The Texas Longhorns baseball season is over.
It ended on the wildest of plays. With two outs in the ninth inning and a runner in scoring position, Texas pitcher Lucas Gordon induced a fly ball to shallow right-center field. With Texas outfielders unable to locate the ball in the lights, the ball fell to the ground scoring the game-winning run.
It wasn’t the first time this postseason that a routine fly ball or pop fly has landed on the ground. The Texas A&M infield had difficulty finding the ball last week against Stanford. Even the Cardinal outfield fell victim to the Palo Alto sky in what turned into a five-run inning for Texas in Game 1 of the series.
It’s unreasonable to assert Texas should have won the series if not for external factors. Both teams dealt with poor umpiring and poor ball-tracking conditions on the series. It is, however, among the more unfortunate ways to lose.
Despite the loss, the 2023 baseball team exceeded expectations for the year. Though it looked like a team that might struggle to make the NCAA Tournament early on, the squad rallied to win a Big 12 regular season title and coasted through the Miami regional.
That Texas was tied in the ninth inning with a shot at another College World Series appearance speaks to how far the team came from the season openers in Arlington. Head coach David Pierce will look to build on an impressive season with more in the way of returning contributors than a season ago.