A string of compliments for BC baseball team

Not heart, determination, or all the other intangibles that carried the Eagles into their first NCAA Division 1 tournament in 42 years. BC had plenty of those in reserve when its season ended yesterday with a 4-3 loss to Army, eliminating the Eagles from the Austin Regional.

It was what happened Saturday night and into yesterday morning, an epic game against Texas, the tournament's top overall seed, that lasted 7 hours 3 minutes and spanned an NCAA-record 25 innings, that drained coach Mik Aoki's squad. And less than 12 hours after that 3-2 defeat, the Eagles were ready to fight to stay alive in the double-elimination bracket, just for the chance to face Texas again last night.

By the time the Eagles got back to their hotel early yesterday morning, it was almost time to get up and get ready for Army, which was well rested after eliminating Texas State Saturday afternoon.

"I've never been part of anything like that," said Aoki, who skipped batting and infield practice yesterday to rest his players. "But then I guess no one else has. It was almost surreal."

And it wasn't just the length of the game, which started in 96-degree heat and ended with the temperature at 79. It was the unthinkable relief effort of Texas senior Austin Wood, who entered in the seventh inning with the game tied at 2. Wood and Texas coach Augie Garrido were hoping the reliever would only be needed for a few innings, similar to Wood's 30-pitch outing in the win over Army Friday night.

The innings and pitches mounted, but not one BC hit came against Wood for 12 1/3 innings, until catcher Tony Sanchez lined a two-out single in the 19th. All told, Wood worked 13 scoreless frames before Garrido came for the ball. He threw 169 pitches, struck out 14, and gave up just two hits.

"I had been hitting him well all night, but nothing was getting through," said Sanchez, who caught all 25 innings. "Finally, I got one and I said thank God, but neither team could come up with a run. It was fun to be a part of, unfortunately we were just on the wrong end of it."

Garrido said he never had seen a performance like Wood's in his 41 years as a collegiate coach. "[Pitching coach] Skip Johnson and I were talking about him and when he should come out," said Garrido. "[Wood] walked by and said, 'I'm not coming out of the game.' "

BC reliever Mike Belfiore played an equally vital role by pitching 9 2/3 scoreless innings. He allowed just three of Texas's 20 hits, and struck out 11. Most of the sellout crowd at Disch-Falk Field remained to the end, awestruck by the tension. After Texas finally broke the 2-2 tie on Travis Tucker's RBI single to right in the top of the 25th, and the Eagles went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, the crowd gave BC a standing ovation as it walked off the field.

Ten pitchers (seven for BC) combined for 683 pitches and 42 strikeouts. Two Texas players set an NCAA record with 12 at-bats. The Longhorns' Preston Clark went 4 for 11 in the marathon, then clubbed a walkoff grand slam last night as Texas rallied past Army, 14-10, with eight runs in the ninth to win the regional.

Aoki gave yesterday's start to John Leonard, who didn't pitch against Texas and gave the BC bullpen a break by going 6 1/3 innings. Unable to hold a 2-0 lead, Leonard allowed all four Army runs. BC (34-26) nearly made a winner of reliever Mike Dennhardt - who took the loss against Texas - but the Eagles grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end it.

"We certainly got in our share of baseball while we were down here," said Aoki, whose team posted one one-run win and two one-run losses. "Unfortunately, our ride came to an end a little sooner than we had expected."

Aoki told his players they had raised the bar.

"It was a breakthrough year for our program," he said. "I understand the disappointment and the sting they feel now, but I told them sometime, whether it's in two weeks, two months, or two years, they are going to look back and appreciate what they had done by competing so well at the highest of levels."