Baylor
Tulane (College World Series)
Bears Battle Past Green Wave In Ninth, 8-7
6/21/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 21, 2005
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OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - Baylor wanted to stick around and play some more baseball at the College World Series.
And to do that, the Bears staged a remarkable comeback Tuesday night to knock out top-seeded Tulane.
Down 7-0 after six innings, the Bears rallied for three runs in the ninth, scoring the winning run on a throwing error by Tulane second baseman Joe Holland to stun and eliminate the Green Wave 8-7.
"It's a 27-out game. You can't hold the ball. You can't take a knee," Baylor coach Steve Smith said.
"It was fortunate for us that even when we got down six runs early, we still had outs to play with. And our guys took advantage of those outs."
One out after reliever Brandon Gomes issued an intentional walk to load the bases, Baylor's Paul Witt hit a hopper to Holland near the bag at second.
Holland touched the base for the second out of the inning. But his relay throw to complete a double play that would have ended the game and given Tulane the win went past first baseman Michah Owings.
The tying run scored and then so did a jubilant Zach Dillon from third with the winner as the ball got away.
"I was really not expecting the outcome that happened," Witt said.
"When I hit it, I didn't know if he (Holland) would get a long hop or a short hop and luckily for us it was a short hop. I was just running as fast as I could and as soon as it went past him (Owings), I turned around and looked and saw Zach score."
That set off a wild celebration for the Bears and sent the Green Wave into stunned silence.
 | It's a 27-out game. You can't hold the ball. You can't take a knee. Steve Smith |
"In 30 years of coaching this is the toughest loss I've had. The way it ended and the guys that were involved," Tulane coach Rick Jones said.
"We were all up on the top step thinking we were going to win this game," he added.
"The ball just hopped up into Joe a little bit and he had to hurry to the bag and hurry his throw a bit. It's just one of those things. You figure it was meant to be for them. It sure is tough right now."
Trailing 7-5 headed into the bottom of the ninth, the Bears got a leadoff single from Josh Ford to knock out reliever Daniel Lantham.
Sean Morgan (6-1) came in and gave up a single to Reid Brees and then an RBI double to Dillon, who bounced a ball over first after faking a bunt.
Gomes replaced Morgan and intentionally walked Kevin Russo to load the bases before Seth Fortenberry popped out. But then the Bears completed their rally.
"We got down early and there was really no panic in our dugout," Dillon said. "Eventually our offense will start hitting some balls hard or we'll get lucky, which we've seen a couple of times."
Abe Woody (10-3), who pitched 4 1-3 innings of two-hit relief, got the win.
Baylor (46-23) earned another meeting with Texas and must beat the Longhorns twice, beginning Wednesday, to go to the best-of-three championship series, which starts Saturday.
Baylor beat Texas four straight times during the season before losing to the Longhorns in the first round of the CWS, 5-1.
Tulane (56-12) goes home after the crushing defeat.
Tulane's J.R. Crowel pitched shutout ball for the first six innings, and the Green Wave got a two-run homer from Mark Hamilton in a six-run second inning to built what looked like an insurmountable lead. Brian Bogusevic's fifth-inning double made it 7-0.
"At 7-0 with J.R. pitching, we felt like we were in good shape," Jones said.
Baylor finally broke through on a muggy, 90-degree night against Crowel with three in the seventh.
An error, double by Kevin Sevigny and a wild pitch allowed the first run to score. Michael Griffin followed with an RBI double and came in on Kyle Reynolds' run-scoring single that finished Crowel.
Crowel allowed five hits and three runs - two earned - in his 117-pitch outing.
The Green Wave got a major scare in the bottom of the eighth when center fielder Nathan Southard and right fielder Bogusevic collided chasing a fly ball. Southard made the catch, holding up the ball as he hit the ground, and both remained in the game.
Baylor then got back-to-back singles from Fortenberry and Witt off ace reliever Daniel Latham.
Latham struck out Sevigny as Fortenberry and Witt pulled a double steal before Griffin bounced a two-run single to cut the lead to two.
