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AUSTIN, Texas – Holy Cross senior ace Jaden Wywoda knew HC’s NCAA Tournament opener against No. 6 overall seed Texas would be a mighty challenge, but it was one the Crusaders were excited to take on.
The Longhorns, who have made a record 38 College World Series appearances but none since 2022, were equally intent on starting this year’s tourney strong.
Texas collected 21 hits and six home runs off six Holy Cross pitchers, and the Longhorns opened the Austin Regional with a convincing 19-1 victory at UFCU Disch–Falk Field on May 29.
HC loaded the bases in the ninth and junior John LaFleur’s single to right scored junior Gianni Royer as the Crusaders avoided being shut out for the first time this season.
HC (25-29) will face the loser of the regional’s late matchup between UC-Santa Barbara and Tarleton State in an elimination game at 2 p.m. May 30. Texas (41-13) will play the winner of that game at 7.
Holy Cross and Texas played for the first time since June 14, 1952, during the Crusaders run to the College World Series title.
Texas freshman Anthony Pack Jr. became the first Longhorns player to hit three home runs in an NCAA tourney game.
Wywoda, the Patriot League Tournament MVP, allowed just five home runs all season. Texas tagged him for three homers, two by Pack Jr., and another by junior Aiden Robbins.
In the fifth inning, Robbins and Pack Jr. homered off junior reliever Andrew Nesson.
Sophomore Marco Citro yielded a grand slam to junior Jayden Duplantier in the sixth.
Pack Jr., the SEC Freshman of the Year, put Texas on the board in the first inning with a 417-foot solo blast to right. He went opposite field for a two-run homer in the third. Pack exited after the fifth inning due to cramping. Temperatures soared into the 90s.
Texas improved to 28-5 when scoring first this season.
In the fourth, Holy Cross had just won a challenge on a close play at first base before Robbins’ first home run, which jump started a three-run inning.
Wywoda, who threw 196 pitches in a 40-hour span in the Patriot League Tournament, allowed 7 earned runs on 11 hits in 4-2/3 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 2.
In the PL tourney, Wywoda pitched a complete-game gem in Game 1 and threw 4-2/3 innings of relief and earned a save in Game 3.
Wywoda left the UFCU Disch–Falk Field mound to an appreciative applause and hugs from his teammates in the dugout.
Before Texas, HC was 5-0 in the previous five games Wywoda appeared in.
Texas graduate starter Luke Harrison struck out seven in four innings.
Holy Cross, which had won nine of 13 coming into the NCAAs, had eight hits off five Texas pitchers.
LaFleur and junior Alex Sandell each had two hits.
Holy Cross, which won the Patriot League Tournament championship for the second straight year, made its first back-to-back NCAA appearances since 1962 and 1963.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Texas rolls past Holy Cross in NCAA tournament game
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