OMAHA, Neb.—Texas lost to LSU in the College World Series finals, but coach Augie Garrido has a hunch his Longhorns might be back soon.
“This is the beginning of a new era of Texas baseball in Omaha,” Garrido said after Wednesday night’s 11-4 loss. “We didn’t have a player who played in the College World Series before, and they finished second.”
The Longhorns swept the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles, then showed a flair for the dramatic as they made their way through the NCAA tournament.
They won the longest game in NCAA history in regionals, a 25-inning contest against Boston College,— and got a walkoff grand slam from Preston Clark to beat Army.
Two more walkoff wins followed at the CWS, and they rallied from six runs down to win another game in Omaha before moving on to the best-of-three finals.
Five of the players in the starting lineup Wednesday were freshmen or sophomores, as were five of the six pitchers who appeared. Another freshman, Taylor Jungmann, pitched his first complete game in the 5-1 win Tuesday that forced the deciding Game 3 against LSU on Wednesday.
The 70-year-old Garrido said he plans to stick around to coach the Longhorns.
“For me, this is a lifestyle. It’s not a job,” Garrido said. “As long as I’m healthy and feel the way I do about the players and can continue to be effective, then this is what I’m going to do. I don’t know if it’s a chronological number. It’s about health, it’s about attitude. You’re going to get older, but you can stay immature forever.”
Texas, which finished 50-16-1, looked as if it had another comeback in store after Kevin Keyes’ two-run homer tied it 4-4 in the fifth.
But LSU scored five runs in the sixth to break open the game. The Longhorns mustered only one hit the rest of the way.
“It was a well-deserved win for LSU,” Garrido said. “They overcame adversity. They got tremendous defensive plays.”
LSU’s offense wasn’t bad either. The Tigers pounded out 12 hits to go with their 11 runs.
“I’m not going to pick our team apart,” Garrido said. “They beat us. They did the things they needed to do to win the championship.”
Texas second baseman Travis Tucker said LSU’s sixth inning was too much to overcome after the Longhorns had tied it in the fifth.
“Answering right back was devastating,” Tucker said. “They’re a great ballclub.”
Garrido noted his players have plenty to celebrate this season.
“I have complete respect for what they (LSU) accomplished,” Garrido said, “and I have complete respect for what we accomplished. I think there is room for both.”
