Parma's Matteo Bocchi leads Texas Longhorns to 2018 College World Series

With a nationally-televised ESPN audience watching every pitch, Italian-born and developed baseball player Matteo Bocchi threw five strong innings to pick up the win over Tennessee Tech (ranked #20) in front of a sold-out hometown crowd at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas on June 11, 2018 to advance the Texas Longhorns (ranked #14) from the NCAA Super Regional to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. Opposing manager Matt Bragga credited Matteo Bocchi for diffusing his team's explosive offense which led all U.S. colleges with 134 home runs in 2018. Considered by the well-respected Tennessee Tech skipper as "one of Texas' elite arms," starting pitcher Matteo Bocchi retired the first six batters he faced and allowed just one run on four hits over five nearly perfectly executed innings of work to catapult the Longhorns to the 5-2 victory. University of Texas at Austin head coach David Pierce, who will be making his fifth trip to the College World Series after four trips to Omaha as a Rice University assistant coach, was hired as larger-than-life legend Augie Garrido’s successor in 2016. The Texas Longhorns will be appearing in the College World Series for a record 36th time. David Pierce chose to start lightly-used right-hander Matteo Bocchi (4-1), the junior pitcher from Parma, Italy to get to Omaha. He chuckled that Matteo Bocchi is so new to college baseball that he’d never heard of the College World Series until “a year or so ago.” The Longhorns manager joked that Matteo Bocchi taught himself to pitch using the internet and showed up on campus with eight pitches, but I told him, “We only need three.” Against Tennessee Tech in the NCAA Super Regional, his fastballs, sliders and changeups got the Texas Longhorns into the 2018 College World Series by keeping opposing hitters off-balance and uncomfortable at the plate. 

University of Texas at Austin is one of eight teams in the College World Series, which begins on Saturday, June 17, 2018 when Oregon State plays North Carolina at 3 pm (EST), and Washington battles Mississippi State at 8 pm (EST). Both games will be televised on ESPN. The following day Arkansas takes on the Texas Longhorns at 2 pm (EST) on ESPN, and Texas Tech faces Florida at 7 pm (EST) on ESPN2. The teams are split into two brackets in a double-elimination format until just two squads are left standing. A best-of-three series between the two winning teams determines this year's national champion. #HookEmHorns

by Roberto Angotti