OXFORD, Miss. -- Beyond the green grass and the dark blue fence, past the gathered crowd, stands Bailey's Woods. For a century and a half, it has stood as a sentinel to the great house nestled among its tall cedars and stately oaks.
The house, which was built in 1848, and its grounds, called Rowan Oak, served as home to writer William Faulkner from 1930 until his death in 1962. You can't see the house from Swayze Field, the baseball home of the Ole Miss Rebels, but the trees, as thick as the Mississippi air, protect it all the same.
As the story goes, some young men with chain saws once had designs on the 32 acres of prime real estate. They actually may have cut a tree or so, until the citizenry arose in anger.
The forest stands today, a testimony to the power of history and tradition.
And Monday night, two very good college baseball teams met for the right to go to the College World Series near those same woods. In the end, history and tradition ruled again. Perennial power Texas overcame Ole Miss' young bats which had been like chain saws ripping through opponents throughout their marvelous season.
In earning its berth as the No. 5 national seed and advancing to its own Super Regional, Ole Miss had hit an incredible 80 home runs over the course of its season. Opponents quivered at their power.
In the Rebels' post season media guide, they even listed the distances of each home run, the longest by All-American first baseman/pitcher Stephen Head carried 481 feet.
Texas, on the other hand, had produced smaller than usual numbers when it came to the long ball. Though the Longhorns generally tally fewer home runs than most opponents, a testimony to the spacious confines of Disch-Falk Field, the 46 home runs and a .304 batting average was a stark comparison to the .322 average and 233 extra base hits of the Rebels.
Record crowds filled the stands and the picturesque hills that surrounded the park, during the Oxford Super Regional. For seven bucks you could sit on the grass and bring your own cooler, and many folks did.
The Rebels weren't short on pitching, either, with all three starting pitchers and closer Head, being picked in the first five rounds of the 2005 Major League Baseball draft.
It was, without question a loaded team that fully believed they would end a 33-year CWS drought for Ole Miss. Ironically, the last time Ole Miss played in Omaha, Texas eliminated the Rebels in 1972.
The Longhorns were a team without prominent stars. The pitching staff was young, and though there were some seasoned veterans who were like regulars in Omaha, many of the Horns earned their first real playing time this year.
The series began with Longhorn fans claiming 600 tickets to join a crowd that approached 9,000 in each of the three sessions. There was also one unwelcome visitor -- a tropical storm named Arlene, who doused the exuberance of the opening night crowd and forced a suspension after three innings.
When action resumed on Sunday, the town folk scurried from church to once again pack the place for a noon start. Texas had the lead and the momentum from the night before. Two first-inning runs and stellar pitching from sophomore Kyle McCulloch staked the Longhorns to a 2-0 lead. It swelled to 4-1 going into the seventh inning, and Augie Garrido and his pitching coach Tom Holiday went for their knockout punch.
But even though Arlene had left the county, she wasn't through making her presence felt. Two uncharacteristic misplays by closer J. Brent Cox on the soaked field helped Ole Miss to four runs in the seventh inning, as Head closed out the game for a 6-4 Rebels come back victory.
The first of a series of ironies manifested itself in that game. Garrido, who said this was a team with a survivor instinct rather than a killer instinct, was going for the kill when he brought in Cox. Ole Miss used the bunt and a double steal to secure the rally's four runs. To that point, the Rebels had only 33 sacrifice bunts to the Longhorns 99, and 62 stolen base attempts to Texas' 129.
In the three hours between games, Cox sat alone. Garrido says a closer must have a gunfighter's mentality, and J. Brent had been wounded. Blown saves were not his style, and a loss in the opening game of the Super Regional put Texas with its back against the wall. Which, by the way, meant the Longhorns had the Rebels right where they wanted them.
Sunday night's game began with one of the Rebels' stellar lefthanders, third-round draft choice Matt Maloney, dominating. He struck out four of the first eight Texas batters. Until Robby Hudson's fly ball to center field made the second out in the third, Texas hadn't hit a ball out of the infield.
You've heard this before, but playoffs make strange heroes. Suddenly sophomore Nick Peoples arrived. Peoples drilled a Maloney fastball over the left field fence for his first home run of the year to put Texas ahead, 1-0. On the other side, redshirt freshman righthander Adrian Alaniz dodged a few bullets for Texas. The Rebels stranded six men on base over the first three innings.
In the fourth, the Horns scored another run when Carson Kainer reached second base on a ball that slipped past the usually sure-fielding Rebel shortstop Zack Cozart, setting up Will Crouch's RBI-double. Though the pitch count was mounting for Alaniz, he continued the Longhorn's survivor mantra. In all, Ole Miss left 14 men on base.
Kainer's second home run of the playoffs, and only his third of the year, gave Texas a 3-0 lead. Alaniz finally ran out of gas and surrendered a run in the seventh as his pitch count rose to 132. Senior Buck Cody, who along with Cox is one of only two seasoned veterans on the staff, closed out the inning by retiring a batter with the tying runs on base.
High drama reappeared in the ninth, as Ole Miss once again threatened against Cox. This time, though, Johnston and Hudson turned a brilliant double play with the bases loaded to end the game.
That meant Monday night was to be the decisive game. And as the two teams fought for the last spot in Omaha, night fell in Oxford. The long shadows turned Bailey's Woods into a gloomy, dark place where the weak would not go.
The final game was like a prize fight, with punches and counter punches, statements and answers. And while Mississippi's "small ball" had determined the first game and Texas "long ball" decided the second, this one was text-book Longhorns baseball.
Peoples led off the bottom of the first with a walk, Drew Stubbs sacrificed him to second, and Johnston doubled him home. It was 1-0, but Ole Miss answered in the top of the second, scoring two runs on a no-out double.
In a tight ball game, little things decide the outcome. Perhaps the most significant play of the series came when Cozart, who had doubled, tried for third and was thrown out by Chance Wheeless, who cut Kainer's relay to the plate. Instead of a runner at second and nobody out, there was one down and nobody on. McCulloch, who started the game, got out of the inning.
The Rebels led, 2-1, but it would not last long. In the bottom of the inning, Texas was back to basics. Wheeless, who had six hits during the series, led with a single, and David Maroul sacrificed him to second on a bunt. Peoples, who already had the home run and a couple of dramatic defensive plays, hit a two-out single to tie the game. He stole second then third, and Stubbs kept the inning alive by reaching first on a wild pitch strike out. When Johnston singled home Peoples, Texas was back in front, 3-2.
In the fifth, however, McCulloch was touched for a single and then a double to put runners in scoring position. And though All-American Brian Pettway grounded out, the tying run scored. Cody entered the game, this time getting Head to hit a comebacker to the mound for the third out. In the sixth, Texas freshman Kenn Kasparek entered and retired the first six men he faced.
Meanwhile, the Rebels' other lefty ace, fifth-round draft choice Eric Fowler, settled into a groove, retiring 10 of 11 Longhorns during one span. Longhorns senior Will Crouch took the first pitch he saw. He drove Fowler's second offering into trees over the left center field wall, a distant part of the same stand that make up what's left of Bailey's Woods.
Taylor Teagarden then walked, and Wheeless sacrificed him to second. With two outs, Hudson singled Teagarden home for a 5-3 lead. But the Rebels were not finished. A sacrifice fly brought Ole Miss to within one in the eighth, and Cox again had to escape a bases loaded situation on a Hudson-to-Johnston force play to end the inning.
Again, it was time to answer. Wheeless singled, Maroul sacrificed and Hudson singled him home. It was 6-4, going to the top of the ninth.
At this point, with an inning remaining, there was an interesting parallel of dreams being turned crossways. Both teams had come to this place with the goal of advancing to Omaha. Texas knew the destination. The Longhorns were in search of a record 32nd appearance, and its fifth trip in the last six years. Ole Miss had a dream of a place they could only imagine.
And on a heavy, muggy night in Oxford, the dream died hard. Pettway, in what probably will be his final at bat as a Rebel, singled off Cox after a two-out walk to Chris Coghlan. Now, Head, who had 18 home runs on the year, was facing Texas' All-American Cox. For one final time, the blue and red clad Rebel crowd rose as one. Just one more rescue, just one more tape measure homer for their Omaha media guide.
Head swung, and then again. Cox chased him off the plate with an inside pitch. And then the Longhorn closer dropped a wicked slider under Head's bat for strike three.
You will notice, that in recapping the final game, every Longhorn player was mentioned. Each made a significant contribution.
Photographers pointed their big lenses at the field, expecting to capture a raucous celebration from Texas. Instead, the Longhorns gave each other a few hugs, and then went to congratulate their opponent on a well-fought series. At Texas, dog piles are reserved for a national championship at Omaha. It would have been disrespectful to do that on the field of an opponent which had battled so hard, and shown so much class.
William Faulkner always thought Bailey's Woods protected him from the outside world, and let him do the work which made him one of the great literary figures in our country's history. When he needed something to rely on, he always counted on the sanctuary of the Woods. Now, in the distance, it was dark. There among the tall cedars and sheltering oaks, the shadowy spirit of history and tradition was resting for another day.
And a couple of hours later, Texas was back in Austin, getting ready for one more trip back to Omaha. For there, history and tradition mixed with grit and determination form the essence of survival for the 2005 Texas Longhorns.
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