By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — If you saw a familiarity in the dominant performance by the Texas baseball team this weekend, as it swept its three games in the NCAA Austin Regional, then you have likely been watching the Longhorns for a while.
In a return to yesteryear, way back in 2011 when Texas was one of the best programs in the nation, the Longhorns proved their mettle and showed their swagger, with the coup de grace coming with a 3-2 victory over a weary Indiana team Sunday in the regional championship game UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Indiana earned its berth in the championship game with a 9-7 win earlier Sunday over Texas A&M in which the Hoosier scored all nine of their runs in the first inning and survived an Aggie comeback that ended with the tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth.
With the win, the Longhorns (40-20) advance [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]to their first super-regional since 2014, when they beat Rice and Texas A&M in the Houston Regional and then beat Houston in a super-regional held in Austin to earn their most recent appearance in the College World Series.
It will be the 10th super-regional appearance for the Longhorns. Who they play, and if they host, will be determined in Oxford, Mississippi. If Ole Miss wins that regional, it will host Texas next weekend for the best two-of-three series.
Blair Henley (6-6) got the assignment Sunday to handle Indiana and he did just that, providing 7-1/3 innings of two-run (both of them unearned), six-hit pitching while striking out eight and walking none.
Over the three game series, Texas pitchers struck out 31 batters and issued just two bases on balls.
“It was a little sketchy at the end, but I’m just so proud of the way our guys picked up each other all year,” said Texas coach David Pierce, who afterward said he channeled the spirit of legendary Texas coach Augie Garrido, who died in March, when things got tough down the stretch.
Unlike UT’s first two games in the regional, in which the Longhorns outscored Texas Southern and Texas A&M by a combined score of 18-3 and never trailed, this one was a nail-biter.
With Texas up, 3-2, in the eighth, the Hoosiers put runner on second and third base with two outs, but reliever Parker Joe Robinson coaxed a weak grounder to third base by Indiana’s Logan Sowers that the Longhorns’ Ryan Reynolds charged, picked it up with his bare hand, and threw to first base in time to end the threat.
Then the Hoosiers opened the ninth with a single by Ryan Fineman and a hit batsman by Texas closer Andy McGuire, putting the potential tying and go-ahead runners on base with no out.
After a strikeout and a walk, Chase Shugart, the Longhorns’ starter in game 1 of the regional, took over on the mound. Shugart stuck out the two batters he faced to secure the victory and earn his second save of the season.
“We knew we had Chase in the back end and he was outstanding,” Pierce said.
But like the two games before it, the Longhorns relied on a great performance from their starting pitcher, a bit of the long ball when it was needed, and clutch hitting from Kody Clemens, their undisputed leader and the most outstanding player of the regional.
“We made things interesting at the end, but I guess that’s how it had to be,” Clemens said. “It doesn’t matter how we got it done just as long as we got the win. I’ve tried to do what I can for this team, (and) we all believe in one another.
“We came together in the fall and put in the work then to build the chemistry this team has now. It’s exciting to be a part of what’s happening here now, and we will take the next challenge one game at a time, like we have the rest all year.”
Texas opened the scoring in the second inning, as DJ Petrinsky’s double play grounder drove home Masen Hibbeler from third base.
The lead lasted until the bottom of the third when the Hoosiers tallied two unearned runs. Luke Miller’s single with runners on second and third with no outs plated Scotty Bradley to tie the score.
Henley struck out the next two batters before Jeremy Houston’s 0-2 single sent Justin Walker across with the run that gave Indiana a 2-1 advantage, marking the first time in the regional that the Longhorns had trailed.
Zach Zubia’s one-out, solo homer over the center field fence in the sixth tied the game at 2-2, and Clemens two-out double to the right-field wall in the seventh allowed David Hamilton to score all the way from first base with the run that gave the Longhorns the lead again.
“These guys deserved this,” Pierce said. “It was so exciting. I felt we always had the character to be this kind of team but we had a lot of work to do after our tough non-conference schedule.
“I like the personalities we have on this team. We had so many moving pieces that had to fall into place for us to reach our potential, but we build off of that.”
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