David Pierce discusses the difficulty of Texas being eliminated in bizarre fashion vs. Stanford

Monday night was a tough one for the Texas Longhorns, as they were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in unprecedented, heartbreaking fashion.

With the game tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, Stanford second baseman Drew Bowser hit a high pop-up to the outfield that was lost in the lights by Texas’ outfielders, hitting the ground to seal a walk-off victory for the Cardinal that sent them to Omaha for the College World Series.

Texas head coach Davis Pierce gave his instant reaction to the events after the game, reflecting on the painful loss.

“Yeah, it’s pretty sad,” Pierce admitted. “The kids just battled their tails off all year and if you told me March 15 that we would have an opportunity to go to Omaha in a one-game winner take all I’d take it any day. But at the same time, I hate the way we lost the game. Just losing a ball in the lights right in the center of twilight, just wasn’t meant to be I guess.”

There’s no doubt that loss will be a tough one for all of Texas’ players to shake. But Pierce still expressed pride in his team for their impressive season, highlighted by a 42-22 record and four straight postseason wins before their two straight losses eliminated them from the field.

“But I couldn’t be more proud of the team, the way we started, the way we finished, and how we grew in our development and our trust in each other,” Pierce said. “And how they just became such a great team and a unit and became really one beating heart.”

Texas came on strong at the end of the season, especially thriving in road environments. They finished the regular season on an 8-1 run on their last nine games, and took that momentum into the postseason with a three-game sweep in the Coral Gables Regional.

Their talented team accumulated 50 hits and 34 runs during the postseason, but the ball quite literally didn’t bounce their way on Monday night.

“I don’t know what else to say other than you don’t always win but I know this, when you get to the postseason either you win the national championship or you end on a loss and unfortunately we ended on a loss in a very unforgiving way,” Pierce concluded.