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OMAHA, Neb. — In a sports-obsessed family with two brothers in the Men’s College World Series, Oklahoma second baseman Kyle Branch has been occasionally asked to dial down his competitiveness. He finished second in a wiffle-ball home run derby at the age of 6 and threw the trophy in the trash. He’s sneaky good at the board game Clue, and of course was the first one in his family to figure out it was Professor Plum in the library with the candlestick.
“If he doesn’t win,” his father, Rusty Branch, mentioned, “it’s torture for our family.”
Kyle Branch’s Sooners won Wednesday night, beating No. 3 Georgia 11-4 to earn a trip to Saturday’s best-of-three championship series against North Carolina. And it was still torture for everyone — including Kyle.
It meant the end of a national championship dream for his brother Kolby, a senior captain for the Bulldogs. Kolby at least got the chance to trot around the bases one more time in his final college at-bat, smashing a solo home run in the ninth inning. His brother took a deep breath as Kolby stood at the plate, then his eyes lit up, mouth agape, and he smiled as he watched the ball sail over the fence.
Dylan Widger-Imagn ImagesThey slapped hands when Kolby crossed second base, and their mom, Kari, wiped away a tear as she recorded it on her phone. She won’t have to worry about the bouncy shot; the moment, on ESPN, went viral, playing over thousands of times on social media.While Sooners’ fans celebrated in the Omaha Baseball Village, Kyle went to the downtown Marriott, Georgia’s team hotel. About 200 people, mostly baseball families who’ve followed their children through more than a decade of games, gathered in the lobby.Kyle hugged Kolby, and told him he loved him. According to their dad, Kolby gave his brother one piece of advice.”Go win the damn thing.”Kolby and Kyle were the first brothers to play against each other in Men’s College World Series history. They did it twice, and Oklahoma survived a 4-3 nailbiter Monday night to throw Georgia in the loser’s bracket. But Wednesday was far more stressful. Their oldest son was on the brink of elimination.To keep themselves occupied earlier in the day, Rusty, Kari, and their younger sons Carson and Cooper, went across the river to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to play miniature golf and hit baseballs in a batting cage. Unlike Monday, when Rusty and Kari wore split jerseys displaying both Georgia and Oklahoma, they wore Georgia gear earlier in the day, but didn’t want it to get back to Kyle that they were doing so.Last year, when the Sooners played Georgia in Athens, Kari did a dance in the stands when one of the Bulldogs homered, and Kyle was not amused.”First thing Kyle mentioned at dinner was, ‘Real nice, mom. I’m at second base looking at my mom dance in the stands,'” Rusty mentioned. “He’s kind of made us paranoid.”So they dressed rather nondescriptly Wednesday night, Rusty in a black button-down shirt; Kari in black. Rusty’s hat mentioned “NATTY” on the front.The family lives in Texas, but their home is situated roughly three hours from Norman and three hours from Austin, and they’ve always been Sooner fans. Kolby played his freshman year at Baylor, and hit .325 and led the team in hits, runs and doubles. He was then wooed by Texas, and on his recruiting trip noticed the famous quote in the strength facility that says, “The pride and winning tradition of the University of Texas will not be entrusted to the weak or the timid.”Editor’s Picks
During his visit to Georgia, football coach Kirby Smart greeted the family because Wes Johnson, who’d just been hired as head coach, was in Omaha with LSU to finish out his job as pitching coach. Smart looked at Kolby, his parents mentioned, and immediately exclaimed, “You look like a freaking dawg!”
“So you’ve got one school saying, ‘Don’t come here if you’re not good enough,'” Rusty mentioned. “And we’re like, well, maybe we’re not good enough. Then you’ve got one school with Kirby Smart saying, ‘You’re good enough.’ It was a really interesting contrast.”
Kolby quickly fit in with the Bulldogs, starting 59 games at shortstop and helping lead his team to the super regionals. He hit .303 with 13 home runs last year, but fell to NC State in super regionals. This year, the Bulldogs were loaded with talented upperclassmen, and primed to make a run at the national championship.
An Oklahoma MCWS bid seemed unlikely. The Sooners lost their last four SEC series of the season and were the 11th seed in the conference tournament, which they exited in the first round. Kyle Branch’s team had to beat No. 2 Georgia Tech in Atlanta in regionals, rallying from four runs down to win 8-7 in the finals.
Kolby, whose team won its regional in Athens, had an off day and drove an hour and a half to Atlanta to visit his little brother. They had lunch together and went shopping and bought cleats.
Kari Branch mentioned she talked to Kyle later, and he told her it was “the best day ever.” Kyle, a sophomore, is still intense, but they’re not as competitive with each other as they used to be.
“I think they understand each other now a little bit better,” she mentioned, “and they can talk baseball and they are like speaking a different language and we’re just kind of spectators.”
The family will stay busy watching games for years to come. Carson, who’s entering his senior year at Lovejoy (Texas) High School, has committed to play baseball at Dartmouth. Cooper, who’s about to be a freshman in high school, is the football player of the family, playing wide receiver and safety.
He mentioned his mom gets “a little queasy” about him playing football, but his dad likes it.
“He likes to see some hitting,” Cooper mentioned.
On Thursday morning, the family saw the oldest brother off to his bus, as Georgia made its way to the airport. Kari and Rusty readied themselves for at least four days of crimson-and-cream clothing.
When the family had dinner together earlier in the week, they talked about what the brothers would do if one of them lost and the other made it to the championship game. Both Kyle and Kolby mentioned there was no way they could come back to Omaha to watch. It would be too hard.
But Kari and Rusty have offered to pay for Kolby’s airfare and Uber back in case Kolby has a change of heart.
“I think when the dust settles …” Rusty mentioned. “Give it 24 hours and I bet he’ll be back up here.”
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