CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Jared Thomas is new here.
As a freshman in Texas, Thomas had never before celebrated the end of an NCAA regional baseball tournament. Classmate Jalin Flores said the team’s veterans told the freshmen earlier this year that the Longhorns don’t do dogpile until Omaha.
However, Thomas could not remember receiving this instruction.
So how did he deal with the end of Sunday night’s 10-6 win over Miami that secured the Coral Gables regional win?
“I just went with the flow,” said Thomas, who will start at first base. “I saw Peyton (Powell) come in and do our thing that we usually do after a game, so I just went along with it. I didn’t know if we were dog piling or not.”
Buoyed by a nine-run third inning, Texas (41-20) finished their regional championship at Mark Light Field. Texas, who lost 3-0 over the weekend, advanced to the Super Regionals this weekend for the third straight season and the fourth in seven years that Texas coach David Pierce has been in the helm.
Next, the Longhorns face either Stanford or Texas A&M, who decide their regional league on Monday.
After Miami struggled early in the third inning on Sunday, Texas trailed 3-0. The Longhorns were still looking for their first baserunner against Miami’s Ronaldo Gallo.
Gallo opened the inning with a strikeout against Flores, but then the Longhorns got to work. Texas’ next nine batsmen reached base against Gallo and substitute Carlos Lequerica, who came on after Dylan Campbell extended his school and Big 12 record to 38 games with a single hitting streak.
Campbell didn’t have the only momentum of note throughout the inning. Thomas and Powell both drove in runs. Texas executed a hit-and-run play following a brace from Garrett Guillemette that propelled Powell into the basket and allowed Campbell to score first. And Flores’ strikeout to open the innings? He made up for that with a grand slam.
“The feeling (in the third inning) was just passing the bat to the next man. Just bring the next man upstairs and let him do his thing,” Flores said.
At the end of the inning, Texas was leading 9-3. “It was quick,” admitted Miami coach Gino DiMare.
It was the tenth time this season that Texas had contested their lineup in a single inning; The Longhorns previously did that feat against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Manhattan, New Orleans, Incarnate Word, Abilene Christian and Texas Southern, three times during last month’s series against San Jose State. Of all these teams, only San Jose State qualified for the NCAA postseason.
Sunday’s third-inning win came against a Miami team that ended their season 42-21 and ninth overall seeded in the NCAA tournament at home.
“We say all the time that we don’t like it when we’re assigned a game or that it’s easy. It kind of freaked us out that they put a three-pointer in,” said Thomas. “I think it all comes down to the work we’ve done behind closed doors. We trust every single one of our guys to go forward and do their thing and we did that.”
After Texas forged their 9-3 lead, Miami never allowed them to get closer than four runs. Texas was led to the finish line by pitchers Charlie Hurley and Zane Morehouse, ending the game with Morehouse’s seventh strikeout in a game that lasted two⅔ innings. Morehouse also pitched the final two innings of a regional opener win over Louisiana on Friday.
“To have him go out and do what he did in this tournament was outstanding for us,” Pierce said of Morehouse.
Texas is now 12-0 in its last four NCAA regional games with Pierce. When asked about the secret of his success, he replied: “We prepared well and tried to remain consistent.”
“We’ve been very fortunate in terms of health, and we’ve been very fortunate with good players who are very motivated,” Pierce added. “I don’t know, but I won’t complain about it.”
Flores chooses the best possible time for a long position
Key Game: Jaylin Flores’ Slam: On the first pitch of his second shot in the third inning, Flores pulled off the biggest swing of his freshman year, hitting a Lequerica pitch that he hammered into deep midfield. The Grand Slam was the fifth of the UT season.
“Honestly, my job is to push the runners, get a run-in, scrape for something, get a pitch that I can drive early,” Flores said. “I went there with that attitude and just doing the work for my teammates to give us the best chance of winning.”
Flores had his ninth consecutive start. Used as a shortstop, third baseman and designated hitter since the Kansas Series ended last month, this was only his second home run since early April.
Tanner Witt worked two innings
Notable number: 41. Texas starting pitcher Tanner Witt threw 41 pitches in two innings. It was the fifth appearance of the season for Witt, who missed most of last year following Tommy John’s surgery.
Witt pulled Miami back-to-back in the first inning but ran into trouble in the second inning. He hit two Miami batters in the inning. Dominic Pitelli, who hit a home run and hit three of Miami’s seven in Saturday’s 4-1 loss, then hurled a ball over the fence in right field.
Witt finished the second round, but his day ended soon after. The 41 pitches was his second-most this year, but Pierce had previously hinted that Witt could expand to 65 pitches this weekend.
On deck for Texas: Super Regionals
Next up: Texas A&M – or Stanford: Texas will face either Stanford or Texas A&M in the Super Regionals. Eighth-seeded Stanford avoided elimination with a 13-5 win over Texas A&M on Sunday night. This led to a game on Monday (8 p.m., ESPN+) that is all about the winner.
If Stanford wins its regional competition, Texas travels to California next weekend. If A&M wins, the NCAA will choose between the host bids submitted by the schools prior to the start of the NCAA tournament and announce the location of the superregion by Tuesday.