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There's something about a regional playoff game at Disch-Falk Field. Something which even Oral Roberts head coach Rob Walton reluctantly admitted to.
"There's been a lot of magic here for a long, long time," he said.
And so on Saturday, when the Longhorns found themselves down 5-3 to the Golden Eagles with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the eighth, confidence and faith in the baseball gods were all they had left. Sunday's starting pitcher Sam LeCure put on a cape, superfan Scott Wilson got the crowd up with a voodoo clap and things began rolling - magic.
"We know that if we battle to the very end that good things can come out of it," center fielder Drew Stubbs said. "We were hitting the ball hard, and they kept making the right plays, but we just kept hitting the ball hard and had confidence that the ball would start falling."
Texas easily handled an overmatched Youngstown State Friday night, thanks to two Taylor Teagarden home runs and a stellar outing by senior Justin Simmons, setting up a Saturday showdown between the two teams with the nation's best records.
Texas started fast, putting five runners on in the first, and chasing starting pitcher Sean Sorrow after a Drew Stubbs home run put Texas up 2-0. But after Stubbs drove in another run in the fourth, Oral Roberts crawled back into it. The Golden Eagles touched up Texas' J.P. Howell for one in the third, two in the fourth and took the lead after a two-run double in the sixth.
But in the eighth, facing an exhausting route through the loser's bracket, Texas finally got things going against Oral Roberts relief pitcher Tim Robertson.
Freshman Carson Kainer drew a two-out leadoff walk to start things off, followed by two full-count walks off Hunter Harris and pinch hitter Michael Hollimon. With the bases loaded, head coach Augie Garrido pulled a surprise by subbing power-hitting David Maroul in favor of little-used Dooley Prince, who hadn't hit safely since May 1.
But despite his recent struggles, Prince slapped a single up the middle, scoring two and tying the game, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy.
"He [Garrido] just told me to visualize myself being successful and that I would get the job done," Prince said. "So, I just visualized myself getting a hit and us winning the game."
Texas scored two more that inning, and All-American closer Huston Street shut the door to seal the win.
After being forced to beat TCU Saturday night just to play another day, the Oral Roberts pitching staff was just too depleted to challenge the streaking Longhorns.
Oral Roberts starter Connor Tinkler didn't even record an out before giving up four first-inning runs and calling it a day. Drew Stubbs led off with a triple and was driven home by Curtis Thigpen. Teagarden then blasted his third home run of the weekend.
"At one-and-one we were going to bunt," Teagarden said. "But after a wild pitch, they threw a changeup, and I just tried to hit it in the outfield. It went over the wall, and all the momentum was behind us at that point."
The four-run first was all Texas starter Sam LeCure would need. Described as the best outing in his career by Garrido, LeCure quieted the Oral Roberts offense all afternoon, including a stretch where he retired 15 straight.
LeCure handed the ball off to the Texas bullpen, and when Street struck out the final batter, Rob Walton's theory was bolstered yet again.
"It's probably the best pitching staff in the country by a long shot," Walton said. "It's the best in the United States by at least five guys."
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