Austin, TX (My Sportsbook) - Travis Tucker singled in Connor Rowe in the top of the 25th inning, as Texas beat Boston College, 3-2, in the longest game in NCAA
baseball history.
The contest, which ended at 2:05 a.m. (et), lasted 7 hours, 3 minutes and the 25 innings topped the former record of 23 set in 1971 when Louisiana-Lafayette beat McNeese State.
The Longhorns (43-13-1), top seeds in the tournament, will play Sunday against the winner of the elimination game between Army and Boston College earlier in the day. The Eagles (34-25) are due to play less than 12 hours after the conclusion of Saturday's marathon.
In the 25th inning, Rowe walked, advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from David Hernandez and made it to third on a wild pitch from Mike Dennhardt. Tucker, in his NCAA-record 12th at-bat, then singled on a full count through the right side of the infield.
Incredibly, Texas used just three pitchers the entire game. Even more eye- opening was the performance of Austin Wood, a senior left-hander who threw 13 scoreless innings in relief. Wood gave up just two hits, walked four and had 14 strikeouts...all while throwing 169 pitches, including 120 for strikes. Austin Dicharry tossed the final 5 2/3 innings for the Longhorns to get the win.
Mike Belfiore was a stalwart on the mound for the Eagles in relief. The third of seven BC pitchers, Belfiore made 129 pitches, yielding three hits and fanning 11 in 9 2/3 scoreless frames.
Texas had 20 hits to just eight for Boston College, and neither team scored after the sixth inning until the 25th. The Eagles then went down in order in the bottom of the 25th.
The defending champions are done for the tournament. Brandon Meredith belted a pair of homers to power San Diego State to a 4-1 win over Fresno State in a game played in Irvine. FSU, which beat Georgia for the title last year, was stymied by Tyler Lavigne, who threw 7 2/3 innings.
The Aztecs will now face UC Irvine in an elimination game on Sunday. The top- seeded Anteaters lost to Virginia, 5-0, on Saturday.
