Longhorns Headed Back to College World Series

The Texas Longhorns baseball team staved off a ninth inning rally from the Ole Miss Rebels to advance to the College World Series in Omaha for the fourth year in a row.

With the game tied 3-3 in the sixth inning, senior Will Crouch hit a lead-off solo home run, sparking a two-run inning. The Rebels struck back in the eighth with a sacrifice fly, cutting the lead to one, but in the bottom of the inning Robby Hudson came up big with his second RBI in three innings to give the Horns a little insurance. Junior Brent Cox came in to close the door, but not without a little hand-wringing. After getting two quick outs in the ninth, Cox walked one and gave up a single. But after allowing the two base runners, Cox, whose poor fielding probably cost the Horns the first game of the three-game set, came up big, striking out All-American Stephen Head to end the game and punch the Horns’ ticket to Omaha.

After an inauspicious beginning in the NCAA playoffs with a first-round loss against Arkansas, the Longhorns had to fight their way through the losers’ bracket to advance to the Super Regional against a very strong Mississippi team. The Horns lost the first game of the best-of-three series against the Rebels but fought back to secure the final spot in the eight-team World Series, which begins this weekend in Omaha. The Longhorns will face neighbor to the north Baylor in the first round of the round-robin format.

The Longhorns will be gunning for their second national championship in the past four years. So gather round your tv’s this weekend or head out to one of Austin’s local watering holes and cheer on the Horns. Because while we know you love your football, the UT baseball team is the real national powerhouse in this town; the Horns have reached their 32nd CWS, and that, folks, is a national record.

College World Series
Omaha, Nebraska
Texas v. Baylor
Saturday, 6pm
ESPN