Timing perfect for Texas

Red-hot Longhorns win another CWS title

? J. Brent Cox went to his knees in jubilation, and soon he was covered by joyous Texas teammates who raced to the mound.

The pile of players grew high as the Longhorns celebrated their return to the top of college baseball.

Blending power pitching from Cox and starter Kyle McCulloch with an unlikely spark from No. 8 hitter David Maroul, Texas beat Florida, 6-2, Sunday for its sixth College World Series title.

The Longhorns entered the NCAA Tournament unseeded, but went unbeaten in five CWS games.

“We got hot at the right time. It was hard to stop us. It all came together at the end for us,” Cox said. “It definitely wasn’t easy. It was tough.”

Maroul homered and drove in four runs for the Longhorns, who were swept in last year’s championship series by Cal State Fullerton.

“It’s a lot better than last year’s outcome, of course. A great way to end a season,” Maroul said after being named the series’ outstanding player.

“To come out and help your team out as much as you can feels good. I just didn’t think as much. I relaxed more.”

Maroul, who was 3-for-4 Sunday, hit his second homer in two games and finished the CWS 8-for-16 with a series-best eight RBIs in the Longhorns’ five games.

Not bad for a guy who was batting .241 for the season before Sunday’s game.

“This is a guy that struggled all season and now is the MVP of the College World Series on a national-championship team,” veteran Texas coach Augie Garrido said.

“Now here is a defining moment for him. It’s wonderful.”

Texas baseball players celebrate their victory over Florida in the College World Series. The Longhorns clinched the title with a 6-2 victory Sunday in Omaha, Neb.

Strengthened by a gutsy run through the regional and super-regional rounds, when they had to win five elimination games just to get to Omaha, the Longhorns (56-16) completed the sweep of the Gators in the best-of-three championship series. They won the first game, 4-2, on Saturday, and were unbeaten in five games at the CWS.

Florida (48-23) was making its first appearance in the championship round, and the Gators couldn’t get their offense going until they were behind 6-0 Sunday.

Florida coach Pat McMahon said Texas’ experience was a plus.

“When your players have been here it is a help, an asset, because you know the expectations,” McMahon said. “I do think it was a factor, but we were ready to play.”

The Gators batted just .212 during their six games at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“I was disgusted with myself for not showing up these last two games,” said Gators’ star center fielder Jeff Corsaletti, who was 0-for-8 in the championship round.

“I thought we were a better club than we showed and we got away from our usual approach. We didn’t take advantage of the very few chances we did have.”

Texas’ six College World Series titles are second only to Southern California (12). The Longhorns’ run of success is extensive and impressive: they have made more CWS appearances (32) and won more games there (78) than any other school.

The Longhorns last won the championship in 2002 and finished second a year ago to Cal State Fullerton.

As Garrido said before the 2005 event began, the Longhorns are expected to play in Omaha every year. It’s a given. This year’s appearance was their fourth straight at Rosenblatt Stadium.

“It’s mandatory for us to be here, and it is a relief,” Garrido said. “If we fall short of being here, we’ve fallen short of our first level of expectations. …We all knew coming in this team was one with experience. But it’s one thing to have experience and another thing to be able to use it.”

McCulloch (12-4), a 6-foot-3 sophomore right-hander, threw seven shutout innings in the Longhorns’ 5-0 victory over Tulane six days ago.

He struck out eight Sunday, walking one and giving up five hits, including a two-run homer to Brian Leclerc in the seventh.

“Once we got ahead and put up an early lead, the hitters tend to press and then I tried to extend the strike zone,” he said.