28 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
JUNE 29 - JULY 5, 2005
Ben DeVries/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas players pile up on the mound after defeating Florida 6-2 to win the College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb., June 26.
Longhorns add 6th title
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAHA, Neb. — A year after watching another team celebrate at the mound, Augie Garrido's Texas Longhorns punctuated their sixth College World Series title with a pileup of their own.
"It's mandatory for us to be here and it is a relief," the Texas coach said. "If we fall short of being here, we've fallen short of our first level of expectations."
Blending power pitching from closer J. Brent Cox and starter Kyle McCulloch with an unlikely spark from No. 8 hitter David Maroul, Texas beat Florida 6-2 on June 26 to win the national championship.
Texas (56-16) won five elimination games just to qualify for a berth at Omaha and then swept five straight, including two from the Gators in the best-of-three championship round.
"We got hot at the right time. It was hard to stop us. It all came together at the end for us." said Cox, who got the final five outs Sunday, including a title-clinching strike-out to end the game. "It definitely wasn't easy. It was tough."
Maroul homered and drove in four runs for the Longhorns, who last won in 2002 and fell short last season when they lost to Cal State Fullerton in the championship series.
Texas is used to winning on college baseball's biggest stage, with more CWS appearances (32) and victories (78) than any other school. The Longhorns' six titles are second only to Southern California's 12.
"You can't be a national champion without the right things happening," Garrido said. "That's the spirituality of it all. You have to trust it will happen."
It was the fifth CWS title for Garrido, who has won two with Texas and three at Cal State Fullerton.
"We thought throughout the season we had a national championship-type team," Garrido said. "We all knew coming in this team was one with experience. But it's one thing to have experience and another thing to be able to use it."
Florida (48-23) was making its fifth overall appearance at the College World Series and first trip in the championship round.
The Gators couldn't get their offense going until they were behind 6-0 Sunday. They lost Saturday night's opener 4-2 when a late rally fizzled.
Florida coach Pat McMahon acknowledged that Texas' experience four straight Omaha appearances was a plus.
"When your players have been here, it is a help, an asset, because
you know the expectations," McMahon said. "I do think it was a factor, but we were ready to play."
But the Gators batted just .212 during their six games at Rosenblatt Stadium.
"I was disgusted with myself for not showing up these last two games," said Gators star center fielder Jeff Corsaletti, who was 0-4 for 8 in the championship round.
"I thought we were a better club than we showed and we got away from our usual approach," he said. "We didn't take advantage of the very few chances we did have."
McCulloch (12-4), a 6-foot-3 sophomore right-hander, struck out eight Sunday, walked one and gave up five hits in 6 2-3 innings, including a two-run homer to Brian Leclerc in the seventh.
"Once we got ahead and put up an early lead, the hitters tend to press and then I tried to extend the strike zone," McCulloch said.
Chance Wheeless, who hit a game-winning homer against Baylor earlier in the CWS, had a solo shot in the bottom of the sixth to put the Longhorns ahead 3-0 and drive out Florida starter Bryan Ball.
Taylor Teagarden doubled off reliever Connor Falkenbach and, following a walk, Maroul hit a three-run homer to left-center to put the Longhorns ahead 6-0.
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