MLB.com

By Matthew Leach / MLB.com

Cal State-Fullerton celebrates its fourth national championship Sunday. (Dennis Grundman/AP)

But the hero on Sunday wasn't Windsor, the winning pitcher (drafted by the A's in the third round of this year's First-Year Player Draft). It was Kurt Suzuki (A's, second round).

The All-American catcher scuffled throughout the CWS, lugging around a 2-for-20 mark -- with, it must be noted, five walks and four runs scored -- before coming up with two men on and two outs in the seventh inning of a tie game on Sunday. He had been pressing, he had been hitting into bad luck, he just hadn't been producing like his teammates were used to seeing.

So, of course, Suzuki came through. He slapped an RBI single through the right side, propelling Fullerton to a 3-2 win over Texas and a sweep of the best-of-three championship series. And the word that kept coming up afterwards was "fitting."

And then there was head coach George Horton.

"What a fitting conclusion for all of us," said Horton, "not to take anything away from the other Titan battlers in our dugout, but to have Jason Windsor on the mound, for him to get the victory and Kurt Suzuki to get the winning hit. It was the right way to do it."

Suzuki seems to do most things the right way. And that's why the former walk-on has turned into not only a star but also a leader on this unlikely national champion. And he never had any doubt himself that he would get one more chance, or that he would take advantage of that chance.

"It's hard to say you know you're gonna get a hit, but I had a feeling," said Suzuki. "I'm sure everybody else in that dugout knew that it was my time to come up big for the team. I just went up there and gave coach a smile and said there's no better time to do it than now. I want to be the guy in this situation. This is my box."

The big hit completed a comeback from a 2-0 deficit against Texas' No. 2 starter, Sam LeCure, and what was widely regarded as the nation's best bullpen. It was the second time in two games that Texas relievers were charged with a blown save. Meanwhile, Windsor went the distance in another dominating performance.

The right-hander recovered from two first-inning runs to rack up his second complete game, giving Fullerton three for the tournament.

"His performance was a remarkable performance," said Texas head coach Augie Garrido. "What he did was he went to changing speeds. He started getting the curveball over, and his changeup, in fastball counts. He pitched well outside the strike zone when he was ahead in the count. He took advantage of that. He used his breaking ball and changeup in fastball counts. He pitched. It was a Major League performance. It was brilliant."

While Windsor kept the Texas offense at bay, Fullerton waited for its chance. It finally came in the seventh.

Following Bobby Andrews' one-out single, Horton called on pinch-hitter Sergio Pedroza. Garrido went to his best lefty, Buck Cody (Cardinals, seventh round), and Horton countered by calling Pedroza back and sending out the right-handed Brett Pill.

Good move.

Pill cracked a triple down the left-field line, scoring Andrews and getting Fullerton on the board for the first time. Horton had outmaneuvered his mentor, Garrido.

"My teammates were telling me he threw a lot of fastballs in," said Pill. "You have to be aggressive when you get in those pinch-hit roles. So I was looking fastball in, and I was just lucky enough to get a good pitch to hit.

A wild pitch scored Brandon Tripp, who had pinch-run for Pill, and the game was tied. Ronnie Prettyman (Brewers, 28th round) reached on an error and in came Texas' superb setup man, right-hander J. Brent Cox, but Fullerton kept coming.

Justin Turner nubbed a soft single into right and Cox whiffed Clark Hardman, bringing up Suzuki in a two- out, RBI situation. Just the kind of scenario where he had thrived all year -- until Omaha.

"I saw the whole thing unfolding," said Pilittere. "He was coming up. I knew they were gonna have to pitch to him and I knew they had one of their guys on the mound and I knew he matched up well. Just to see the smile on his face before he went up there, I hadn't seen it in a couple of weeks. There was never a doubt in my mind."

Handed a lead, Windsor was now just six outs away from another win and a championship. He sliced through the top of the Texas order on nine pitches in the eighth, but it got a little dicey in the ninth.

Taylor Teagarden ripped a liner into left, but Danny Dorn made a spectacular diving catch to get the first out of the final inning. It looked even bigger when Ryan Russ followed with a single -- a hit that might have scored Teagarden from second, had his ball dropped.

"That was huge," said Windsor. "(Dorn) tracked it down. Right off the bat, I thought it had a pretty good chance, but the ball hadn't really been flying all day. It didn't really seem like he got all of it. It was a good pitch. Of course my heart started fluttering a little bit, but when he came down with it, it was just joy."

Windsor got Hunter Harris swinging on three pitches, and David Maroul popped up to right on the first pitch he saw. Ballgame. Dogpile.

"I still have chills," cracked Horton, "and it's not from the cold water they dumped on top of my head."

Matthew Leach is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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