Texas puts ‘long’ in Longhorns to win

Connor Rowe hit a game-winning solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, moments after Cameron Rupp tied it with a homer of his own, and Texas came from behind to beat Arizona State, 4-3, in the College World Series on Friday night.

Rowe sent a shot into the left-field seats, then sprinted around the bases with his helmet raised in his right hand as celebrating teammates waited at home plate to greet him.

Two batters earlier, Rupp homered over the 22-foot-high wall in center field to tie it.

Texas (49-14-1) advanced to the best-of-three finals starting Monday against Louisiana State. The Longhorns will try to become the first nationally No. 1-seeded team to win the CWS since Miami in 1999.

Earlier, LSU hit four home runs and ace right-hander Anthony Ranaudo threw six solid innings as the Tigers continued their domination of Arkansas with a 14-5 victory. LSU has hit nine homers in three CWS games and 102 overall.

Rowe, the No. 9 hitter, hit the first walk-off homer in Omaha since Texas’ Chance Wheeless did it in a win over Baylor in 2005.

It looked as if the Sun Devils (51-14) would force a rematch today for the Bracket 2 championship after they took a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth on Zach Wilson’s RBI triple.

Mitchell Lambson (9-5) struck out Brandon Loy to start the bottom of the ninth, but Rupp tied it with a homer that carried at least 420 feet.

After Preston Clark popped out, Rowe hit the first offering from Lambson over the left-field wall.