A Texas (as in University of) Sized Collapse

The papers and Internet will report that the LSU Tigers took game 3 of the College World Series to win their sixth NCAA Championship.  Less publicized will be that the University of Texas Longhorns lost it by blowing Game 1.  What was head coach Augie Garrido thinking taking out closer Austin Wood with a 6-4 lead and one out with 1 on in the 9th???  Pitcher Taylor Jungmann came on and threw six straight balls to put two on.  Garrido hooked him and put in Austin Dicharry who got a gift strikeout on ball 4 and then gave up a game tying double with two outs.  LSU went on to win in 11 innings and put the Longhorns in a Texas sized hole in the Series.  Granted I have the benefit of hindsight, but why pull Wood right there?  He had pitched two innings but had proved he could go for long distances after pitching 13 innings (that’s a game and a half folks) in the Longhorns 25 inning win over Boston College in the Regionals.  Instead Garrido pulled his established closer and watched Game 1 disappear.

     Don’t get me wrong this isn’t a huge upset; many figured the Tigers would take the Series with their potent offense, but with their bats basically asleep in the first two games, Texas had a golden chance to knock them out.  It was only a matter of time before the LSU batters would start to hit and hit they did in Game 3.  Even there, the Longhorns, who were built on excellent pitching, solid defense and offensive fundamentals, battled back after falling behind early and tied the score at four after 5 innings.  However that excellent pitching and defense betrayed Texas again as they watched the game go up in smoke in a flurry of walks, hit batsmen, errors and timely Tiger hitting in the 6th.  And with lead in hand and the pressure off,  LSU cruised to its latest World Series success.

     Augie Garrido should have been eating breakfast this morning while shining up the Longhorn’s seventh College World Series trophy.  Instead he’ll spend the off-season wondering why he overcoached and overthought Game 1.