Question about 1989 CWS

B

borna_horn

1,000+ Posts
One of the toughest losses I've ever experienced as a Horn fan was the 4-2 loss to Wichita State in the 1989 CWS finals. What made it particularly hard to swallow is that Texas became the first team to lose the CWS with only one loss. CBS Sports televised the final game but only if it was a true final game. Therefore the winners of the two brackets faced each other in a winner-take-all final, regardless of their records.

Texas played the best baseball all week in Omaha, cruising into the finals undefeated. Wichita State, meanwhile, came in with one loss. No matter - Wichita State only needed to win that one game to claim the CWS championship.

My question is whether any team before or since that 1989 Texas team has been eliminated from the CWS with only one loss.
 
Happened quite often subsequent to 1989 (not sure about prior)

1990: Ok State. Lost to Georgia (who had one loss entering the 'winner-take-all' final). Ok State had been 3-0 leading up to the Final (and had outscored their opponents 35-8).

1991. Wichita St. (what goes around, comes around?). Lost to LSU (who was also 3-0 going into the Championship game)

1993: Wichita St. (what goes around, comes around, part 2). Lost to LSU (who was 3-1 going into the Championship game)

1994: Georgia Tech. Lost to OU (both teams were 3-0 going into the Championship game)

1996: Miami. Lost to LSU (both teams were 3-0 going into the Championship game)

1998: Arizona St. Lost to USC in that infamous 21-14 game (USC was 3-1 going into the Championship game)

2000: Stanford. Lost to LSU (both teams were 3-0 going into the Championship game)

2001: Stanford. Lost to Miami (both teams were 3-0 going into the Championship game)

Sidenote: Undefeated Texas won the final 'winner-take-all' Championship game in 2002 vs South Carolina who had lost one game prior to the final (ala Wichita St. in 1989). Best of 3 series started in 2003 when ESPN obtained the rights to broadcast the CWS (or at least the Finals)
 
I wonder if Texas would have won that series against the Shockers. We'll never know.

What we do know is that the Aggys fielded their best team EVER in 1989. A team that never made it to Omaha.
 
Honestly I doubt it. WSU was a better team, flat out. Texas had three pitchers that Gus trusted by that time of the year, and a couple others he would trot out if he absolutely had to do it. Dressendorfer would have started the second game with an arm that was about to fall off, and then who knows who would have started game 3 - knowing Gus he would have tried to start Bryant again if humanly possible.

Texas was a team that year that really seemed destined - they weren't terribly talented, but they got hot down the stretch and were really hitting the ball well in postseason. But WSU had a really good team with some major league talent that year.
 
Prior to 1988 there weren't two brackets. It was a true 8 team double elimination tournament. If it had been played like that in 1989 we wouldn't have had to play 3 games against WSU, just beat them once out of the two since they had a loss and we didn't. No way we would have lost with Dress on the mound in my opinion. Also, I don't think it is a given that WSU was a better team. We were very good that year.
 
That's the way I remember it too, Prodigal. Like they change the format and right outta the chute the Horns got burned. It was eery too b/c I think that created a certain amount of pressure.

Hook'em!!!
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'88 was the same format as '89 except for the 'winner-take-all' final...i.e. there were two 'brackets' with the winners of each facing off in the final.

'87 was the last year for the true double elimination bracket.
 
WSU's team in '89 had 4 Major Leaguers that I can recall off the top of my head. Eric Wedge C, Pat Meares SS, Greg Brummett (who pitched the final) P, and Darren Driefort P. Where there more?

We, on the other hand, had Dress as the lone Major Leaguer on the roster. As was mentioned before, Shane Reynolds did not play in the post season that year. Scott Fredrickson was on the team in '89, but I don't believe he was on the CWS roster.

So there is some legitimacy to the claim that they had more talent than us. But we did have the Golden Spikes award winner and the best pitcher in college that year.
 
The 1st inning was still the killer. Runners on 1st and 3rd with no outs. Pitcher does the fake to 3rd then throw to 1st move that hardly ever works, and guess what, we're sleeping on 1st. We get nothing out of that inning. A later error by our 3rd baseman on a easy ground ball with the bases loaded was the final nail.

I'll go on the record as saying I despise WSU and Gene Stephenson more than any other college baseball team in history. When his pitcher beaned an opposing batter during warm ups, it permanently moved Stephenson below Barry Switzer in my book. Quite an accomplishment.
 
Intersting that LSU won all 5 of their CWS championships under that format. You could argue that the format rewarded clubs with better hitting vis-a-vis pitching because you could play less games under that format.
 
I also remember Texas seemed in control until a WSU batsman was hit in the head. It seemed to really rattle Texas' pitcher and motivate WSU. I think this turned the tide in their favor. I also despise Stephenson for that on-deck bean ball. Freakin scum
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How does an 8 team double elimination tourney work? I am more used to 4 team double elimination tourneys.

For the record, I like the current format quite a bit. I liked the way it was in 2005 the best with the finals on Sa-Mo.
 
I don't despise Stephenson too much. Didn't he get hired by OU and quit after 1 day? Besides, it was the pitcher who beaned the kid and I doubt Gene told him to do it.
 
I might be wrong about this, but I seem to remember that UT went undefeated during the regionals while WSU (and every other team, obviously) had 2 or more losses. So, in the whole post season, UT had 1 loss, everyone else, 2 or more. That just didn't sit right.
 
Man! I remember that game and I was pissed! We got sold down the river for national TV coverage. I hated that format.
 
Pitching coach defended Christensen, saying he had instructed his pitchers to brush the batters back if they're warming up too close to the plate. The kid was about 24 feet away. Stephenson and his staff were notorious scumbags.
 
"Besides, it was the pitcher who beaned the kid and I doubt Gene told him to do it."

As previously stated, the pitching coach told his pitchers to "brush back" hitters too close to the batters box while warming up. 24ft is not "close." Also, after the game Stephenson whined to the media that his team was really hurt by the incident b/c his pitcher was ejected. This was after the hitter who was drilled in the face was in surgery having his eye socket repaired along with becoming essentially blind in that eye. The coaching staff coached that bush league crap. Stephenson should have lost his job for that criminal act.
 
That was the summer after an unpleasant first year of law school. Among the unpleasantries was the inability to make it over to the Disch that spring.

So, first year in the books, relaxed, I looked forward with great relish to watching my Horns on TV. In the national championship no less. Suffice it to say I was unaware of the CBS-mandated single-game championship.

Thus, I was nonplussed when the Shockers began giving themselves the shocker at the end of the game and otherwise going inappropriately batshit for what I thought was living another day.

I was flabbergasted when the credits rolled and those assbags were announced as the National Champions.

Truly one of the biggest What? The? ****? moments of my life.

HOOKEM
 
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