Longhorns advance to CWS for 32nd time

OXFORD – Stephen Head came to Ole Miss as a freshman with the intent of taking Ole Miss to the national stage with the likes of a University of Texas.

He helped the team win a regional for the first time since 1972. He was a catalyst in the Rebels’ earning a national seed and bonafide shot at reaching Omaha, the mecca of college baseball.

He had his shot in the last inning, with two runners on base and two outs. He was facing the national award winner for best stopper in Texas’ J. Brent Cox.

All-American against All-American with college baseball’s ultimate reward hanging in the balance.

And the stopper won, striking out Head swinging to end the best-of-three Super Regional series 6-4 in front of 8,336 at Oxford University Stadium-Swayze Field.

“It always comes down to that,” Texas coach Augie Garrido said of the matchup between Head and Cox. “He made the last out today and that is a hard moment for a player. He has been phenomenal and done so much for them.

“That is why I say baseball is cruel. Whoever said baseball was fun was lying. It’s a game where you have to overcome adversity over and over. There are more successes than failures. It’s a ruthless game.”

In reaching their NCAA record 32nd College World Series, the Longhorns overcame adversity every step of the way. They were awarded a regional, but had to beat Arkansas twice on the last two days of the tournament to advance to Oxford.

On Sunday morning, the team blew a 4-2 lead as Ole Miss took the first game of the series, 6-4. Texas bounced back later on Sunday to win 3-1 and force a deciding third game.

It was a place Texas is used to.

“I think their experience kept them relaxed,” said Ole Miss right fielder Brian Pettway, whose ninth-inning single set the table for Head. “When we had people on base, they just seemed to stay relaxed. Every pitcher they had kept filling the zone up one after another. That’s how you win ballgames.”

Cox, the last of the Longhorns’ four pitchers, earned his national best 17th save. He blew the save in the first game, then recorded a save in the second and third games.

Cox started the ninth by striking out Miles Franklin, then got former Vicksburg High standout Justin Henry to line to second base for the second out. Chris Coghlan then walked and Pettway hit a shot up the middle to give Ole Miss two runners on.

“I thought we did a good job against him,” Coghlan said of Cox. “We had a chance to win with him on the mound in all three games. He got it done in two of them. He competes well.”

Cox’s save brought an end to an Ole Miss run that saw the team win a school record 48 games this season and rack up 122 wins over three seasons.

The team had three seniors and several juniors chosen high in the draft, most notably Head in the second round, former Warren Central star Pettway in the third and pitcher Mark Holliman in the fifth round.

“We are going to lose some great players,” Ole Miss coach Mike Bianco said. “You never know, but most of the juniors got drafted pretty high, so you would expect they won’t be back.”

If Monday was the final game for the core of the team, it was a hard-fought one.

Texas shortstop Seth Johnston’s RBI single in the bottom of the first gave Texas a quick, yet short-lived advantage. Ole Miss took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second on a Zack Cozart two-RBI double.

Texas retook the lead in the bottom of the second on an RBI single by Nick Peoples and another RBI double by Johnston.

Ole Miss was able to tie the game at 3 in the fifth inning while Rebels pitcher Eric Fowler found his groove. He retired nine straight batters over a three-inning stretch to keep the Longhorns at bay.

“I think the most important thing we did came in the form of a meltdown with four or five strikeouts in a row,” Garrido said. “I told the team that there has never been a blind baseball player before and we needed to start seeing the baseball.

“Our players pulled back together, and that’s very hard to do in this environment.”

Texas took the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth when Will Crouch hit a towering 400-foot home run to left field. An RBI single by Robby Hudson increased the lead to 5-3.

The Rebels put two runners on in the top of the eighth before Cox relieved 6-foot, 10-inch freshman Kenn Kasparek. Cox allowed an RBI sacrifice fly and a ground out by Barry Gunther to get out of the jam. Kasparek improved to 8-0 on the season, while Fowler dropped to 7-3.

“Obviously we have a very disappointed team and a sad team,” Bianco said. “We didn’t reach our goal of getting to the College World Series. Many on our team believed it was going to happen and to not get there is disappointing.

“As the days pass, the sting of the loss will fade and they’ll realize they’ve left their mark on this program and changed Ole Miss baseball forever.”