By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
TULSA, Okla. – With the game and possibly Texas' season on the line, Augie Garrido called an offensive timeout. The game was tied and the bases were loaded with two outs.
Tres Barerra, UT's hitter, had just whiffed on a changeup with a swing that, if it connected, would have shown up on radar. What was Garrido's strategic message?
"I told him a dirty joke in Spanish, the only one I know."
Barerra confirmed the story but declined to provide a translation. He did, though, provide a walk-off game winner. His liner to left gave the fifth-seeded Longhorns a 4-3 victory over No. 8 seed Baylor Thursday in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. The Bears had stunned UT with a one-out, three-run homer by Mitch Price in the top of the ninth.
"That homer went to the shortest part of the park," Garrido said. "You couldn't have put that in a better spot if you shot it out of a cannon."
Barrera made a winner out of his battery mate Ty Culbreth (4-4). He matched Parker French, who threw a complete game in Wednesday's opener. Remarkably, those are UT's first complete games this season.
"Those two complete games give us a much better chance of being successful in this tournament," Garrido said.
Culbreth survived a first inning when he issued two walks but escaped without allowing a run.
"That was huge," he said. "I could have easily crumbled but Tres calmed me down and told me to just throw one pitch at a time. That was a game changer to set the tone."
The Longhorns' season, coming on the heels of last year's College World Series appearance, has been one of frustration and disappointment. The only chance of reaching the NCAA tournament is to capture the Big 12 tourney and automatic bid.
If UT has suffered from the vagaries of baseball this season – Price's well-placed homer being one example – the Longhorns got a break in the bottom of the ninth. Bret Boswell doubled to start the inning and scored the winning run. His fly ball to left center dropped in but probably should have been caught.
"That was just barely missed," Garrido said. "We've had a lot of those caught this season."
"There were so many nuances to this game," Baylor coach Steve Smith said. "That ball that we probably should have caught was just one."
Price, the almost hero, was involved in an unusual fielding play in the second inning – another one of those nuances. After Texas took a 1-0 lead when Barrera scored on Connor Shaw's safety squeeze bunt, the Longhorns had Brooks Marlow on first and Zane Gurwitz on third.
With one out, Kacy Clemens chopped a grounder to first that Price fielded and stepped on the bag and then threw to second. With the force removed, Marlow hit the brakes and reversed field back to first. The return throw to Price was soon enough to tag Marlow but Gurwitz, who reached on an error, reached home before the third out. The run counted to give the Longhorns a 2-0 lead.
In the eighth inning, faced with a similar play, Price started a 3-6-3 double play.
"It's rare to see that kind of play twice in the game," Smith said. "We talked about it in the dugout the first time. The second time, he made good play. He'll never forget that … close game."