 "Photo: Paul Chouy/The Daily Texan")
The past two weeks have been very different for Austin Wood. With his first trip to Omaha, Neb. and the College World Series booked, he’ll gladly take the glitch in his personal performance on the mound for the same winning results from his team.
“Yeah, my voice is hoarse again,” Wood said after Monday’s win. “I have been yelling a lot.”
In the NCAA Austin regional, Wood had something to yell about. He was named the competition’s Most Outstanding Player after keeping the Longhorns alive by pitching 13 shutout innings of relief in the longest game in NCAA history — a 25-inning Texas win over Boston College.
This past weekend, in the Super Regional series against TCU, Wood wasn’t quite as untouchable as he was the week before. But the senior lefty isn’t complaining. The win clinched the Longhorns’ first trip to Omaha since 2005, when Wood was a high school senior.
“I couldn’t be happier for this team,” Wood said. “I love this team. We pick each other up.”
Wood is familiar with picking up the Texas pitching staff, or in the case of the regional, picking up the entire Texas team and lifting it on his back for a marathon. He carried Texas for 15 shutout innings of relief during the regional, throwing 199 pitches in two games while only allowing two hits. In the Super Regional against TCU, he only threw 43 pitches in just under three innings of relief in two appearances.
And while he began the NCAA tournament with 14 and 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing a hit, he gave up five hits and two runs Monday against the high-powered Horned Frogs, forcing Texas coach Augie Garrido to call on starter Chance Ruffin to put out Wood’s fire — a role-reversal for the two pitchers.
But Wood wasn’t upset to be pulled in the ninth — he simply wanted the win and the trip to Omaha.
“Ruffin came up to me and said, ‘You have been picking me up all year. It is my time to pick you up,’” Wood said.
Wood has made his name picking up Longhorn starters this season, racking up 15 saves in 37 appearances. His 2.19 ERA leads a Texas pitching staff that is the best in the nation. In 78 innings of work, he has struck out 67 batters. Opponents can only muster a meager .207 batting average when the side-armed slinging lefty is on the mound.
But Wood doesn’t care about the stats, no matter how exceptional his might be this year. To him and his fellow Longhorns it is about reaching the ultimate goal — a national championship.
“Skip [Johnson, the Longhorns’ pitching coach] told us at the beginning of the year we can do anything if we don’t care who gets the credit,” Wood said.
And while TCU started a rally on Monday against Wood, he always believed Texas was going to win.
“This is going to sound cliche, but from the moment Coach gave us his pregame speech, I knew we were going to win,” Wood said. “[Garrido’s speech] revealed how much he wanted us to win.”
With his team two steps away from its ultimate goal, the Longhorns must first win their side of the College World Series bracket: a double-elimination structure of four teams to decide who plays in a three-game championship series. For Wood and Garrido, the season is just beginning.
“It is amazing,” Wood said, a huge grin covering his face. “We are not done though.”
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