Longhorns Austin Wood, an Amazing Story of Perseverence

LSU defeated Texas last night in game 1 of the Championship round of the 2009 College World Series in Omaha, NE, but for Texas Pitcher Austin Wood, just even being a part of this was, at one time, an extreme long shot.

The Senior out of Kingwood, TX has had a tremendous career at Texas. His Freshman year, he ended up being a Freshman all-American. He amassed a 3.15 ERA and a 4-3 record as a Freshman. Wood has been named BIG Xll Conference Pitcher of the Week at least three times in his career. Also, during his Junior year, Wood appeared in 27 games, including 14 starts, amassing an 7-3 record with a 4.43 ERA and 42 strikeouts in 85.1 innings, and was named First Team Academic All-Big 12.

But all of this was nearly snuffed out back when he was 14 years old. If you were watching the Friday telecast between Texas and Arizona St., Wood was pitching for the Longhorns and broadcaster Sean Mcdonough told the story of what happened. While on his Grandfather's farm in Wichita Falls, TX, his Father and Grandfather were clearing out metal with a tracker. If I remember it right, Austin decided to sit on the fender of the tractor. They hit a bump and Austin was knocked off and the tractor ran over him. His Grandfather noticed something was wrong and told Austin's Dad to stop. Austin suffered numerous life-threatening injuries, including a lacerated liver. He was carried by helicopter to a hospital in Fort Worth where they could best deal with his injuries. His father could not ride in the helicopter with his son, so he and his mother had to make an agonizing 2-hour drive to Fort Worth not knowing the fate of their son.

Miraculously, Austin survived this ordeal. He has persevered and gone on to be one of the greatest pitchers in the history of Texas Longhorn Baseball. I'm sure he's already been drafted by an MLB club. Talk about amazing comebacks, this one was truly amazing.