HOUSTON - The Longhorns almost made school history this weekend. They can thank Connor Rowe they didn't.
Texas has never gone 0-3 at the Houston College Classic. Sunday night it looked like the Longhorns might. Texas cruised through the first six innings of the tournament's final game, but a late rally by Houston sent it into extras.
Enter Rowe.
The freshman, who came in as a pinch runner for designated hitter Preston Clark in the ninth, made his first career plate appearance in the bottom of the tenth inning - bases loaded, one out, score tied 7-7. He looked at two balls and then did what coach Augie Garrido told him to do.
"I was just sitting on a fastball," Rowe said. "The [third] pitch I got one. If I had hit it any harder, it would have been {an} out, so luckily I didn't hit it that well."
His single landed just in front of the Cougars' diving center fielder Bryan Tully and drove in shortstop David Hernandez - who led off the inning with a single - to give No. 14 Texas an 8-7 win.
Rowe's heroics were unthinkable heading into the seventh. The Longhorns were cruising behind a brilliant performance from right hander Cole Green, another freshman. Green allowed just one hit, a solo home run by Bryan Pounds in the second, in his first six innings of work, and Texas had a comfortable 6-1 lead.
But the freshman got knocked around in the seventh, giving up two singles, a double and a walk - ultimately good for four Houston runs.
Texas catcher Cameron Rupp, who finished the game a homerun shy of the cycle, drove in his fourth run of the night in the bottom of the seventh to give the Longhorns a 7-5 lead.
They took that advantage into the ninth, but Texas reliever Kyle Walker walked Houston's Jimmy Cesario then gave up a two-run homerun to Pounds (his second of the game) to set up the drama in the tenth.
The Longhorns' win Sunday ended their short, two-game skid. Tennessee (4-2) came back to beat Texas 5-4 Friday, and Rice (6-2) handed the Longhorns (6-2) an embarrassing 10-4 loss Saturday.
Texas combined for nine errors in their first two games for an uncharacteristically sloppy performance against the Volunteers and Owls. Sunday, the Longhorns were much more sound defensively. They looked sharp and, outside of two late errors by Kyle Russell in right field, were just about flawless.
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