In Omaha for the 38th time, Texas set for College World Series opener against Notre Dame
Over the Christmas break, Texas shortstop Trey Faltine was shopping at the Houston Galleria when he heard some music.
He followed his ears and eventually found an impressive-looking audio system. He then saw a similar boombox, but this Bumpboxx Flare8 was burnt orange, so Faltine immediately knew that "there's no way I can't get this."
Faltine bought it but says the boombox belongs to the entire team. Players use it for workouts and postgame celebrations. Even Longhorns head coach David Pierce gets to occasionally control the music. "He likes listening to George Strait a lot," Faltine said.
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As it did during the regular season, that burnt-orange boombox has accompanied the Longhorns throughout the NCAA postseason. Faltine brought it with him to a press conference at the Big 12 Tournament in Arlington. Using Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" and P. Diddy's "Bad Boy For Life," the Longhorns loudly announced their arrival and exit from last week's Greenville Super Regional. And now it's time to make some noise in Omaha at the College World Series.
On Friday, Texas and Notre Dame will meet there at Charles Schwab Field. It will be Texas' NCAA-record 38th CWS appearance.
"Coming to Omaha 38 times, at this point it's expected," Texas catcher Silas Ardoin said. "We want to come out here and perform and do the best we can for our alumni."
Of the eight teams that made it to Omaha, only half are national seeds. Stanford is the second overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, Texas A&M is fifth, and Auburn grabbed the No. 14 seed. Texas is the No. 9 seed.
UT (47-20) went 3-0 at the regional it hosted and never trailed in its games against Air Force and Louisiana Tech. Texas won those three games by a combined score or 26-6.
The Longhorns faced a stiffer challenge in the super regionals. East Carolina won the opener of that best-of-three series last Friday and then held a 7-2 lead in the seventh inning of an elimination game for Texas. But the Longhorns rallied for a 9-8 victory Saturday and then pounded the Pirates 11-1 in Sunday's decisive game.
"I think many people throughout the country watching our game (Saturday) probably thought, 'Texas had a nice year. Had some adversity, had a few injuries, couldn't overcome it. Move on to the draft, move on to summer ball.' I think fan bases naturally still probably thought similar. But our team — I never sensed one thing of panic," Pierce said.
"And it's just a tribute to our mental game. It's a tribute to our players, their perseverance, their grit."
Texas enters the College World Series with the best fielding percentage in Division I baseball. It also boasts a top-25 ERA.
Then there's the Longhorns' offense.
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While hitting .396 with 32 homers and 94 RBIs, UT first baseman Ivan Melendez has already won the Bragan Slugger Award and been named the national player of the year by both Perfect Game/Rawlings and Collegiate Baseball. He could soon add the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award to his trophy case.
Of the eight CWS teams, none has a better batting average than Texas' .318 mark. None has hit more than UT's 128 home runs. The 8.0 runs averaged by the Longhorns also top the field.
"We know we have a good offense," Ardoin said. "We can really hit and produce runs in multiple ways, whether it's bunting people over or hitting singles, doubles, homers, it doesn't really matter."
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During a press conference in Omaha this week, Pierce said pitcher Pete Hansen (11-2, 3.40 ERA) will start on Friday. Notre Dame coach Link Jarrett said he'll counter with John Michael Bertrand (9-3, 2.69). Both Hansen and Bertrand are left-handers.
This season, Notre Dame is 23-12 in games played outside of its stadium. Three of those wins were earned against Texas Tech and Georgia Southern in regional play. Notre Dame then survived the three games it played at Tennessee's super regional.
The Volunteers entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 overall seed. Now Notre Dame (40-15) gets its shot at the team that was No. 1 in many preseason polls.
"Every team here is good enough to win a national championship, whether it's Texas or any of the other teams," Notre Dame first baseman Carter Putz said. "So it's not necessarily worrying about the name on the jersey, but just trying to go out there and play our game and play with each other and take it one step at a time."
College World Series
June 17-27, Omaha, Neb.
Friday: Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M, 1 p.m., ESPN; Notre Dame vs. Texas, 6 p.m., ESPN, 104.9
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball to meet Notre Dame in opener for College World Series
