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By John Manuel
June 15, 2002

Justin Simmons

OMAHA--The matchup of the nation's top two ranked teams in the last game of the College World Series' opening round didn't disappoint.

Neither did Texas' pitching staff, which entered the Series with the nation's top ERA of 2.73. Sophomore Justin Simmons and freshman Huston Street lowered the ERA even more, holding Rice to a solo homer and pitching Texas to a 2-1 victory Saturday night.

The Longhorns' win, their third in three tries against the top-ranked Owls, was the first by a Big 12 Conference school since its 1997 inception. It also ended an 0-13 skid for member schools since Oklahoma's win in the 1994 national championship game (back when the Sooners were in the Big 8). Texas (54-15) moves on to face Stanford in a Monday night matchup.

"We're very familiar with Stanford--they beat the hell out of us," said Longhorns coach Augie Garrido, whose postgame remarks were more Leno than Garrido. "It's rude . . . On paper, logically, they should win. They're smarter. I mean, have you seen their SATs?

"Our players do believe they can compete with them, and we feel fortunate to get the opportunity to play them."

Simmons and Street gave them the chance. Simmons, who had won his first 14 decisions, returned to that form after struggling in three of his last four starts. He had given up 11 runs (all earned) over his previous four appearances covering 11 1/3 innings, but his changeup-heavy approach was effective against the Owls (52-13), who were limited to five hits over Simmons' 7 1/3 innings. He earned his 15th victory to break the Big 12 single-season record, previously held by Shane Komine (Nebraska) and Shane Wright (Texas Tech).

"Justin eliminated any doubts about his ability and where he is," Garrido said. "We talked about it a lot . . . He's been a big-game pitcher all of his life. He won three big games for us last year as a freshman, and he pitched five shutout innings against Nebraska in the Big 12 (tournament) championship game, and he did it again tonight. It's about character and his whole makeup to be able to deliver."

Simmons also pitched around four errors, one of which came on the game's most crucial play. "(The errors) were uncharacteristic of us," Garrido said.

"That's as many errors as we've made in the last three weeks. It's really, really hard to pitch around that sometimes, but Justin did a great job."

Trailing 2-0, Rice rallied in the bottom of the eighth. It started with one out, when its all-time hits leader, Eric Arnold, blasted Simmons' first pitch over the batter's eye in center field. The homer was his ninth of the year and halved the Texas lead. Vincent Sinisi followed with a liner Tim Moss misplayed for his second error of the night, and that would be all for Simmons.

Street, the closer whose father James played for Texas', came on with his 0.89 ERA, but Sinisi promptly stole second (his team-leading 12th steal), and Hunter Brown worked a walk. After Street struck out pinch-hitter Mike Lorsbach, shortstop Paul Janish worked a full count. Omar Quintanilla tried to backhand Janish's hard grounder to third, but it glanced off his glove and Sinisi headed for home. But Quintanilla knocked the ball down with his right hand, chased it down in foul ground, and threw plateward over Rice coach Wayne Graham, who serves as the third-base coach and hit the deck to avoid the throw. The throw beat Sinisi for the inning-ending out.

"I thought Vincent, he was on his own but I concurred with his decision," Graham said. "I thought he had a good shot. The ball didn't get quite as far away as he or I thought. Quintanilla made a pretty good play to get him."

Quintanilla, who was charged with an error on the play, said he tried to play the ball and tag the bag for the force at the same time, leading to his misplay. "I was able to tip it with my throwing hand. Coach teaches us not to give up on the play and make the second effort, and that's what I did," Quintanilla said.

Street closed it out in the ninth, the second one-run win for the Longhorns in three meetings with the Owls, and the third one-run game of the first four of the CWS, the first time that has happened in the event's 56-year history.

Texas got on the board in the third off righthander Stephen Herce (13-3), who retired the first two batters but then gave up consecutive singles to Quintanilla, Dustin Majewski and Jeff Ontiveros. Quintanilla and Ontiveros both drilled liners back through the box, two of four shots back up the middle. One struck Herce on the leg but he emerged relatively unscathed.

Texas' second run, which proved to be the game-winner, also involved Majewski, the team's third hitter. Moss led off the eighth with a single to left and came around to score one out later on Majewski's double to left.

Majewski also contributed a running catch at the wall on a deep fly by A.J. Porfirio leading off the sixth, a ball that might have hit the top of the wall had it not been caught.

Despite the four errors, Texas played solid defense. Perhaps the biggest play came in the fourth, when Sinisi batted with two on and none out. He lined Simmons' first pitch, but right to Ontiveros at first base. He stepped on the bag at first for a double play and nearly turned what would have been the fourth triple play in CWS history, but Porfirio beat the throw back to second.

"The reason you love three-run homers is because they can't catch 'em," Graham said. "If Vincent's hit is three feet either way, we've got a run and first and third . . . "

Instead, the Owls have their third loss to Texas and an elimination matchup Monday with Notre Dame, which will feature a showdown between hard-throwing freshmen righties Chris Neisel (ND) and Philip Humber (Rice). The Longhorns have not decided whether to use Alan Bomer or Ray Clark, both righthanders, to face Stanford.