OMAHA, Neb. – Best he could recall, Adrian Rodriguez gave his head a scratch and couldn’t really come up with the last occasion when he had hit for the cycle.
Maybe, he finally reflected, he did back around the time he was probably riding a tricycle. But he didn’t believe he’d ever really hit a single, double, triple and home run in the same game in organized baseball unless …
“Maybe when I was in T-ball when they just let you run around the bases with no defense,” the Texas shortstop said fondly.
So was he hitting home runs way back then in T-ball, too?
“I mean, if they count them, yeah,” he smirked.
Rodriguez definitely hit one that counted Monday, demolishing a pitch from Alabama reliever Matthew Heiberger high up into the cheap seats in the right-center field bleachers of Charles Schwab Field in the sixth inning.
The outcome of the game was long since decided.
That’s because he also hit a two-run double in the first that counted. And a somewhat confusing call on his two-run triple in the second that counted although it was originally ruled a single. And an RBI double down the right-field in the eighth, to boot. As well as that fifth homer of the year as part of a career-best five hits.
They all counted as the gifted sophomore from Flower Mound drove in a single-game, College World Series record-tying seven runs, contributing half of Texas’ ballooned run total for an emphatic 14-2 pounding of the Crimson Tide to remain alive in this double-elimination tournament.
The Longhorns (46-14) started what they hope was the first of four straight victories in elimination games to reach the best-of-three championship series starting Saturday. They’ll play the loser of Monday night’s game between unbeatens Georgia and Oklahoma at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
They got exactly what they needed out of starter Ruger Riojas. The senior right-hander from Wimberley allowed only two runs and six hits over six innings and retired the last eight batters he faced before handing the ball to relievers Brody Walls, Ethan Walker and Cody Howard in mop-up relief. He got the win to improve to 6-2.
By routing Alabama (42-21) in its third win over the Tide in four meetings this year, Texas was able to save its bullpen, and especially Thomas Burns and closer Sam Cozart, as well as Tuesday starter Luke Harrison.
And the Longhorns’ sixth win in seven postseason games gives them some extra juice after the 7-1 downer against Georgia.
Rodriguez deserves the most credit. He was front and center and all over the place in the sixth-seeded Longhorns’ must-have victory to send Alabama packing and keep Texas from becoming the seventh Horn team to go 0-2 in the CWS in 39 appearances.
He was the first to hit for the cycle in a CWS game since Tennessee’s Christian Moore in 2024 and just the third overall, joining a very exclusive group that was originally achieved by Minnesota’s Jerry Kindall in 1956.
Rodriguez’s just that good. And getting better.
TEXAS 14, ALABAMA 2
| Alabama | Texas | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fowler cf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Robbins rf | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Lebron ss | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||||
| Neal c | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Pack Jr. lf | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Torres 3b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Peterson ph-lf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Lemm dh | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Rodriguez ss | 5 | 1 | 5 | 7 | ||
| Hines lf | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Becerra 2b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Holt 2b | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Larson 1b | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Plattner ph-2b | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Borba 3b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Kroberger ph | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Pendergrass cf | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Mendoza dh | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | |||||||
| Vaughn 1b | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Steele rf | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| Tinney c | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
E_Rodriguez, Lebron. 2B_Robbins (10), Rodriguez 2 (18), Mendoza (14). 3B_Rodriguez (3). HR_Pack Jr. (12), Rodriguez (5), Lemm (10). RBI_Pack Jr. 4 (56), Peterson (1), Rodriguez 7 (47), Mendoza 2 (50), Lemm (34), Vaughn (32).
| Alabama | 010 | 100 | 000 | — | 2 |
| Texas | 340 | 004 | 03x | — | 14 |
| Alabama | |||||||
| Upchurch | 1 | 1/3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Banks | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Adams L | 1 | 2/3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 |
| Heiberger | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Texas | |||||||
| Howard | 0 | 2/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Riojas W | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | |
| Walls | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Walker | 0 | 1/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Even though he’s been troubled by a left hand injury for two seasons and required surgery both in the offseason and at midseason this year, the normal switch-hitter has struggled to regain his traditional power and has taken to hitting only from the left side and simplified his swing.
No matter which side, Rodriguez has hit his stride in this postseason. Although he’s had good company – Anthony Pack Jr. had a two-run homer among his three hits and four RBIs, and Ethan Mendoza knocked in a pair with three hits despite an ailing shoulder – but has taken over center stage. He is hitting .328 on the season with five home runs.
“ARod’s a good player. He’d be in the mid or high .300s hitter and be a 15-homer player (if healthy),” Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He’s a potential first-rounder. He’s a great player.”
Two days after getting four-hit in that loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday, the Longhorns’ robust offense accounted for 13 hits – seven for extra bases – and produced their most runs in this town since they demolished Oklahoma 15-3 en route to a third-place finish in 1992.
The top four in the order reversed their fortunes after going 0-for-15 with 11 strikeouts against Georgia’s Joey Volchko when they knocked seven hits in 15 at-bats and combined to score 12 runs.
They certainly earned Rob Vaughn’s respect.
“Hats off to Texas,” said the impressionable Alabama head coach, who brought his team here to end a 27-year absence from the CWS. “(Rodriguez) is one of that team’s big heartbeats. Great player. And Anthony Pack is going to be a problem in this league for a lot of years to come. It’s a really tough team, a really tough lineup.”
Rodriguez and Mendoza started it off with RBI doubles in the first, and Pack, Mendoza and ARod all drove in runs again in the second for an early 7-1 after two innings.
Rodriguez’s sinking liner to left-center dropped between the Crimson Tide’s converging outfielders and skipped past them almost to the wall at Charles Schwab Field. Rodriguez raced to third on the play.
It was initially ruled a double, later reversed to a single and an error by left fielder Eric Hines, and ultimately changed to a triple after he mashed the home run to the very top of the bleacher seats in the sixth. It marked the second time a Longhorn hit for the cycle since teammate Aiden Robbins did so earlier this season.
The Crimson Tide were shut out 9-0 by Oklahoma in their CWS opener and managed just five hits and only six baserunners, only one of whom even reached second base. They didn’t fare all that much better against Riojas and Co., eking out six hits with John Lemm’s solo home run the only extra-base hit.
Meanwhile, Texas absolutely smoked Alabama starter Zane Adams, knocking him out of the game after just five outs with seven hits and seven earned runs. The junior left-hander from Porter left the game with two outs in the second, and his earned-run average soared from 3.96 to 4.58.
He’s got Rodriguez most to thank for that memory, unpleasant though it was. ARod, meanwhile, gets the chance to keep making some more.
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