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If history were the only indicator for how things would turn out at this weekend's NCAA Regional Championship, the Texas baseball squad and head coach Augie Garrido would be in good position.
Texas is arguably the most successful program of all time, with 30 College World Series appearances. Oral Roberts, TCU and Youngstown State - three other teams in the Austin Regional - have a combined zero.
The Texas program also boasts arguably the two greatest coaches of all time, as Garrido passed former Texas coaching legend Cliff Gustafson just last year to become the winningest college baseball coach of all time. Friday night opponent Youngstown State, with a meager $39,000 budget, can only afford to pay the assistant coaches a part-time salary.
But between the lines, history becomes irrelevant, and it is only the game that matters.
"If you start factoring in history, every program is trying to get to where the Longhorns are," Garrido said. "It's the 2004 edition of all these teams, and that's who is playing. It's about the game itself."
Garrido should know. As head coach at Cal St. Fullerton in the program's first season in Division 1 in 1975, Garrido's upstart Titans upset Southern California and its 10-time national title-winning head coach Rod Dedeaux. Garrido has also been on the losing end of a regional upset, when his Titans were shut out by lightweight Southern in 1987.
And while the 2004 edition of the Longhorns has been special, each of the other three teams have had to make marvelous runs as well to make it this far.
Second seed No. 13 Oral Roberts put together one of the best records in the nation, going 48-9 overall and a smooth 21-1 in Mid-Continent conference play.
"The goal is to get in the tournament, because if you're not in the tournament, you can't get to Omaha," Oral Roberts head coach Rob Walton said, suggesting that his team isn't ready to concede to Texas. "I think we put ourselves in a good spot with our non-conference schedule."
TCU struggled somewhat during the regular season but played their best ball when it mattered. In the Conference USA tournament, TCU went 5-1 with an upset win over No. 4 East Carolina and a tournament championship. The automatic bid is only the third bid in school history.
Perhaps the most interesting team in the regional is Youngstown St., making their first appearance in the NCAA playoffs. The Penguins hail from Ohio, where the cold weather and football-dominant school makes baseball secondary. In addition to the paltry budget, which allows for only 8.8 scholarships, the Penguins had to deal with the cancellation of 20 games due to inclement weather. Yesterday's practice at Disch-Falk Field was only their 11th on a baseball field all season, according to head coach Mike Florak.
"It's been a tough spring," Florak said, whose team started out 2-13 and finished only seventh in the Horizon Conference.
While many teams would start a pitcher from the bullpen for a game like Friday's, the Longhorns will go with former All-American senior Justin Simmons, who two years ago won 16 games, including two in Omaha. The big lefty will match up against Justin Thomas at 7 p.m. at Disch-Falk Field.
"I'm glad the responsibility is on my shoulders," Simmons said. "I've had four unbelievable years, and it's been a great run."
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