The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Arkansas
No. 5 Baseball earns 5-2 win over Arkansas to claim 30th NCAA Regional Championship
06.06.2005 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Solo home runs by Taylor Teagarden (Carrollton, Texas) and Chance Wheeless (Round Rock, Texas) in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, broke a 2-2 tie and helped lift No. 5 Texas (49-15) to a 5-2 win over Arkansas (39-22) in front of 5,544 fans at Disch-Falk Field during the second and decisive championship game of the 2005 Austin NCAA Regional Tournament on Monday, June 6.
While the Horns claim their 30th overall regional championship and fourth in a row with their 18th come-from-behind victory this season, the Razorbacks conclude their season with a 39-22 overall record. Of note, with UT coming out of the loser's bracket to win the title, it marked the first time the Longhorns won a regional from that position since 2000 in Tempe, Ariz., and the first time at home since 1983. The Longhorns now advance the NCAA Super Regional round against No. 5 national seed Mississippi (47-18) and will take on the Rebels in a best-of-three series in Oxford, Miss., beginning next weekend. Dates will be announced on the ESPN bottom line on Tuesday, June 7 at 11 a.m. Central.
The Razorbacks took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first as leadoff hitter Craig Gentry picked up a hustle double and then scored on a two-out, RBI-single off the bat of first baseman Danny Hamblin. Texas would attempt to answer in the bottom of the second after receiving consecutive two-out base hits from Will Crouch (Austin, Texas) and Taylor Teagarden (Carrollton, Texas), but Arkansas starter Charlie Boyce managed to strike out his next batter to end the inning unscathed. One inning later in the third, UT again challenged the lead as Robby Hudson (Redlands, Calif.) led off with an infield single and moved into scoring position with one out on a sacrifice, but Boyce got a groundout and a strikeout to work out of the jam.
In the bottom of the fourth, a leadoff double from Chance Wheeless (Round Rock, Texas) combined with an error, a RBI-single from Crouch and a run-scoring double off the bat of Hudson with two outs to give the Horns a 2-1 advantage. Arkansas immediately tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the fifth as Gentry drew a one-out walk, stole second, advanced to third on an ensuing throwing error and then scored on a groundout to third base. Following two scoreless half innings, the Longhorns reclaimed the lead at 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth as Teagarden connected on his third home run in as many games. A solo home run from Wheeless with one out in the seventh then made the score 4-2 in favor of the Longhorns.
Arkansas then threatened to score in the top of the eighth by placing runners on first and second via a single from Brian Walker and a hit-by-pitch with one out, but J. Brent Cox (Bay City, Texas) was able to get the next two batters to flyout to keep the game at 4-2. Texas would receive another run in the bottom half of the frame as Teagarden led off with a double and went to third after the centerfielder miscued the ball before being brought home on a sacrifice hit from David Maroul (Benbrook, Texas), making it a 5-2 ballgame. After placing runners on second and third off a single from Hudson and a double from Nick Peoples (Round Rock, Texas), Razorbacks' reliever Josh Smith, who had come on in the top of the inning, was able to strike out the next two batters he faced to send the game into the top of the ninth. Down to their final three outs, the Razorbacks looked to get a runner on base, but Cox was able to induce three straight groundouts to end the game and earn his 15th save of the season. Picking up his team best 10th win of the season was Kyle McCulloch (Houston, Texas), who worked a perfect 1.2 innings in middle relief, while Boyce shouldered the hard-fought loss, despite tossing 7.0 innings and allowing four runs while striking out six. Of note, UT starter Kenn Kasparek (Weimar, Texas) tossed 4.1 innings and fanned four batters while surrendering only one earned run on four hits in the no-decision effort.
Leading the Longhorns' offense, which has now had 10 or more hits in eight straight games, were the trio of Wheeless, Teagarden and Hudson, who each tallied three hits on the day while combining to account for four runs scored and three RBI, and the tandem of Peoples and Crouch, who both had multi-hit efforts on the afternoon. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks offense was paced by Walker, who went 2-for-4, and the duo of Hamblin and Ben Tschepikow, who collected one hit apiece and accounted for both of Arkansas' two RBI in the game. Of note, Peoples and Wheeless extended their current hit streaks to career-best 10 and eight games, repsectively, while Crouch and Teagarden, who was named the regional's Most Outstanding Player for the second straight year, moved their hitting streaks to six and five games apiece.
2005 AUSTIN NCAA REGIONAL ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Catcher: Taylor Teagarden, Texas
First Base: Paul Frietch, Miami University (Ohio)
Second Base: Robby Hudson, Texas
Third Base: John Delaney, Quinnipiac
Shortstop: Scott Hode, Arkansas
Outfield: Drew Stubbs, Texas
Outfield: Brandon Hillier, Miami University (Ohio)
Outfield: Nick Peoples, Texas
DH: Will Crouch, Texas
Pitcher: Adrian Alaniz, Texas
Pitcher: Nick Schmidt, Arkansas
Most Outstanding Player: Taylor Teagarden, Texas
Postgame Notes & Quotes
NCAA REGIONAL
- 141 runs were scored in the Austin Regional, an average of 20.1 runs per game.
ARKANSAS
Team
- Arkansas is now 30-26 in NCAA Regional play and falls to 40-38 overall in NCAA postseason action.
- With a double in the game, the Razorbacks finished with 12 doubles and two triples in three games of the Austin Regional.
Individual
- Today's start by Charley Boyce is the 45th of his career, moving him into sole possession of third place in school history.
- Boyce also set a new career high for innings pitched with 122.1 and that is good for the second most inning pitched in a single season in school history. His 115.1 innings last season was tied for the 7th most single-season innings.
- Boyce became the ninth pitcher in school history to strikeout 200 batters in his career.
- Boyce's six strikeouts against Texas tied his season high and moved him into eighth place in career strikeouts at Arkansas.
- Today's appearance (11 starts, 18 relief) is Boyce's 29th of the season, tying him with Ryan Whitaker (1993), Bobby Edwards (1988) and Tim Peters (1997) for the ninth-most single-season appearances in school history.
- P Nick Schmidt and SS Scott Hode earned all-tournament team accolades in their respective positions. Hode hit .278 (5-for-18) with one double and three RBI. Schmidt pitched 9.0 and allowed two runs while striking out six in a complete game win over UT.
- DH Ben Tschepikow hit .417 with a team-high five RBI at the Austin Regional while RHP Charley Boyce pitched 15 innings with a 1-1 record, 11 strikeouts.
- C Brian Walker hit .438 with four RBI in the Austin Regional.
TEXAS
Team
-Texas improves to 119-44-1 in NCAA Regional play. The Longhorns are now 63-35 under head coach Augie Garrido in NCAA Regional Tournaments.
- In the all-time series versus Arkansas, Texas now holds a 54-27 record against its former Southwest Conference opponent.
- Texas has scored 58 runs, an average of 11.6 runs per game in the Regional.
- With 15 hits on the day the UT offense has now tallied 10 or more hits in 36 of 64 games to date and seven straight contests.
- The last time Texas advanced from a regional out of the loser's bracket was the 2000 Regional in Tempe, Ariz. The last time the Longhorns advanced from a regional at home was 1983.
- UT's win marked its 18th come-from-behind win of the season.
- Texas placed six players on the all-tournament team selected by the media at the Austin Regional: C Taylor Teagarden (Tournament MVP), P Adrian Alaniz, 2B Robby Hudson, DH Will Crouch, Outfielders Drew Stubbs and Nick Peoples
Individual
- C Taylor Teagarden earned NCAA Austin Regional Tournament MVP honors after posting tournament highs in hits (13), RBI (8), doubles (4), home runs (3) and total bases (26). Today, Teagarden extended his hitting streak to five games and finished the regional tournament 13-for-23 (.565) in five NCAA Regional games.
- DH Will Crouch extended his career-long hitting streak to six games and now has multiple-hit games in four of five regional tournament games. Crouch is 12-for-21 (.571) with 11 runs scored and eight RBI during the regional.
- 2B Robby Hudson's three hits matched a career high. Hudson now has a hit in 15 of his last 17 games.
- 1B Chance Wheeless extended his hitting streak to a career-long eight games with a double in the fourth inning. Wheeless' home run in the seventh inning marked his fourth of the year as well as his third-straight multiple-hit game.
- 2B Robby Hudson owns multiple-hit games in five of the last eight games.
- With one hit on the day, SS Seth Johnston now has 104 this season, which moves him into sole possession of seventh place, surpassing Keith Moreland (103 - 1974) on UT's all-time list.
- RF Nick Peoples extended his hitting streak to 10 games, which matches a career long. With his double in the seventh, Peoples now has 12 multiple-hit games on the year.
Attendance: 5,544
ARKANSAS
Head Coach Dave Van Horn
On his team's season: Our whole team gained a lot of experience here, and I think that will help us down the road. My hat goes off to my team for the way they hung in there today, and to Charley (Boyce) for giving it everything he had. We've had a lot of adversity this year with injuries and suspensions, and it's been tough, but I'm proud of the team because we got better.
On Texas catcher Taylor Teagarden, NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player: Taylor Teagarden is one of the best college catchers I've seen in a long time. A guy like Taylor, a lot of times doesn't make it to college; he's in the minor league system for a few years and you see him in the big leagues pretty quick. There aren't many catchers that can handle a pitching staff the way he does and throw the way he does, and now the offense has come on as he's gotten older. He's probably the best catcher we've seen this year, and he has a bright future.
Freshman C Brian Walker
On Texas Catcher Taylor Teagarden: We couldn't get him out. He's a great leader and great catcher, and hopefully when I'm a junior, I'll be as good as he is.
Junior RHP Charley Boyce
On the season and the young players returning next year: We went through adversity this year, but you have to look at the positives. A lot of young guys got to step in and play whereas they might not have had as many opportunities if not for the injuries. That's good to see, and we've got a good foundation coming back next year.
TEXAS
Head Coach Augie Garrido
On winning the Austin NCAA Regional: I think it was really an important series, from our point of view, because we haven't captured a championship this season despite having a championship-type team. You have to start somewhere and this is the place where you must start. I think it was more beneficial for us to go through the loser's bracket where we had to use more players and everyone saw the importance of teamwork than if we had done it the easy way.
On Taylor Teagarden, NCAA Austin Regional Most Outstanding Player: Taylor was brilliant, and I attribute that to him being focused on helping the team and keeping things simple, because he had no expectations for himself. Expectations are worst than profanity. A player without expectations plays relaxed and allows the game to come to him.
Junior C Taylor Teagarden, Austin NCAA Regional Most Outstanding Player
On his play in the regional round: It seemed like from at-bat to at-bat, I was feeling better and obviously my confidence improved. Hitting is contagious - once you get on a roll, it just seems like it doesn't stop. I think that was the case for me this weekend.
On winning the NCAA Austin Regional: Coming out today, I felt like the momentum was on our side, even when they got an early lead. To come out of the loser's bracket and win a championship is about as difficult as it gets. I think we responded really well, and we're feeling good going into next week.
Freshman RHP Kenn Kasparek
On pitching to Taylor Teagarden: Taylor is obviously one of the best catchers in the country, and he makes it easy to go out there and throw your best pitch to every batter. In a 0-2 or 1-2 count, if you want to bury a curveball in the dirt, he gives you the confidence to do that.
