After the No. 12 Longhorns beat Texas State 5-1 Tuesday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the fans rose to their feet, chanting “Augie” as the Longhorn players all tipped their caps to head coach Augie Garrido.
And rightfully so. With the win, Garrido became the winningest coach in the history of college baseball.
With his 1,894th win, Garrido, who was already the winningest coach in Division I history, passed Gordon Gillespie for the record. Gillespie coached at Lewis University (Division II), Ripon College (Division III) and St. Francis (NAIA).
“The only thing 1,894 wins proves is that you are old,” Garrido said. “But it still feels good.”
Garrido — who is in his 45th year of coaching — has been at Texas since 1997, garnering 739 of the 1,893 victories on the 40 Acres, including two championships. At Cal State-Fullerton, Garrido won 929 games and three national championships. He has also coached at Illinois, Cal Poly and San Francisco State.
“I get the credit, but it belongs to everyone,” Garrido said.
Texas jumped all over the Bobcats (15-9) early as junior pitcher Lukas Schiraldi completely shut down Texas State. He held them to just one hit in eight innings to improve a team ERA that ranks fifth in the nation.
“[Schiraldi] is the best Tuesday night pitcher in college baseball,” Garrido said.
Texas (20-6) scored two runs in the first and second to open it up early and give Schiraldi (4-1) a nice cushion. Sophomore right fielder Collin Shaw put the Longhorns on the board with an RBI fielder choice, barely legging out a double-play grounder with the bases loaded to score sophomore left fielder Ben Johnson. Freshman catcher Tres Barrera then followed with a single up the middle to push the lead to 2-0.
The Longhorns scored two more in the second, highlighted by sophomore shortstop C.J Hinojosa’s RBI double off the top of the left field wall. Johnson then led the fourth with a monster home run off the Longhorns’ sign well beyond the left field fence.
The Longhorns have allowed just three runs in the last 45 innings. They will travel to Texas Tech this weekend for their second Big 12 series, but they won’t soon forget Garrido’s new title.
“It’s something I’ll be able to tell my kids and grandkids: that I got to play for the greatest college baseball coach of all time,” Johnson said.
