Big picture looks good despite abrupt end
OMAHA, Neb. — Texas coach David Pierce, searching for words after searching for answers the previous four hours, finally settled for an optimistic approach to an abrupt end to the Longhorns’ season in the College World Series.
“This group has been in Omaha three out of the last four years, and that, even at the University of Texas, you can’t take that for granted,” Pierce said. “It’s hard to get here and definitely even harder to win.”
The Longhorns (47-22) found out the hard way in what has become, under Pierce, an unsolicited tradition for a proud UT baseball program with six national titles, two each from the three previous coaches: Bibb Falk, Cliff Gustafson and Augie Garrido.
This time around, old rival Texas A&M dispatched Texas in the CWS 10-2 on Sunday at Charles Schwab Field. That followed a 7-3 loss to Notre Dame in the CWS opener Friday, and for the second time in Pierce’s three visits to Omaha as Longhorns coach (including 2018), Texas lost its first two games.
“We all had the same goal, and that was to dogpile at the end,” UT designated hitter Austin Todd said. “We fight for this, and it’s everything that we’ve worked for, and it’s just one of those things that we didn’t get it done. … (But) we’ll be all right.
“We’ll be right back (here). I know coach Pierce will do a great job next year and get us back.”
All in all, Pierce has done a great job through six seasons in Austin, considering half of them have wrapped up in Omaha. The lone issue — and it’s a small one unless it persists — is the Longhorns have failed to make the two-team championship series in that span.
A year ago, they lost their CWS opener to Mississippi State, then rebounded with three consecutive victories before losing to the Bulldogs again with a championship series berth on the line.
“It’s really tough to sustain what our program has sustained,” said Pierce, a Houston native who attended St. Pius X High and played baseball for the University of Houston.
“Since the COVID year (of 2020), we’ve won 50 and 47 games (each season). These kids have just been incredible how they’ve worked and their routines and loved being at the ballpark.
“I just don’t know what to say, because I don’t think anybody was really ready to end this thing. Unless you win it all, though, you’re going to have this feeling. I’ll take it any day, as opposed to not competing for the national championship.”
Texas and its other primary rival, Oklahoma, are set to exit the Big 12 and join A&M in the Southeastern Conference no later than 2025 and perhaps as early as the summer of 2023. The Longhorns and Aggies have met once a year since 2016 in alternating midweek games between Austin and College Station, and Todd noted the amped atmosphere of the rivals’ first CWS meeting.
“The fans love it, and we as players love it, too,” said Todd, adding of the annual SEC rivalry weekends to come, “(they’re) going to be good for the game. I know we’re excited that when we do have that three-game series with them, it’s going to be a packed house, and we’re (going) to be ready.”
Longhorns second baseman Murphy Stehly, who’s from Carlsbad, Calif., added that the Texas-A&M rivalry “runs deep.”
“There’s a lot of history behind it,” Stehly said. “I didn’t grow up with it, being from California, but I know the tradition behind it, and it’s a great rivalry. Unfortunately, we didn’t come up with the (win).”
Texas was ranked No. 1 nationally early in the year and rallied in a big way down the stretch following a semi-slumber. The Longhorns mashed a school-record 128 home runs but tallied a lone double among extra-base hits in the two losses. Slugger Ivan Melendez, the consensus national player of the year, finished 1-for-8 in the CWS and was hitless in four atbats against the Aggies.
“I’m so proud of our guys, and it’s just frustrating because we didn’t play well the last two games,” Pierce said. “But it took a lot to get here for our team.”
Pierce, who turns 60 in October, will have plenty of retooling to do in the offseason, based on a veteran 2022 lineup that shoved the Longhorns back to Omaha and what happens in this summer’s draft and in the transfer portal. UT athletic director Chris Del Conte voiced his satisfaction via social media for the program’s direction under Pierce.
“The quest for a Natty never ends at Texas,” del Conte posted to Twitter. “… 38 trips to Omaha and 3 in last (4 full) years — we will keep pounding the pavement.”