The No. 6 Longhorns can sweep the No. 11 Oregon Ducks on Sunday and punch their ticket to the College World Series.
The Texas Longhorns' baseball program owns the most appearances in the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The No. 6-seeded Horns are one win away from adding to that history.
Texas hosts No. 11 Oregon on Sunday night after rolling past the Ducks 11-3 in Game 1 of the best-of-3 Austin Super Regional that was played in front of a historic crowd. The 8,550 fans in attendance marked the largest crowd for an NCAA-sanctioned event in UFCU Disch-Falk Field history, and the second-largest crowd ever, dating back to 1977.
Shortstop Adrian Rodriguez led the way in a consistent offensive attack with five runs batted in, including a two-run double in his first at-bat that got Texas an early lead in the first inning.
"It feels great," Rodriguez said about his contributions. "My teammates in front of me getting on base so I can drive them in, that's just team baseball. It's what we do, it's playoff baseball. Win or go home, so we're doing anything we can to win and put up runs on the board."
Following Casey Borba's homer and some pressure on the base paths, the Longhorns built a 7-0 lead by the sixth inning. Oregon trimmed into the deficit with a pair of runs that were walked in, and a solo home run later on.
With Borba's home run, the Longhorns became the first Power 4 team to hit 100 homers and steal 100 bases in a season since the NCAA began using BBCOR bats in 2011.
The Ducks, who left 17 runners on base in the game, had trouble driving in runs off of Texas' ace, lefty sophomore Dylan Volantis.
The starter struck out a career-high 10 batters in his 5.1 innings of work. He allowed two runs on eight hits, though his command wavered slightly with four wild pitches and a HBP.
A trio of Longhorns came in to pitch the rest of the way and finished the job, putting Texas one win away from its 39th trip to Omaha.
"Excited about the win, it's one win. Means nothing other than we have to have another ballgame tomorrow," said head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
The Ducks are expected to throw their top arm, Will Sanford, who did not appear in Game 1. He'll pitch with his team's season on the line, commanding a 9-2 record, 3.46 earned-run average, and 119 strikeouts over his 80.2 innings on the season. The Horns will go with Ruger Riojas, who holds a 5-2 mark and 3.86 ERA.
Grab your late-night espresso, because Game 2 of the Austin Super Regional begins at 8 p.m. CT at Disch-Falk Field. It will broadcast live on ESPN.
