Bitter end belies strong season as whole
It was an ending unworthy of the game. And for Texas, unworthy of its season.
But baseball is, as Augie Garrido once put it, a “cruel game.” So cruel that a dramatic threeand-a-half hour conflict at Sunken Diamond between Stanford and Texas can end with a routine fly ball lost in a blinding brew of twilight and stadium lights.
The Longhorns’ spirited attempt to return to the College World Series ended Monday night with a 7-6 loss to the Cardinal in Game 3 of the Stanford Super Regional. It ended when, after Texas (42-22) erased yet another three-run deficit in the eighth inning, outfielders Eric Kennedy and Dylan Campbell — essential and dauntless all season — couldn’t locate Cardinal second baseman Drew Bowser’s sky-scraping fly ball until it thudded into the grass.
Gut-wrenching. Heartbreaking. Devastating. All of it.
“Just disappointed in the outcome for us and disappointed for our team,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “They played their hearts out all year. I’m just so dang proud of them.”
Monday night’s game felt like a distillation of Texas’ 2023 season.
Early adversity with starter Tanner Witt, still searching for his stuff post-Tommy John surgery, getting pounded early. A midgame surge to even the score at 3 followed by an immediate swoon that allowed Stanford to take another three-run lead. An 11th-hour rally to tie the game again, with all-universe right fielder Campbell both driving in the tying run and throwing out a runner at third base to end the eighth inning.
Zoom out, and that all sounds similar to what Texas experienced over these past few months.
After losing so much talent from last year’s College World Series team, the Longhorns entered this season unranked. Big 12 coaches picked them to finish fourth in the preseason poll. Then Texas dropped its first three games en route to a 4-7 record.
A 16-game winning streak followed that sluggish start. And a midseason sweep at the hands of archrival Oklahoma, at home nonetheless, became a rallying point for a season-ending push toward a share of the Big 12 championship.
Then, with a chance to cement its spot as a national seed, Texas face-planted in the Big 12 tournament. The top-seeded Longhorns were the first team bounced after two listless losses.
Just like it had done during the regular season, Texas shook off that letdown and defied expectations in the NCAA Tournament.
The Longhorns went to Coral Gables, Fla., and swept their way through No. 9 national seed Miami’s regional. Then they flew to the opposite coast and took
Game 1 from No. 8 seed Stanford thanks to a gutsy five-run ninth inning.
In the end, a return trip to Omaha wasn’t in the cards for Texas this year.
Still, Pierce believes progress was made toward getting back there in 2024.
“They are resilient,” Pierce said of his team. “They just don’t back down from anything. They’re not afraid of anything. And that started a long time ago when we came together in September.
“You know, went through a lot of adversity. And when you’re in this business, it’s about growth and development. I can look at every guy on this team and say
they have grown better as a man and developed as a player.”
In Pierce’s seven seasons as Garrido’s successor, Texas is 261156 (.657) overall and 81-61 (.570) in Big 12 play with three regularseason titles and three CWS appearances. That includes the 2020 season, when Texas was 14-3 before the NCAA canceled all remaining games due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This bitter season-ending loss to Stanford won’t be easy to sit with over the coming months. But Pierce has established reaching the super regionals as a realistic yearly floor for this program almost regardless of the roster.
“We exceeded any outside expectations, but I know (the team) had great expectations,” Pierce said. “It’s unfortunate to lose a game like that, such a hardfought game by both teams. It’s just sports. It’s what happens. If you don’t win the national championship, you’re gonna end on a loss. And this was a tough one.”
The game can be cruel, but the offseason always abounds with hope. And with a top-10 signing class incoming, some intriguing transfer options on the market and a number of returning impact players, Texas should be ready to take it one step further next year.