Top College Baseball Moments Of 2009 #5

Sean Stires — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:01:41 +0000

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The Texas vs. Boston College 25-Inning Game

(With the end of the year fast approaching, we’re counting down some of the top moments from the 2009 college baseball season. We’ll have one a day through New Year’s Eve.)

There’s not a lot to say about this game that hasn’t already been said. It’s probaly the most famous college baseball game of the decade, and arguably the most famous ever. The record setting game started on May 30th and it ended on May 31st.

Texas pitcher Austin Wood and BC hurler Mike Belfiore got the lion’s share of the attention for their epic relief performances that night, but there was a lot of other action (or inaction) in those 7-plus hours in Austin.

Here’s a By The Numbers look at the game that the Longhorns finally won 3-2:

Austin Wood

12 1/3…innings Austin Wood pitched without giving-up a hit. Wood entered the game with one out and a runner at second base in the 7th inning.

14…career-high strikeouts by Wood in his 13 total innings of work. He walked two batters and eventually gave-up two hits.

9 2/3…innings pitched in relief by Belfiore who entered the game in the 9th inning.

11…strikeouts and 129 total pitches Belfiore threw in what turned out to be the last college game of his career.

22…combined scoreless innings pitched by Wood & Belfiore…they totaled 25 strikeouts.

25.1…combined innings pitched by 8 other Texas & BC pitchers…they totaled 17 strikeouts.

Mike Belfiore

169…pitches thrown by Austin Wood in his scoreless, two-hit 13-inning effort.

683…total pitches thrown by a total of 10 Longhorn & Eagle pitchers.

96…degrees at first pitch at 6:02 p.m. Central Time.

78…degrees when the game ended at 1:05 a.m.

36…combined runners left on base-24 by Texas and 12 by Boston College.

33…putouts recorded by Texas 1B Preston Clark - A new NCAA single-game record.

Travis Tucker

12…at-bats each by Longhorns Travis Tucker & Michael Torres to set a new NCAA record.

3…combined hits by Tucker and Torres.

7…total players who had at least 10 official at-bats during the game.

37…total players who participated in the game – Texas head coach Augie Garrido and BC head coach Mikio Aoki each used all of their position players.

3…positions each played by BC’s Belfiore, Matt Hamlet and Andrew Lawrence.

192…combined plate appearances and 171 combined at-bats by the two teams-both single game NCAA records.

1988…the year of the previous longest NCAA postseason game – A 19-inning content between Clemson and Fordham in New Britain, CT.

1971…the year of the previous longest game in NCAA history – A 23-inning game between Louisiana-Lafayette and McNeese State.

46…scoreless half innings on the scoreboard in the game.

4…half innings in which either team scored a run. The Longhorns scored 2 in the 2nd inning and didn’t score again until Travis Tucker drove-in Connor Rowe in the top of the 25th inning in what turned-out to be the game-winner.

18…scoreless innings between runs – Boston College scored single runs in the 4th and 6th innings.

Kevin Keyes

1…home run hit in the game – A 2-run shot by Texas RF Kevin Keyes in the 2nd.

3…other Longhorns who played rightfield after Keyes left the game after just three at-bats.

2…times the scoreboard at Disch-Falk Stadium had to be reset during the game so the score could be displayed by innings.

1…standing ovation the two teams received at the end of the game.

Final Thoughts: After the game ended just after 1 a.m. Texas out-slugged Army 14-10 in a game that started later that night at 6p.m. Longhorn starter Taylor Jungmann gave-up 6 runs in just 3 1/3 IP. They used just four other pitchers in that game. Preston Clark’s game-ending grand slam gave the Longhorns the Regional title.

Texas hosted and beat TCU in two of three games at the Super Regional the following weekend. Austin Wood totaled 3 innings of relief in the last two games to help the Longhorns get to the College World Series.

In his six appearances after the famed 13-inning outing here are Wood’s numbers: 11 IP, 16 hits, 10 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, with a 6.54 ERA. Wood made his nation-leading 41st appearance of the season when he toed the rubber for the last time in the final game of the CWS vs. LSU. Texas was the eventual national runner-up.

Mike Belfiore was drafted by the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 45th overall pick on the 2009 MLB draft. After signing he made 11 starts with 14 overall appearances for the single-A Missoula Osprey. He was 2-2 with a 2.17 ERA with 55 strikeouts in 58 IP.

Other Top Moments Of 2009

6. Andrew Darr Comes Off The Bench & Comes Up Big For Arkansas

7. Virginia Beats Stephen Strasburg In Irvine Regional Opener

8. Washington State And Gonzaga End Long NCAA Tournament Droughts

9. Cal Poly Gets Its First NCAA Tournament Bid

10. Kansas’ Field of Dreams: Kansas, Kansas State & Wichita State All Get NCAA Bids

11. Stephen Strasburg Strikes out 17 in a no hitter

12. Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers No-hits Michigan

13. Kansas Sweeps #1 Texas

14. Bryce Brentz Has An April To Remember

15. Clemson’s Kyle Parker Does Double Duty

16. #1 Arkansas Beats #1 Arizona State