Omaha, Neb. ? When Texas coach Augie Garrido tried to get philosophical about his team reaching the championship game of the College World Series, his players saw things differently.

Garrido described his Longhorns as a team of destiny.

Left fielder Dustin Majewski said, however, it was the hard work that helped land Texas in its first CWS championship appearance since 1989.

“I think we’re a team that feels like we deserve to be here,” Majewski said. “We had a lot of guys work really hard to get here.”

Then freshman relief ace Huston Street drew a smile from his coach when he said: “I don’t know if we’re a team of destiny. I don’t know what that means, but I know we’ve got 25 guys ready to go out every day. We play for each other.

“Everybody is pulling for the next guy and that’s what makes this such a strong team.”

Extra coaching: Garrido gave credit to one of his players when it came to a pitching decision that paid off Thursday night against Stanford.

Majewski told Garrido to leave reliever Jesen Merle in to pitch to Stanford’s solid-hitting left-handers. Majewski was speaking from experience. He is a left-handed hitter.

Garrido said Majewski said he couldn’t hit Merle in practice so why would Stanford’s hitters be much better? They weren’t. Merle allowed only a bunt single in his four innings of relief.

Stat leaders: It apparently did not pay to be the hottest-hitting or best-pitching teams in the College World Series.

The two hottest-hitting teams were Georgia Tech (.392) and Nebraska (.319). The Cornhuskers lost their first two games despite the top slugging percentage and top on-base percentage among the eight teams in the tournament. Georgia Tech won its first game, then lost its next two.

As for pitching, Rice and Notre Dame have the top two earned run averages of the 2002 tournament. Rice also lost its first two games despite its tourney ERA of 3.63. Notre Dame, like Georgia Tech, won one game, then lost a second to go home. Its team ERA was 4.15.

Rice, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech and Nebraska also were the top four fielding teams. Texas, the only unbeaten team heading to today’s title game, was last in fielding and seventh in hitting. The Longhorns were third, however, in pitching.

Texas pitching: Texas entered the CWS with the top earned run average in Division I at 2.73. At the CWS it is 4.33, but the Longhorns are 3-0 and are in today’s championship game.

The stars of the staff have been ace Justin Simmons, who won Game One, allowing five hits and one earned run in 71/3 innings in a 2-1 win over Rice; and freshman reliever Street, with three saves in three chances at the CWS, keeping his perfect record intact.

Street has not blown a save in 13 tries this season. His ERA is 1.93 at the CWS. Simmons’ is 1.23. No other Longhorn is below Merle’s 3.86.

Coming into the tournament nine Texas pitchers had ERAs of 3.00 or below.

Zero for Big 12: The Big 12 Conference is still seeing zeros at the College World Series. Until Texas this season, the five-year-old league mixing teams from the former Big Eight and Southwestern conferences had not won a CWS game.

Nebraska was 0-2 in this year’s tournament. Texas is 3-0.

With the Longhorns heading to the title game, Big 12 schools are 8-18 in 26 CWS championship games. Oklahoma captured the trophy in 1994. Until Texas this year, the league had not won another CWS game.