Texas ousts Sun Devils in CWS classic

OMAHA, Neb. – Two of the most storied programs in college baseball history played a game Friday that belonged on no other stage than the College World Series.

It almost seemed to deserve an encore today.

Texas ended No. 2 ASU’s captivating season with two, bases-empty home runs in the last of the ninth inning for a 4-3 victory at Rosenblatt Stadium. It was the Longhorns’ second victory over the Sun Devils here and sends them to face LSU in the best-of-three championship series that begins Monday.

“It might be a great game to watch on TV sometime, but right now it hurts,” ASU junior left fielder Kole Calhoun said.

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“We didn’t want this to end. This is the best team I’ve ever been on, and I’m really going to miss playing with these guys, that’s for sure.”

Calhoun had three singles and an RBI Friday and finished his first World Series with a 1.250 slugging percentage, tied with Mark Kotsay for the second-best in World Series history.

Cameron Rupp, who had two homers in the Longhorns’ 10-6 victory over ASU on Tuesday, tied the game with a one-out homer that went over the 25-foot batter’s eye in center field off Mitchell Lambson (9-5), who set the ASU freshman strikeout record (now 99) two innings before.

One out later, Connor Rowe hit the first pitch he saw two rows into the left field seats, above a straining Calhoun at the fence.

“I had faced him three times before and had seen a lot of change-ups. I was sitting there waiting for it, and got it,” Rowe said.

ASU (51-14) made its 21st College World Series appearance. No. 4 Texas (49-14-1) has played in 33.

“A baseball tournament doesn’t necessarily indicate who the best team in the country is,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said.

“A pitch here, a pitch there. A call here, a call there. We could have won it all. It tears you up. It doesn’t seem right.”

ASU seemed destined to force a deciding game against the Longhorns after taking a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth inning with the melding of forces that typified their season – veteran leadership combining with willing, capable youth.

Jason Kipnis led off the Sun Devils’ ninth with an infield single after an 11-pitch at-bat off Longhorns’ closer Austin Wood.

Kipnis fouled off four full-count pitches before hitting a sharp grounder between first and second that first baseman Brandon Belt deflected toward second baseman Travis Tucker

Kipnis beat the play with a head-first slide at first base, and Tucker’s throw went past the bag and rolled near the ASU dugout, enabling Kipnis to take second.

With two outs, freshman Zach Wilson tripled into the right field corner to break a 2-2 tie. It was his first RBI since May 10. He entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and stayed in at DH.

“For him to have that kind of at-bat right there … the kid has so much potential,” said Kipnis, the Pac-10 player of the year.

“I honestly thought going into the last of the ninth it was our game.”

Junior All-American Mike Leake, who started on two days’ rest, gave up two runs and eight hits in six innings, striking out seven.

He gave up a homer to Michael Torres the third, the fourth home run he had allowed all season and the second here, and an RBI-single in the fifth.

“When we won (Thursday), I wanted the ball,” said Leake, who almost certainly pitched his last game at ASU after being the eighth player taken in the major league draft last week.

“I wanted to be the one to take us into tomorrow.”

Devil’s food

Turning point: Texas No. 9 hitter Connor Rowe hit a two-out, bases-empty home run in the last of the ninth inning to give Texas a 4-3 victory over Arizona State, eliminating the Sun Devils from the College World Series.

Stat of the game: Kole Calhoun had three singles and hit safely in all four ASU games, and he finished with a 1.250 slugging percentage

Unsung hero: Mike Leake, pitching on two days’ rest, gave up two runs in six innings and struck out seven while throwing 86 pitches, running his pitch count to 163 in a three-day span.

Walk them off: Rowe’s walk-off home run was the first in the College World Series since June 22, 2005, when another Texas player – first baseman Chance Wheeler – hit one to beat Baylor en route to the Longhorns’ last national championship.