<\/p>\n
Ashton Larson was a member of LSU’s national championship team a year ago. He and Texas need to win four straight games at the College World Series after dropping Saturday’s opener to Georgia.<\/p>\n
Aaron E. Martinez\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n
OMAHA, Neb. \u2014 Ashton Larson grew up as a first baseman.<\/p>\n
The transfer from LSU played only six innings at the position in two seasons at Baton Rouge and came to Texas<\/a> as an outfielder last offseason. But when shortstop Adrian Rodriguez underwent a surgical procedure on his left hand<\/a> at midseason and Jim Schlossnagle had to shift Temo Becerra from third to shortstop and Casey Borba from first to third, first base suddenly had a vacancy.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n And Larson got the call even though he didn\u2019t even own a first base glove at the time.<\/p>\n Schlossnagle said Larson fielded ground balls well in an audition and made the move permanent even when Rodriguez returned to play but Becerra moved from third to second after Ethan Mendoza\u2019s shoulder injury. The move stuck.<\/p>\n When: 1 p.m. Monday Larson joked Sunday afternoon that he was asked by\u00a0ESPN to come up with an old video of him as a youngster in Overland Park, Kan. His parents found a vintage\u00a0tape from his very first game.<\/p>\n \u201cI was actually playing first base,\u201d Larson said Sunday. \u201cWhen you\u2019re little, if you\u2019re good with hand-eye coordination and you catch the ball and stuff, you played first base. So I definitely had some experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Similarly, Larson idolized some of the premier MLB first basemen like Freddie Freeman and Bryce Harper, who like Larson are left-handed batters.<\/p>\n The 6-foot-1, 210-pound junior remembered he actually had a throwback net propped up in his family living room and, as a 5-year-old, would constantly throw into the net while watching baseball.<\/p>\n And the name of his youth team back then?<\/p>\n \u201cThe Angry Birds,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Larson and his teammates are some angry Longhorns \u2014 or at least resolute ones \u2014 after dropping their College World Series opener 7-1 to Georgia<\/a>. They know they have to regroup quickly and rebound in Monday\u2019s 1 p.m. elimination game at Charles Schwab Field against Alabama\u00a0if they plan to extend their stay here in the Midwest. To reach the championship series, they must win four straight games.<\/p>\n Texas (45-14) will start senior right-hander Ruger Riojas<\/a> on the mound against 6-4 Alabama lefty\u00a0Zane Adams from Porter, and\u00a0Riojas can draw on the experience of a strong start versus the Crimson Tide when the Longhorns took two of three in Austin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Riojas struck out 11 in a 3-1 win on a day when he allowed just three hits and one run in a five-inning stint and he and his fellow pitchers combined to strike out a school-record 19 batters. Texas pitchers struck out a program-record 49 Tide batters in that series.<\/p>\n Adams, too, pitched well in that game against Riojas, throwing six shutout innings. He sports an 8-4 record and 3.96 ERA with 98 strikeouts in 88 \u2154 innings this season. Then-Texas A&M head coach Schlossnagle even recruited the 2023 Texas High School Pitcher of the Year \u2014 the state\u2019s top southpaw and a top-10 Texas recruit \u2014 who chose the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n The season will rest on Riojas\u2019 shoulders.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives me a little bit of confidence, but this is a brand new season that we\u2019re playing in this week,\u201d Riojas said. \u201cI can\u2019t go in there thinking that I\u2019m comfortable, based on what I did in the regular season. We\u2019re playing for our lives. I can\u2019t just think that they\u2019re free-swinging, so I just give them easy stuff to hit.\u201d<\/p>\n Riojas has bounced back from a series of injuries that have given him arm, shoulder and elbow pain. A bout with tendinitis shelved him briefly and limited him to one batter on Senior Day, but he said that\u2019s all behind him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt definitely took a toll on the mental side,\u201d he said. \u201cIt hurt during the season. I can\u2019t lie, but I\u2019m over it now. Well rested up.\u201d<\/p>\n Larson was hitless Saturday but had six hits in 17 at-bats with two\u00a0RBIs in this postseason previously. He will do what he can to reverse the Longhorns\u2019 fortunes after they collectively struck out 15 times and collected just four hits, two apiece from Rodriguez and Mendoza, against Joey Volchko and what Schlossnagle called \u201cbig-league stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Mendoza visibly grimaced after his second single with his right arm hanging limply on his way to first base, but Schlossnagle said Mendoza practiced Sunday and should be ready to play against Alabama.<\/p>\n While Larson didn\u2019t have an at-bat for LSU when the Tigers won last year\u2019s CWS, he did receive his championship ring last fall. He hasn\u2019t worn it or even shown it off in the ultimate show-and-tell to his new Texas teammates, but his time in the LSU dugout was valuable for his new place.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family\u2019s got it,\u201d Larson said of the jewelry. \u201cBut this year has been about being here with this team and chasing a national championship with this team. We have full trust in Ruger. Ruger\u2019s the man, an elite competitor.\u201d<\/p>\n Riojas brings a calm, yet intense individual who yearns for big moments like these. After all, he began the year as Texas\u2019 Opening Day starter and worked as its Friday night starter for every SEC series until the Alabama series when Dylan Volantis assumed the No. 1 role.<\/p>\n Schlossnagle likens him to \u201ca kind of hippie, and that plays well.\u201d<\/p>\n Riojas wears the label well and was even sporting a new \u2014 well, old \u2014 2005 College World Series T-shirt he found at a vintage store two blocks from the team hotel on South 10th Street. The reminder that that was the year of the Longhorns\u2019 most recent national championship in this town wasn\u2019t lost on him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was like, I have to grab this,\u201d Riojas said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s more to grab for this Texas team, which isn\u2019t quite ready for the season to end and plans to go after Monday\u2019s game like, well, a bunch of Angry Birds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ashton Larson was a member of LSU’s national championship team a year ago. 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Where: Charles Schwab Field; Omaha, Neb.
TV: ESPN<\/p>\n