Longhorns advance to championship round

He got it and now he's a hero after propelling Texas into the championship round of the College World Series.

Chance Wheeless, hobbled by a strained muscle in his shoulder, smacked a walk-off home run off Ryan LaMotta on Wednesday night at Rosenblatt Stadium to lift the Longhorns past Baylor, 4-3, carving out a not-so-little place for himself in the history of the school's storied baseball program.

Texas will face the winner of Thursday night's elimination game between Arizona State and Florida in Game One of the finals, beginning Saturday night. It marks the third time in the last four years that the 'Horns will play for the national championship. They won it all in 2002 and but were swept last year by Cal-State Fullerton.

"I'm shocked," Wheeless said afterwards, his shoulder wrapped in ice. "This is unbelievable."

Wheeless, the sophomore first baseman from Round Rock, Texas, hurt his shoulder on Monday night against Tulane and clearly has been in pain since, wincing, grabbing his arm and even falling to the ground almost every time he swung a bat. The image of Wheeless grimacing and doubling over was so dramatic that Texas head coach Augie Garrido had seen enough and decided to pinch-hit for the hulking youngster, who had other ideas, to lead off the ninth.

"His shoulder has been bothering him, so I went over and said to him, 'I'm going to have (Clay) Van Hook hit for you,'" Garrido said. "And he said that he really hits this guy (LaMotta) well. And I said, 'What about the shoulder,' and he said, 'I hit this guy hard, I'll be OK.'

"But when he swung at the (first) changeup, I felt I had been misled. But then when he hit the home run, I was thanking his mother and his father and grandmother and his grandfather and anyone else who had anything to do with Chance Wheeless being on this planet."

Wheeless said he was "pretty concerned" when Garrido mentioned a pinch-hitter, adding that he was figuring on having to lobby hard to stay in the game. Instead, Garrido acquiesced.

"All year long, whether it's our staff or someone else's staff, you always have someone screaming about showing some courage and all of that kind of crap," Garrido said. "And here we had someone who wanted to do it. But I went back in the dugout and everyone was saying you're going to let him hit, you're going to let him hit. For Pete's sake, he wants to be a hero and we've been begging for that for six years around here."

LaMotta, who came on in relief of starter Mark McCormick to begin the eighth inning, fooled Wheeless with a changeup on the pitch before the homer. He went back to it again and the results were disastrous.

"I thought I could go inside with it," LaMotta said. "Obviously, it didn't end up where I intended."

Wheeless said that every time he tried to go to the opposite field, his shoulder would "pop out." But he caught the 1-1 offering perfectly and deposited it into the right field bleachers.

The blast capped yet another dramatic CWS game. The Bears (46-24) almost took the lead in the top of the ninth after Reid Brees led the inning off with a walk against Texas closer J. Brent Cox (8-3). Kevin Russo bunted Brees to second before Seth Fortenberry walked. That brought up Paul Witt, who sent a line drive into shallow center field.

Brees took off immediately from second and was rounding third by the time he realized that Texas center fielder Drew Stubbs had charged hard and made the catch. Stubbs then threw the ball in, and though it briefly skittered past second baseman Robby Hudson, Wheeless retrieved it in plenty of time to double up Brees.

"I saw the ball off the bat and Stubbs take off after it on a dead sprint," Brees said. "I took a chance and it ended up the wrong decision."

Baylor coach Steve Smith backed Brees.

"I thought it was gambling time with J. Brent Cox on the mound," Smith said. "I thought it was a good gamble and I applaud Drew for making the play."

It seemed only fitting that the ninth boil down to a series of dramatic plays, especially considering the bombastic fashion in which Texas knotted the score at 3-3 in the eighth. Baylor was clinging to a one-run lead when Hudson got the inning started by reaching on an error by Witt at short.

Nick Peoples tried to sacrifice, but hit into a fielder's choice. When LaMotta tried to pick People's off first, Jeff Mandel couldn't handle the throw and it wound up going down the right field line, allowing Peoples to scoot to third. Stubbs then lofted a fly to right and People's scored, barreling into catcher Josh Ford in the process.

While People's knocked the ball free and was safe before Ford applied the tag, home plate umpire Mike Conlin already ruled that Ford was guilty of obstruction and that People's was automatically safe. A brief argument by Ford ensued, but Smith had no problem with the call.

"He called obstruction immediately and I didn't argue it because it was a tough call," Smith said. "At the plate, though, you ought to let it go. If the catcher can block the plate, then let it go.

"The only disagreement I had with him was that I thought the non-slide was flagrant. He went in high. It was an emotional play and we have the must-slide rule."