Here's to Austin Wood
Chances are, you never heard of Austin Wood, a pitcher for the Texas Longhorns.
But what an outing he had Saturday. And Sunday. In a game that started in 96-degree heat, the lefty reliever from Kingwood, Texas, punched the clock for 13 shutout innings, including 12 1/3 no-hit innings, to help his team beat Boston College, 3-2, in the NCAA Division I tournament.
And get this: he did it one night after throwing two scoreless innings against Army to open regional competition.
The 25-inning game -- the longest in NCAA history -- consumed seven hours, three minutes. It was so long that it deserved three seventh-inning stretches. The Longhorns and the Eagles combined to throw 683 pitches. The benches were depleted and three players played three different positions.
Wood came on in the seventh inning with the score tied, 2-2, and kept going out until he was relieved in the bottom of the 20th. He faced 41 batters (two over the minimum) and threw 169 pitches, 120 for strikes. He walked just four and struck out 14.
At one point, coach Augie Garrido said he discussed with assistant coach Skip Johnson whether to leave Wood in or take him out. "[Wood] walked by both of us and said, 'I’m not coming out of this game,'" Garrido said.
His Eagles' counterpart, closer Mike Belfiore, entered the game in the ninth inning and kept pitching for 9 2/3 innings. He threw 129 pitches, shutting out Texas on three hits and striking out 11.
If the two had started, the game would have been scoreless into the 10th.
The game ended in the top of the 25th, more than an hour past midnight, when Texas second baseman Travis Tucker stroked an RBI single through a drawn-in infield.
"We never doubted that we weren't going to win that game," said Wood, a senior.
Garrido called the effort, "the best pitching performance by an individual pitcher in the 41 years that I’ve coached. Austin Wood did unbelievable."
The coach should know. According to Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, Wood has thrown twice on the same day three different times and pitched on back-to-back days five times.
Wood had impressive numbers this season (5-1, 2.03 ERA, 66 strikeouts, 15 walks, 15 saves in 75.1 innings) and was rated by Bryan Smith of Baseball Prospectus as "the most dependable closer in the nation" and the Longhorns' best pro prospect.
With the amateur draft coming up this week, Wood's performance should make teams sit up and take notice. In an age where young pitchers are coddled, Wood is an iron man.
in The Endorsement
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