Having treated the last month like a series of super regionals, Texas heads to Stanford
Texas baseball coach David Pierce enjoys the month of June.
Pierce and the Longhorns are heading to California to play Stanford in one of the NCAA’s eight super regionals. If it survives, Texas will advance to the College World Series for the 39th time in school history.
“It's just the best time of the year for college baseball,” Pierce said. “To be in the top 16 is a lot different than being in the top 64.”
This super regional will be Pierce’s fourth at Texas. He also reached this round once as an assistant at Houston and during six of his nine years on Rice’s coaching staff. Veteran outfielder Eric Kennedy was a starter for UT’s 2021 super regional against South Florida and 2022 super regional at East Carolina. Infielder Mitchell Daly and outfielder Dylan Campbell played in each of those East Carolina games, and Daly was UT’s starting second baseman in the South Florida series. A few more Longhorns have made brief appearances.
But for the newcomers, a super regional is a best-of-three series. Texas plays those throughout the course of the regular season, so it isn't a novel concept. At least that’s what Pierce has preached this past month.
"I think ever since May 1, we've kind of looked at and I've used the theme, 'Hey, we're in super regionals right now,'" Pierce said. "We just started playing every weekend like win or go home."
Texas played three best-of-three series during the month of May. The Longhorns won them all.
Texas took two out of the three games at Kansas and did the same against San Jose State at home. The Longhorns closed out the regular season by sweeping a West Virginia team that was No. 6 at the time.
It's worth noting that Texas dropped the opener of the Kansas and San Jose State series. Ace pitcher Lucas Gordon started both games. But UT rebounded to record 6-2 and 7-6 wins over Kansas, and it scored 42 runs to San Jose State's nine during the final two games of that series.
"Losing that (game at Kansas) with Lucas on the mound really, really taught us a lot about our team coming back," Campbell said. "It's kind of built like a super regional with three games, coming back and winning two. I feel like we've been practicing for this for a little while now."
Treating the Big 12 Tournament like a super regional didn't work out for Texas. The Longhorns went 0-2 in Arlington. The following week, though, they bounced back by going 3-0 to win the Coral Gables Regional.
Now Texas squares off against Stanford, the NCAA Tournament's No. 8 overall seed. The Longhorns have one of the best fielding percentages and team ERAs in the country, which will be tested by a team that ranks in the top-15 nationally in batting average (.318), slugging percentage (.548), home runs (113) and scoring (8.6 runs per game).
"I just think their lineup is very good. They play their roles really well," Pierce said. "Defensively, they're solid. Their pitching gets a little overlooked because their offense has been so good."
Stanford is 22-8 at Sunken Diamond, and the Cardinal won all seven of the three-game series it hosted this year. Texas has never won a road regional and a road super regional during the same postseason.
The Longhorns, however, are ready to test out their super-regional mindset in an actual super regional. Daly said this week that "playing every game like it's our last and that playoff mentality" has given his team an on-field advantage.
"I think with that edge that we have about us, we like our matchup with anybody," he said.
NCAA super regionals
There are 16 teams left in the NCAA Tournament — college baseball's equivalent of the Sweet 16. The survivors of this weekend's eight super regionals will advance to next week's College World Series; Texas and Stanford are the only teams still alive in this year's field that played in last year's CWS.
Florida Super Regional: No. 15 South Carolina (42-19) at No. 2 Florida (48-15) — 5 p.m. Friday (ESPN2), 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), Game 3 TBA Sunday, if needed
Virginia Super Regional: Duke (38-22) at No. 7 Virginia — 11 a.m. Friday (ESPN2), 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPN2), Game 3 TBA Sunday, if needed
Oregon Super Regional: Oral Roberts (49-11) at Oregon (40-20) — 7 p.m. Friday (ESPNU), 8 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU), Game 3 TBA Sunday, if needed
TCU Super Regional: No. 14 Indiana State (45-15) at TCU (40-22) — 4 p.m. Friday (ESPNU), 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU), Game 3 TBA Sunday, if needed
Wake Forest Super Regional: No. 16 Alabama (43-19) at No. 1 Wake Forest (50-10) — 11 a.m. Saturday (ESPN), Game 2 TBA Sunday, Game 3 TBA Monday, if needed
Stanford Super Regional: Texas (41-20) at No. 8 Stanford (42-17) — 5 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2), Game 2 TBA Sunday, Game 3 TBA Monday, if needed
LSU Super Regional: No. 12 Kentucky (40-19) at No. 5 LSU (46-15) — 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN), Game 2 TBA Sunday, Game 3 TBA Monday, if needed
Southern Mississippi Super Regional: 2 p.m. Saturday (ESPNU), Game 2 TBA Sunday, Game 3 TBA Monday, if needed
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: NCAA super regional features Texas and Stanford baseball programs
