2003 College World Series Game 12
Complete CWS Index

By John Manuel
June 18, 2003

OMAHA--The California teams no longer have a monopoly on close, compelling games in this 2003 College World Series. The Texas teams showed they could do it too.

In a game that had a little of everything, the game ended like five others had for Texas in the CWS the last two years--with Huston Street on the mound. Only this time, for the first time, he was on the losing side.

Tim Moss' error opened the door, and senior catcher Justin Ruchti knocked it down, lining a 2-2 pitch to center field in the bottom of the ninth to plate the winning run in Rice's 5-4 victory against Texas. The nation's top-ranked team, Rice, advances into the national championship series, starting Saturday, against the winner of Thursday's Stanford-Cal State Fullerton game.

It will be the first time the Owls will play for the national championship in any team sport, as coach Wayne Graham called it the most important win he'd been a part of. "We'll be in the last game," he beamed.

The winning rally started with an error. DH Jeff Blackinton hit a grounder to second base that kicked off Moss' glove and caromed away for an error. Pinch-runner Matt Cavanaugh moved to second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Dane Bubela, and Street got Ruchti down 0-2 in the count. Ruchti took the next two pitches before lining a slider for a single to center, sending Cavanaugh streaming toward home. Ruchti has just 19 RBIs all season, but five have come against Texas here in Omaha.

"I knew that was his out pitch and I knew he would stay away," Ruchti said. "You know what his two pitches are and you're geared up for it. He happened to leave it up and I hit it pretty good.

"To put us in the championship series like that is the kind of thing you dream about as a kid."

Street said he threw Ruchti five straight sliders.

"I was going after him with my best stuff," said Street, who got his first loss of the season in nine decisions to the same team that handed him his only blown save of his career in 29 chances, back in March. "He took two pretty good sliders off the plate, and I didn't think he would be expecting a fifth straight slider, but it seemed like he was right on it. I left it up more than I wanted to."

A play at the plate was possible, but center fielder Joe Ferin over-ran the ball in his effort to come up throwing. Ruchti was credited with an RBI on the play, his third of the game.

"It finally got down to a line drive that didn't find its way into a glove for an out," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "That's what separated the two teams."

Righthander David Aardsma, the Giants' first-round pick, struck out Moss with a 94-mph fastball to end a two-on, two-out jam in the ninth and earned the win. But Ruchti, whose two-run double gave Rice a lead it would never relinquish in its first CWS meeting with the Longhorns on Monday, was the game's hero and star. He drove in three of Rice's five runs, with a two-run single during a four-run fourth in addition to the game-winner. Ruchti also threw out two Texas runners trying to steal and got a workout behind the plate handling his wild pitchers, who combined to walk nine Longhorns.

"It's awesome to have a guy like Ruchti behind the plate," said righthander Josh Baker, who provided 3 2/3 innings of relief and gave up one run. "(Philip) Humber and I have been better, but it's nice when you have a guy behind the plate who throws everybody out and who is there when you keep the ball down."

Rice starter Humber started the game's odd feel when he hit three consecutive batters in the first inning, a CWS record. He also walked five and struck out eight in 3 2/3 innings.

Texas left 15 batters on base--two off the Series record--for the game, scoring just four runs on 22 baserunners. The Longhorns had consecutive runners caught stealing in the sixth inning, one frame after having tied the score when a blown call by the second-base umpire called Michael Hollimon safe on a stolen base when he was clearly tagged out. He eventually scored the tying run on Omar Quintanilla's single.

"Well, we walked nine, hit four and made three errors and we win," Graham said. "That says something about the heart of the team."

Then there was the eighth, when a liner by Curtis Thigpen that was clearly trapped by Rice shortstop Paul Janish turned into your garden-variety 6-3-4 double play. "We're not going to sit here and make excuses," Garrido said.

"The game was a mirror for both teams. A lot of the same things happened to both. There were a lot of missed opportunities."

The Longhorns got on the board first during a three-run fourth, with the last run scoring in unconventional fashion. Street led off with a single to left and moved to third on Moss' double to the gap. With no out, Rice kept its infield back, and Quintanilla capitalized with an RBI groundout to second. After Humber struck out Dustin Majewski, Eric Sultemeier came up with the game's first big hit, lacing a base hit to left to score Moss.

Sultemeier went for second, and left fielder Chris Kolkhorst's throw looked to have him beat. But second baseman Enrique Cruz just missed the throw, and it rolled all the way to the tarp. First baseman Vincent Sinisi got to it, but Sultemeier beat his throw to the plate for the third run. That finally chased Humber, but Baker came on and kept his team in the game.

Rice answered with four in the bottom half against sophomore lefthander J.P. Howell, who had fanned six through the first three innings. But Cruz led off with a single, and after an out, the next four batters reached. Austin Davis singled to right, bringing up DH Jeff Blackinton. He hit a hard grounder to third that skipped under Street's glove to an error, scoring Cruz. Bubela followed with a ground-rule double to left, and Ruchti gave the Owls their first lead with a line-dive single to left that scored Davis and Bubela.

And in the ninth, he was again the Owls who came up with the big hit, prompting a celebrating torrent of Owls onto the field.

"The game was so back and forth, and we just battled," Bubela said. "It was awesome. We soaked it up out there."