The bottom of the eighth inning couldn’t have gone any worse for David Pierce and the Longhorns. Fortunately for them, the top of the ninth couldn’t have gone any better. Just as it looked the Longhorns’ season was unraveling and speeding towards a cruel and very surprising crash-and-burn, Ivan Melendez captured the hearts of the Longhorn fan base and with a titanic swing of the bat delivered an emphatic message: for at least one more day, the Longhorns’ season will go on.
“That's one thing about this team is they don't give in,” said David Pierce after the win.
Melendez smashed a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning to give Texas an 8-5 lead minutes after it collapsed on the mound, in the dugout and blew a 5-2 lead. Apparently, he hit it so hard the rain, lightning and thunder all intensified because a weather delay immediately followed. Texas held onto that lead and forced a bracket-deciding matchup tomorrow at 6 p.m. (ESPN2) with the 8-5 victory against Mississippi State (47-17). Vanderbilt awaits the winner in the CWS finals.
When this game first started, which seems like forever ago, it appeared it would be a high-scoring, back-and-forth slugfest. Zach Zubia hit a solo shot into the right field bullpen. Ty Madden started slow and after the first inning, Texas trailed 2-1. Mississippi State left-handed starter Houston Harding didn’t look much better.
Then, for the second-straight time, Madden overwhelmed Mississippi State’s lineup. After giving up two runs on three hits in the first inning, Madden gave up just one hit the rest of the way, and completed 6.0 quality, very competitive innings with three walks and eight strikeouts. Once Madden started to get on top of his slider and regain the late, sharp, downard break, he was tough to handle because he established his fastball gloveside command with the ability to work up the ladder. Madden also mixed in a quality changeup to lefties, especially the third time through the order.
Harding kept the Longhorns in check until the fifth inning when Mississippi State manager Chris Lemonis elected to stick with his starter as he faced the top of the order for the third time. With one out and runners on first and second, Mike Antico hit a RBI single into left-center to give Texas a 3-2 lead. The senior wasn’t done providing clutch, run-scoring hits.
Adamantly, Madden, approaching 100 pitches, pleaded his case to remain in the game in the sixth inning when David Pierce went to the mound with Tanner Witt warm in the bullpen. Madden won the battle with his head coach, and then the one with the hitter. A groundout ended the bottom of the sixth inning and preserved UT’s 3-2 lead.
Gifted a seventh-inning leadoff double when Mississippi State starter Rowdey Jordan lost a fly ball in the lights, Antico put his team in front 4-2 with one of his best at-bats of the season. After whiffing at a slider with an ugly swing earlier in the count, Antico made the adjustment to keep his head on a 3-2 slider and lined it into center field for a single to score Trey Faltine. Then senior finished 2-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and a runs scored. Ivan Melendez, after what appeared to be a failed double-steal, hit-and-run or perhaps a missed sign, lined a two-out single into left field to increase UT’s lead to 5-2.
But Pierce’s mound visits to get a read on his pitcher didn’t all end well. Surprisingly after he threw a career-high 5.2 innings and 78 pitches Tuesday, Witt was the first arm Texas went to in the seventh inning. The freshman looked fantastic and dominant. Then, Texas elected to bring Witt back out for the eighth inning. He showed noticeable signs of fatigue in his delivery as he was searching for velocity.
“He's been that guy in that slot,” said Pierce about the decision to use Witt first out of the bullpen. “Our biggest question is after his outing on Tuesday, how much he could go without pushing it. And we probably walked a thin line there. But we're in June right now.”
With one out and the bases loaded, Pierce, following a visit, elected to stick with Witt after back-to-back walks. The freshman walked the next batter, which cut UT’s lead to 5-3. Pierce came back out to bring in Aaron Nixon and Mississippi State tied the game with a hard, two-RBI single. Nixon bounced back with a strikeout and a fly out with the bases loaded to keep the game tied.
Immediately, Texas responded. The Longhorns have done it all season. But they’ve never done it after a bottom of the eighth inning like the one they encountered. So, it would be more than fair to express some doubt about the Longhorns surviving a meltdown. They didn’t get this far to fold, though. And Melendez said following the Virginia win, he just missed hitting a couple homers earlier in Omaha. The big fella didn’t miss in the top of the ninth inning.
Well, actually, he did. He whiffed at a 3-1 fastball that beat him middle and up in the zone. Wisely, Mississippi State tried to go right back to the pitch. The pitch missed. This fastball was middle and down, which resulted in Melendez smashing it high and deep and way out to left-center on a night when the ball wasn’t carrying at TD Ameritrade Park.
“I knew he was going to come back with it just because I laid off the slider early in the count and I was seeing it well,” responded Melendez about anticipating a fastball in the 3-2 count. “Obviously, he threw me a fastball, I swung underneath it. He obviously wanted to come back to that after a big swing and miss. But off the bat it felt pretty good. I knew it was a homer for sure.”
Perfectly, Melendez, who finished 2-for-5 with one run and four RBI, swung a quick, powerful barrel through the hitting zone and the ball jumped off the bat with that “no-doubter” pop and velocity. Immediately, he knew it, and celebrated accordingly of the batter’s box and pumped himself up as he yelled going around the bases.
“I knew when it came off his bat it was gone. He absolutely hammered that pitch. He just missed a fastball maybe just a bit higher. And I give Ivan so much credit for just being ready for that pitch and being ready to swing the bat and wanting to be in that situation,” said Pierce.
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