Jeremy Houston and Luke Miller recorded RBI singles to put IU ahead 2-1, but Henley picked up three strikeouts to prevent more harm and was nearly unhittable until coach David Pierce pulled him after 71⁄3 innings.
Henley allowed six hits and two unearned runs, struck out eight, and walked none.
The rest of UT’s offense came courtesy of Zach Zubia and Kody Clemens. The former launched a solo home run over the centerfield wall to tie the game in the sixth; the latter ripped a goahead RBI double in the seventh.
UT also had luck on its side. With Parker Joe Robinson on to pitch in the eighth, Matt Gorski powered the ball to deep left field. But the shot bounced into UT’s bullpen for a ground-rule double, preventing lead baserunner Miller from streaking home to tie the game.
The next at-bat concluded with Reynolds barehanding a slow roller and throwing out the runner at first to end the inning.
Indiana loaded the bases against Texas reliever Andy McGuire in the bottom of the ninth, prompting Pierce to call on Chase Shugart for the final two outs. The junior, two days removed from a dominant outing against Texas Southern, struck out Sam Crail and Matt Lloyd in succession to seal the victory.
Texas awaits the winner of the Oxford Regional, which will be decided Monday night. Mississippi will face Tennessee Tech, and if the Rebels win, they would host UT for a best-of-three series at Oxford-University Stadium.