“I knew that everyone believed in me; I believed in myself.” Luke Harrison stepped into the fire and walked out a victor

When Texas closer Sam Cozart entered the game with a three-run cushion in the bottom of the eighth inning of the Austin Regional Final, you would be pressed to find any Texas Baseball fans who didn’t believe a win was inevitable.

[Sign up for Inside Texas and get 50% off Premium Access!]

Could you blame them? Cozart entered the game with an ERA below 1.6, having not allowed more than a single run in his last 17 appearances out of the pen. Cozart has extended multiple innings before and was the best relief pitcher in the SEC throughout the season. There was no reason to believe he would do anything but shove against a UC Santa Barbara lineup that had just four hits and two earned runs up to that point.

But Cozart immediately struggled, allowing three hits and a run in the first four batters of the eighth. If not for some errors from UCSB on the bases and with swing decisions, the damage could’ve been more severe.

Still, Texas had a two-run lead heading into the ninth inning, and there was little reason for concern with the bottom four bats in the UCSB order coming up to bat.

Instead, the Gauchos picked right back up where they left off. Two singles put a pinch-runner as the tying run on first with no outs, and any ball that leaves the fence would win UCSB the game.

Cozart would get the next two outs, but with the top of the order coming around, the big hurler from the East Coast would plunk the leadoff man on the first pitch, loading the bases.

As this was happening, a familiar name began to warm up in the bullpen: graduate lefty Luke Harrison, Friday’s starter.

In stepped Rowan Kelly, UCSB’s star center fielder, who had already hit an opposite-field double off Cozart the inning before, missing a homer by half a foot. He also had two homers on the day, between Tarleton State in the early frame and the first inning against Ruger Riojas.

“I don’t remember a left-handed hitter hitting a ball deep to left field against Cozart,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle noted after the game.

With arguably the best closer in the nation just one out away from sending Texas to a Super Regional appearance, Schlossnagle came up off his step, walked onto the field and took the ball out of Cozart’s hand.

As Texas fans sat in shock at the situation in front of them, Harrison exited the bullpen and made his way down to the mound.

Harrison had a bullpen appearance the week before in Hoover for the SEC Tournament, so he wasn’t entirely green to warming up in the middle of the game, but Harrison has been a starter for as long as most fans can remember. This was new.

Tasked with getting a single out, Harrison stepped in, the entire stands at the Disch on their feet, praying for a single out.

He stepped, kicked and delivered in the lefty-lefty matchup, cutter away.

Kelly hacks, and fouls it back.

0-1 count, Harrison was ready to battle. A slider, right in the heart of the zone. My best pitch versus your best bat.

Kelly swung once again, but he connected with the ball at the end of his bat, swinging below the breaking pitch.

Popped into the air, an entire stadium held its breath. The nerves were magnified another hundred times when it was clear that LF Anthony Pack had no clue where the baseball was in the lights.

Thankfully for the Longhorns, SS Adrian Rodriguez had a beat on the ball, ranged back to his left, and secured the baseball into his glove.

Ball game.

“I couldn’t be more proud of Luke Harrison,” Schlossnagle said. “I told him to go down there in the ninth inning, and just the whole reason we did what we did last week in Hoover, and got him out of the game on Friday, was to be able to win us a game this weekend, and he did that.”

Harrison threw just 50 pitches on Friday against Holy Cross, and Schlossnagle took him out early in a blowout game, with hopes of Harrison doing something like this later in the weekend.

“I knew that my job was to go get one guy out, and it never felt like it was out of control,” Harrison said. “I feel like Cozart is always in control when he’s in the ball game, and I knew that I just had to go do my job, go make some pitches, and coach told me he believed in me, and I appreciate him giving me the ball.”

It was Harrison’s first save since his freshman season in March of 2022, finishing a midweek game against the likes of Tre Morgan and Dylan Crews at LSU.

“I mean, it was awesome, definitely just the feeling of finishing a ball game as a pitcher, and you know, going and giving (C Carson) Tinney a big hug, just something that I’ve been waiting for for a while,” Harrison said. “Flirted with it against Missouri, and you know, had a little bitter taste. I didn’t get to get it, but, man, this one felt great. And definitely have a lot of experience coming out of the bullpen, quite a few appearances out of there, but just felt like the same game. Go throw strikes, go compete.”

Harrison would add to his thoughts on what pitching out of the bullpen in Hoover did for his appearance last night.

“I would say it definitely helped me a little bit, just kind of knocking the rust off of, you know, what it takes to go get ready in the inning, and either if you’re getting ready quick or you got the next inning, but I always loved just kind of the chaos of the bullpen a little bit, just getting to know that you’re in the ball game at any moment, that’s how I felt tonight,” Harrison said. “Just felt like the vibes down there from the other guys in the bullpen, they were all behind me. I felt that. I felt that when I got to the mound, and all the infielders and coach were all, you know, they had my back, and it was really an awesome feeling. I knew that everyone believed in me; I believed in myself.”

Credit to Schlossnagle, who set Harrison up well for the situation. The relief appearance in Hoover and conserved energy from Friday allowed him to go to Harrison with confidence, not reservations.

“I just had such belief in Luke, and just wanted to change the look. I didn’t want him to see Cozart twice,” Schlossnagle said about matching up against Kelly.

It was the kind of moment many won’t forget. Harrison, who earned the final out. Schlossnagle, who won his first regional as the head coach at the University of Texas. And countless of the fans in the stands, who went from nervous, nail-biting stress to elation in the matter of just two pitches.

College baseball’s postseason calls for star players to make gutsy plays, and Harrison did just that. By the end of next weekend, we may be saying the same thing about Cozart, who still earned Texas five of the six outs it needed.

But those last two pitches Harrison delivered gave Texas the relief it so desperately needed, and punched their ticket to the Super Regionals, where the Longhorns will host Oregon this coming weekend.