Texas back in must-win mode at College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. ? Texas finds itself in an agonizingly familiar role today in the NCAA postseason: one loss from elimination. Because the Longhorns have thrived in such tight spots of late, they're still swinging.

"We don't like it this way," insisted UT outfielder Mark Payton. "It just looks like we do."

UT (49-18) takes on North Carolina (50-15) at 1 p.m. in the College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park, with the loser headed home. The Longhorns, who have played a record 138 CWS games, dropped their opener 8-4 on Saturday night to Florida.

"You honestly have to accept what your challenge is with one day at a time," said coach Augie Garrido, who's led UT to two national titles in the past decade. "Every coach says that in every sport, and you (reporters) must get tired of hearing it. But if you're looking for some sort of magic from what you've done in the past, forget about it."

The Longhorns, however, have turned in some postseason hocus pocus in winning three elimination games against Texas State and Kent State (twice) in the NCAA tournament regional, then prevailing in two more against Arizona State in the super regional.

Green welcomes nod

"The season was on the line in my start in the regional, and the season was on the line in my start in the super regional, and now it's on the line with my start in Omaha," said today's expected starter, senior Cole Green. "I've been in this situation before, and our team has a really strong survivors' instinct that will come into play."

The Longhorns practiced for a couple of hours Sunday afternoon up the hill from TD Ameritrade at Creighton University.

"The whole idea of the practice was to get back out here, look each other in the eye, know we're alive and well and on the same team, and just embrace each other in a practice the way we're used to," Garrido said.

UT hadn't lost a CWS opener since 2000, when it dropped its first two to LSU 13-5 and Florida State 6-2. The Longhorns had won their last five CWS openers, and Sunday's setback had the typically philosophical Garrido, winner of more college baseball games than any coach in history, waxing more ideologically than usual.

"This team has a survivor's instinct," Garrido said. "The unexpected - I talk about that a lot. Now you're seeing it happen. The unexpected happened last night. We had a large dose of it, in a negative way. The fact that we've won (so many) elimination games this season, it would appear that we have all of this figured out, and this is our path to the national championship.

"It is our path, but there are no guarantees."

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels dropped their CWS opener to Vanderbilt 7-3 on Saturday. North Carolina entered the CWS on a five-game winning streak, having won three over Maine and James Madison (twice) in a regional and two over Stanford in a super regional.

"This is a four-team, double-elimination tournament, so it's like a regional," Tar Heels coach Mike Fox said of the format leading to the CWS championship series. "If you lose that first one, you're like, 'Oh, boy. We have to get on with this thing. We have to win.' I don't look at how many you have to win. You just have to win the next one."

Uphill battle

UT hasn't won a national title after dropping its CWS opener since 1950, when the Longhorns won their second of six national titles.

"It's not going to be easy to win four in a row and then win two of three in the championship series," UT shortstop Brandon Loy said. "We know it's do or die. But it's what this team is built for. With as good as our pitching is and the way we can grind offensively, we have a good chance to pull through."

brent.zwerneman@chron.com

Source: http://feeds.chron.com/~r/houstonchronicle/sports/~3/ES-YB5wLSn8/7617884.html

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