Scott Bryant's No. 25 to be retired Sat.

4th&5

4th&5

1,000+ Posts
The guy was an absolute beast at the plate:

Scott Bryant

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Not much rest? I think he pitched a total of 8 innings that year and none at the World Series until that last game. Now Scott was the best hitter I ever saw in college. But as for pitching, he was petty unpolished. He could throw 90+, but wild.

In that championship game, I remember walk-on Brian Dare pitching 6+ innings of shutout in relief. One of the most courageous things I've ever scene.

Then there was Wilson's famous speech on the bus after the game.
 
Bryant started but only lasted a couple of innings. He was pitching on relatively short rest, don't think he got out of the second inning, and Bryan Dare finished.

For the last half of that season, the guy could not be retired, don't think I've seen a hitter in that kind of a zone.
 
Well, we only had three pitchers.
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By that point in the season, Gus trusted Bryant, Dressendorfer and Dare. If anyone else got into a post season game it was an emergency. Dress and Bryant were the only two to start, and I think we used like two relievers the whole series.

I may be wrong on the rest part, but I think it was his second start of the week.
 
I remember Omaha being a double-elimination tournament up to '89, when Texas reached the final unbeaten and Wichita State already having a loss. In previous years, the Shockers would've had to beat us twice in a row.
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I also remember watching a regional game at Disch-Falk. I think it was a 9-5 win over USC or something like that? The pivotal play was a bases-clearing triple by our catcher. Wasn't his name Bethea? Dude had a light bat but stepped up at the right time.

Forgive the fuzzy memories; it's been a while, and I was a mere freshman ... in high school.
 
Here is how I have always "remembered" it: He pitched on short rest and was not effective. That was the first year that the championship was decided by a single game. Texas and wsu both finished with one loss in the cws. The biggest, most painful loss in Longhorn history. At least until 2004.

Anyhow, what a classy guy! I am really looking forward to the ceremony and the game!
 
You're correct Alpine. I actually was covering the CWS that year for the Texan - think I even still have the scorebook somewhere!

Anyway, it was obvious his arm was shot to start, he was throwing the slider in the dirt and basically just didn't look sharp. dare pitched a gutsy game, I think he came in with us down 3-0 and he gave up two runs through about 7 innings.

The thing that stood out to me is that we got up to start and we'd been hot the entire series hitting. We start off with two guys on and no one out, and I think it was Tollison who hit a bullet right to the third baseman and into a double play. From that point on, the offense just never recovered.
 
Watching him hit the last half of that season was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in college baseball.

We skipped one game during spring break that year, and we missed his shot onto the roof of the UT Press building. On the radio, Tom Dore (was that the announcer then?) said it cleared the light pole in left. Just incredible what he did.
 
It is timely that we are discussing this now, when we are playing aggy. Aggy still considers that year's team their best ever. Ranked #1 and all, as the Horns were kinda so so .. John Byington and Chunk Knoblauch in that aggy team, and they were a hitting machine. They thought they finally had the year when they would get over the hump and do better than us, but noooo ... They choked in the end, and after quite an unexpected run, we were in the CWS final game (yes, with hardly theee pitchers and 2 relievers!) - and Byington and Knoblauch sat at home once again sulking .... Sweet .. Oh, so sweet!

Amd CBS stole the national championship from us, because with the extra game that we deserved to get and didn't, there was no way we would't have been CWS champions.

Unforgettable year!

R.J.
 
Prodigal - Please see if you can find those scorebooks.

My memory recalls Scott getting us to the championship game with an outstanding pitching performance against Miami, about 2 days earlier. Also, IMO the key play in the championship game against Wichita State was the first inning. We had runners on lst and 3rd with 1 out, and the runner at lst got picked-off. The batter then flied out and momentum changed. I never forgave lst base coach Bill Bethea for that one, as it appeared he was fooled by the pitcher also. The pitcher did one of those moves where he fakes to 3rd and throws back to first.

I came to the Disch to meet the team on their return from Omaha and I never will forget the tears streaming down Scott Bryant's cheeks. He is the epitomy of Longhorn Baseball pride.

Meanwhile, back to the future, Beat the Hell out of the Aggies.
 
That was definitely a fun post season. I just wish I had seen this thread yesterday so that I could have remembered to properly thank my mom again for writing that "sick note" so that I could skip a couple days of school (I was a high school soph.) to attend the whole regional.

And I'll never forget Coach Gus' speech after we won the regional and Aggy lost. Pooooooor Aggies.
 
re: "famous speech on the bus after the game". come on Large. We're talking about the leader of the mild bunch. What did he say in his speech?
 
I got too drunk that night to remember what he said exactly. I just remember most of us were bawling like babies and he reminded us that only 1 other team in the country could say they were better than us.
 
The first year of the format change for CBS screwed us. We should have had another shot at them on Sunday. The current format is an improvement but I still prefer the original format where you could end up playing any of the other 7 teams.

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