Longhorns advance to CWS title series

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Posted 7:04AM on Thursday, June 23, 2005

OMAHA, NEBRASKA - Chance Wheeless' right shoulder hurt so much in the sixth inning that he couldn't even run out a grounder. Three innings later, the Texas first baseman was able to just jog around the bases. Wheeless shook off a sore shoulder and homered in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Longhorns to a 4-3 victory over Baylor on Wednesday and into the championship round at the College World Series. "Every swing I took that I put the bat on the ball, it was just excruciating pain," Wheeless said. The win sent Texas (54-16) into the best-of-three championship series for the second straight year. The Longhorns, national runners-up to Cal State Fullerton in 2004, will play either Arizona State (42-24) or Florida (47-21). Arizona State, led by Erik Averill's five-hitter on two days' rest, beat the Gators 6-1 earlier Wednesday. That forced a game Thursday night to determine which team moves to the championship round that starts Saturday. Wheeless' homer atoned for his error in the seventh inning, which led to the tying and go-ahead runs for Baylor (46-24). Wheeless lost Kenn Kasparek's throw in the sun after the pitcher fielded Seth Fortenberry's bunt. One run came home on the play and Fortenberry ended up on third before scoring on Kevin Sevigny's hit. The Longhorns tied it at 3 in the eighth when Nick Peoples scored on a play at the plate. Peoples ran into catcher Josh Ford, who was blocking the plate without the ball. Umpire Mike Conlin ruled obstruction and called Peoples safe. Baylor coach Steve Smith argued unsuccessfully that Peoples intentionally collided with Ford and should have been ejected. That set the stage for Wheeless in the ninth. Texas coach Augie Garrido told Wheeless that he was thinking of having Clay Van Hook pinch hit for him because of his shoulder injury. "That first swing when it popped out, I didn't know what was going to happen the rest of the day," Wheeless said. After talking Garrido into letting him hit, Wheeless sent Ryan LaMotta's 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence for his fifth homer of the season. Wheeless, 1-for-4 Wednesday and 3-of-12 in the CWS, initially injured his shoulder in Monday's game against Tulane. On a check swing during his last at-bat, he said, the shoulder popped out and back in quickly. He said he was sore Tuesday, but took batting practice with no problem Wednesday afternoon. It was apparent the shoulder was hurting during the game. Still, he refused to let Garrido sit him. "I had a feeling," Wheeless said. "I thought maybe I would get a base hit or something like that. Getting the game-winning hit is just huge." Garrido said he was glad he gave in to Wheeless' wish. "All year long, whether it's our coaching staff or other coaching staffs: 'Why doesn't somebody step up and do something? Come on, show a little courage,'" Garrido said. "Now the guy wants to do this, and I go back to the dugout and a couple people in there go, `Why are you letting him hit? He's got a bad shoulder. He doesn't have a chance.' "I said, 'The guy wants to be a hero.'" Baylor, making its first CWS appearance since 1978, reached Wednesday's game with a thrilling comeback win over Tulane on Tuesday night, rallying from a 7-0 deficit for an 8-7 victory. J. Brent Cox (8-3) was the winner in relief. LaMotta (5-2) took the loss. Arizona State 6, Florida 1 Averill (11-4) threw his five-hitter in 92-degree heat, retiring the last eight batters for his fifth complete game this season. "He told me before the game, `I'm going nine.' I listened to him," ASU coach Pat Murphy said. The Sun Devils, who came into the CWS with the fewest wins of any team in the field, have won three straight after losing in the first round, and are 5-0 in NCAA tournament elimination games. Averill's outing was a help to a relief corps that had worked 16 1-3 of ASU's 26 previous innings. The relievers were allowed to stay back at the team hotel until a half-hour before the game. "My mind-set going in was to get as many innings as I could because our bullpen has been a little tired," Averill said. "I just tried to put the ball in play and let our defense take care of it." Averill had thrown 76 pitches in 5 2-3 innings of the Sun Devils' 4-2 win over Tennessee on Sunday. He threw 113 against the Gators, striking out seven and not allowing a walk. "I was a little tired the first five innings, but then I got a second wind," Averill said. "You never really know how much your body will give you until you ask it." The game followed Arizona State's dramatic 11-inning win over Nebraska, highlighted by Jeff Larish's CWS record-tying three home runs. Unlike that game, the Sun Devils led early against the Gators. Travis Buck homered deep into the right-field seats off Bryan Ball in the first inning for his sixth home run. Ball (7-5), who hadn't pitched since June 4 in the regional opener against Stetson, went six innings and allowed four hits and four runs.