Longhorns Ride Ninth Inning Rally to Historic 7-5 Win Over Stanford
Baseball is a nine-inning game. You cannot win a game until you have recorded all 27 outs. Until that 27th out is recorded, anything can happen, with momentum ebbing and flowing on one swing of the bat.
This was put on full display on Saturday out in Palo Alto, as the Texas Longhorns looked dead in the water entering the ninth inning. Trailing 5-2, it looked like a near certainty that they would be fighting for their season on Sunday.
However, to fully appreciate the scope of the ninth, we must rewind all the way back to the seventh. The Longhorns got two men on with one out before Jack O'Dowd and Mitchell Daly recorded outs to squander a rally.
Again in the eighth, they had two men on. This time the usually reliable Porter Brown came to the plate. And again, they wasted a golden opportunity to do some damage as Brown went down swinging.
So, that brings us back to the top of the ninth. At this point it seemed like it was going to be a disappointing loss for the Longhorns - one they can only blame themselves for.
Then the comeback happened. It started with an Eric Kennedy walk, followed by a Jalin Flores hit by pitch and O'Dowd walk. Daly came to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs, looking to redeem his at-bat from the seventh inning.
Redeem himself he did, albeit with a little help. He drove one to deep right and due to some miscommunication the Stanford center field and right fielder collided causing the ball to drop. Suddenly, it was 5-4 and no outs. A Jared Thomas RBI groundout made it 5-5 with still only one out.
Seeking some redemption of his own, Brown came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. Calm, cool and collected, he showed once again his clutch gene as he smoked a two out, two-run single into right to give Texas a 7-5 lead, its first lead of the game.
Entering the home half, Zane Morehouse came on out of the bullpen looking to slam the door shut. After a dominant regional performance, it was hard not to expect anything less.
What came next was a masterclass of pitching, as Morehouse struck out the side to secure the save and the win for Texas. To put in context how big of a win this was, teams trailing in the ninth by three runs or more were 0-74, with Texas' win making that mark now 1-74.
What's next for Texas?
The Longhorns are now just one win away from Omaha, as they will take on Stanford on Sunday night at 8 p.m. CT.
You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98
Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Longhorns? Click Here to Subscribe to the Longhorns Country Newsletter
Want even more Texas Longhorns? Check out the SI.com team page here
Follow Longhorns Country on Twitter and Facebook.
Make sure to subscribe to the Longhorns Country Podcast today! Click here To Listen.