Longhorns Pitcher Sets New Precedent For Endurance
June 2, 2009 – 9:45 am by Michael Bean
It’s not too often – in fact, this is the first time – that Sports Radio Interviews ventures in to the world of college baseball. If there ever were a time though, it’s this time of year with the College World Series around the corner. Regional and Super Regional Play comes first of course, and over the weekend, the Texas Longhorns survived by defeating the Boston College Eagles. They did so thanks to the marathon outing turned in by relief pitcher and closer, Austin Wood, who pitched 13 innings of scoreless ball in relief , including 12 1/3 no-hit innings during the Longhorns 3-2 victory over BC in 25 innings. Wood threw 169 pitches in the victory, a record by a college pitcher. The fact he was a closer made it even that more remarkable.
Peter King commented on the remarkable feet in his weekly Monday Morning Quarterback column but let’s continue Wood’s 15 minutes of fame by listening to him join ESPN Radio Austin on Monday to talk about the experience and moving on in College Baseball’s version of postseason tournament play.
On what he’d say to those who criticized head coach Augie Garrido (the winningest coach in NCAA Baseball mind you) for leaving Wood in for so long:
“If they want to criticize anybody, tell them to criticize me. At one point, I just went up to [the coaches] and said I wasn’t coming out of the game and they said, allright, it’s your game. They left me in…That was probably in my eighth or ninth inning.”
On how the team stayed focused during such a long game with the offense going through such a prolonged slump:
“All of us just tried to take it one pitch at a time…it kind of takes the pressure off of everything. The funny thing is I was talking to [a teammate] and it was around the fifth inning – he said we’re going to score some runs in the next couple of innings and I said we’re not going to win this until the bottom of the ninth. He didn’t believe me..”
On his stuff and how he felt out there:
“Just trying to make pitches, just trying to put my team in a position to win a baseball game. As the game went on, I was having fun with it. I was out there smiling. I didn’t mean to disrespect Boston College – you know they saw me laughing and smiling – but I was just enjoying the baseball game and trying to take it one pitch at a time and enjoy the moment. It was a long moment for me, it was a long night for everyone and we’re part of history now and it’s something we’re happy to be a part of.”
Listen here to Wood on ESPN Radio in Austin
Tags: Austin Wood breaks record for innings and pitches thrown, College Baseball, ESPN Radio Austin, Peter King, Texas Longhorns
