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Roundup: Hot-hitting Horns master Dogs
By ERIC OLSON
Associated Press Writer
Saturday's CWS Capsules
Texas 9, Georgia 3
OMAHA David Maroul's
three-run double highlighted Texas' five-run first inning and Seth Johnston
and Dooley Prince had four hits apiece to lead the Longhorns to a 9-3
victory over Georgia in the College World Series on Sunday night.
The top-seeded Longhorns
earned the inside track to a spot in the best-of-3 championship series. They
will go to the finals next weekend if they beat the winner of Tuesday's
Georgia-Arizona game.
In the other game, Arizona
beat Arkansas 7-2.
Texas (57-13), which beat
Arkansas 13-2 in the CWS' first round, has outscored its opponents by a
combined 71-21 in seven NCAA Tournament games. The Longhorns are batting
.361 in the tournament.
"Before, we would have just
one or two guys come up big for us," Johnston said. "Now there are four or
five guys through the lineup who are stepping up."
The Longhorns had their first
three batters reach against starter Sean Ruthven, who needed 55 pitches in
the opening inning. Johnston and Carson Kainer drove in runs before Maroul's
bases-loaded double into the left-field corner for a 5-0 lead.
"That five-run first inning
gave us momentum," Texas coach Augie Garrido said. "There were a lot of good
at-bats, but none better than Maroul's two-strike battle before his double.
And then when they made their run at us, we countered it."
Ruthven (7-2) gave up an RBI
double to Curtis Thigpen in the fourth and left in favor of Mitchell Boggs
to start the fifth.
"I just couldn't get the ball
down," Ruthven said. "They did a good job of staying on me."
Sam LeCure, making his
school-record 22nd straight start this season, allowed three hits and one
run in four innings. J. Brent Cox (6-1) got the win in relief after giving
up two runs on four hits in three innings.
Huston Street pitched one-hit
relief over the last two innings.
Georgia (44-22) scored once in
the first on Josh Morris' sacrifice fly and twice in the fifth on a Marshall
Szabo single and a Josh Morris groundout.
Arizona 7, Arkansas 2
OMAHA Jordan Brown looked
more like the No. 3 batter he used to be in Arizona's batting order rather
than the No. 8 batter he was Sunday.
The demoted Brown hit two of
his team's four home runs as the Wildcats defeated Arkansas 7-2 in a College
World Series elimination game.
"To me, as long as I'm playing
on a stage like this, where I'm hitting doesn't really mean much as long as
I get my hacks," said Brown, who was 0-for-13 in super regionals against
Long Beach State and struck out three times and had two singles in Friday's
first-round CWS loss to Georgia.
Arizona (36-26-1) moves to a
Tuesday game against the loser of Sunday night's Georgia-Texas matchup.
Arkansas ended its season 45-24.
John Meloan (10-0) and Mark
Melancon combined to hold Arkansas to five hits.
The Razorbacks had managed
only two hits in a 13-2 loss to Texas on Friday.
Arkansas' Dave Van Horn became
the only coach to lose each of his first six games in the College World
Series. Van Horn also went two-and-out in 2001 and '02 with his Nebraska
teams.
Meloan stayed perfect this
season by scattering five hits in 6 1/3 innings. He walked six and struck
out five.
"I mixed it up and tried to
throw a variety of pitches at them," Meloan said. "No matter who you're
playing in college baseball, two pitches are going to get guys out on a
consistent basis. I made good pitches, hit my spots and that's what got me
outs."
Melancon retired the last
eight batters he faced for his third save.
Brown homered leading off the
third inning to open the scoring off Arkansas starter Clint Brannon (4-4).
The Wildcats went up 5-0 in
the fourth as Moises Duran hit a two-run homer off Brannon and Brown hit a
two-run shot off reliever Jay Sawatski.
Jason Donald hit the Wildcats'
fourth home run of the game leading off the ninth inning.
Arizona coach Andy Lopez said
Brown was moved lower in the order because he wanted to minimize lefty-lefty
matchups with Arkansas' Brannon and Sawatski.
Brown said he never took the
demotion as a slap and that it wasn't added incentive for Sunday's game.
"If you need extra motive to
do well on a stage like this, you're in the wrong game," he said.
Lopez said he appreciates
Brown's attitude.
"One strong trait this program
has with this group of young guys is they don't take anything personally as
far as moving them in and out of the lineup," Lopez said. "They understand
we're trying to make the best decision we can for that particular day."
Arkansas got its first hit off
Meloan in the fourth inning when Scott Hode sent a hard liner down the
third-base line.
But for the second straight
game, the Hogs couldn't generate any offense.
Hode strayed too far from
first on Haas Pratt's deep flyout. Donald, Arizona's shortstop, relayed
center fielder Trevor Crowe's throw to first before Hode could get back,
ending the inning.
The Hogs mustered only one run
in the fifth after they loaded the bases with none out on back-to-back
singles and a walk. Danny Hamblin scored on Scott Bridges' sacrifice.
After loading the bases again
with two out, Meloan struck out Clay Goodwin to end the inning.
The Hogs loaded the bases one
more time in the seventh, but could push across only one run, which was
walked in by reliever Melancon.
"What you saw today was a team
that almost looked tired," Van Horn said. "Maybe we maxed out the last
couple weekends and that was that."
The Razorbacks were not
expected to be in Omaha this year after being picked to finish last in the
Southeastern Conference's West Division. The Hogs won the West and then
eight of 10 games on their way to the CWS.
"If you had told me at the
beginning of the year we were going to win 45 games and go to Omaha and lose
two, I would have taken it in a second and been the happiest man in the
country," Van Horn said. "Next year we'll be better, and hopefully we'll be
back."
Copyright 2004
The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:37:28 AM
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