FINAL
Texas Longhorns - 6
Kansas St Wildcats - 3

Horns improve to 17-11 overall and 6-3 in conference play


Winning Pitcher: Max Grubbs (4-0)
Losing Pitcher: Owen Boerema (2-2)
Save: Andre Duplantier (2)
BOX SCORE



RECAP

Always win on Sunday (in this case Saturday). The Horns came into the game looking to steal a road conference series against #23 Kansas State, bouncing back last night after a Thursday game battering. The game started with both sides getting runners on base, but neither side being able to break through until the Top 3rd.

In the Top 3rd, Jalin Flores hit a 1 out double to left field, followed by a Max Belyeu walk. Kimble Schuessler stepped to the plate and smacked a double to the gap in left center, scoring both runners and giving the Horns the early 2-0 lead.

The Horns came right back in the Top 4th to double their lead as Rylan Galvan drew a lead off walk, followed by an outstanding bunt by Dee Kennedy, putting two runners on and no outs. Jared Thomas hit a one hopper back to the pitcher who fielded and then suddenly dropped the ball, not allowing him to get the lead runner at 3B, and instead having to settle with getting the runner at 1B. Peyton Powell then hit a ball right back to the pitcher who tried throwing home but threw it wide of the base, allowing Galvan to score on the error, making it 3-0. Jalin Flores then hit a fly ball to fairly shallow LF, but the speed of Dee Kennedy allowed him to tag and slide in to score, making it 4-0.

Going into the Bottom 6th, the Horns starter Max Grubbs had largely been cruising, mixing up an effective fastball/slider mix to keep the Wildcats off the board. In the Bottom 6th though, the Wildcats finally broke through, as Brady Day got on 1B after a fielding error by Dee Kennedy. A sinking fly ball to RF that Max Belyeu dove for and missed, ended up being an RBI triple, making it 4-1 Horns. Grubbs buckled down though and got out of the inning without allowing the runner on 3B to score, which proved to be massive later in the game.

In the Bottom of the 8th, Gage Boehm was on the mound for the Horns and quickly got 2 outs, but suddenly ran into trouble. Kyan Lodice got a hanging slider and hit it into CF for a 2 out single. Boehm then walked Raphael Pelletier after a 7 pitch at-bat. 9 hole hitter David Bishop then hit an RBI single to right center, bringing in a run to make it a 4-2 ballgame, which also prompted David Pierce to bring Andre Duplantier into the game. Duplantier gave up an RBI single down the RF line, making it a 4-3 ballgame. Thankfully Duplantier got two hole hitter Brendan Jones to fly out to CF to end the scoring threat and preserve the Horns lead.

In the Top 9th, with Tyson Neighbors on the mound, who had been dealing, Sophomore Jared Thomas stepped to the plate and on a 3-2 count, got a belt high 94mph fastball that he hammered to RF for a solo shot, making it 5-3 Horns. His partner in crime, Peyton Powell then hit a 95mph fastball to RF for a no doubter, making it a 6-3 ballgame, destroying all momentum that the Wildcats had generated and sending many fans to the exit.

Andre Duplantier came back to the mound in the Top 9th and sat the Wildcats down 1-2-3, including a game ending strikeout. BOOM, series won, the third Big 12 conference series in a row.


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BIG MOMENT

In the Bottom 8th, with 2 outs and runners on 1B and 3B and the Horns holding a narrow 4-3 lead, Andre Duplantier induced a shallow fly ball to CF. Freshman Will Gasparino made an outstanding first move and sprinted in making a sliding catch to end the frame and preserve the Longhorns lead. MASSIVE moment for the freshman on the road during conference play.

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INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

Max Grubbs - have yourself a day sir. On a day when the Horns were out hit and the top four batters in the lineup go 3-16, expectations would not be high that the Horns would come away with a win, but thankfully, they were able to take advantage of Kansas State miscues AND had Max Grubbs on the mound.

Grubbs went 6 innings, scattering 6 hits, giving up 1 run, only walking 1 batter and striking out 5. One of the keys to the game was limiting free passes, and Grubbs did exactly that, keeping the dangerous Kansas State runners off the basepaths.

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TAKEAWAYS

Anytime you can win a Big 12 series on the road, you take it. Winning a road conference series against a top 25 team after getting battered in the first game, outstanding result.

The Horns head into next week tied for 2nd with Kansas State and just one game behind conference leaders Oklahoma.

Overall, the Horns were not perfect on the afternoon, but they got excellent starting pitching from Grubbs and got some timely hitting when they needed it most, especially considering the fact that the Horns were out hit on the day.

On to the next one and keep stacking Big 12 conference wins.


NEXT UP:

April 2nd (Tuesday) at 630pm v. Abilene Christian (17-11, 8-4 WAC)

SIAP

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The Ex-Cheerleader! Where are you? Please come back!

Pretty damn good hopefully next year UT can pull it off.

Not that I really care, but it looks like Yormark is delaying the launch. Think they are forcusing on expansion instead?

A full weekend of football kicks off this (Friday) morning.

Every team in the Championship plays today and again on Monday. The EPL plays Saturday and Sunday.

If you guys haven't been following the Championship race, you're missing out. The top four teams; Leeds United, Leicester, Ipswich Town and Southampton have all set a record pace for points scored. The top three teams have already scored more than 80 points and Southampton are on 73 points but with two games in hand. In other words, it is an incredibly tight race for the two automatic promotion spots.

EFL schedule Friday:

Bristol City v. Leicester City
7:30 AM, ESPN+

Millwall v West Bromwich Albion
8:00 AM

Cardiff City v Sunderland
10:00 AM

Huddersfield Town v Coventry City
10:00 AM

Hull City v Stoke City
10:00 AM

Norwich City v Plymouth Argyle
10:00 AM, ESPN+

Preston North End v Rotherham United
10:00 AM

Queens Park Rangers v Birmingham City
10:00 AM

Sheffield Wednesday v Swansea City
10:00 AM

Southampton v Middlesbrough
10:00 AM

Blackburn Rovers v Ipswich Town
12:30 PM, ESPN+

Watford v Leeds United
3:00 PM, ESPN+

I Told Her I Wasn’t Surprised,

Seems like we need a 70% Tax Cut

Take away "Government Assistance" and you'll see how fast these leeches will take on the "jobs Americans don't want".

Bonus is they'll want the border shut-down so they can get these jobs.

When your choices are work or don't eat is quite the motivation to get a job.

The vast majority of these people are responsible or have made bad choices for where they are - it's not our job to pay for their bad choices.

Charities like they did in the past can take care of those truly in need and unable to work - when you sort out those that can work it's a really small amount of people for charities to handle.

Also a 70% tax cut enables companies & people to invest more and grow which leads to more jobs.


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Way too young RIP

I mean they have a lot of good players but I don't think they have any 5 stars their coach is good but I don't think he is considered a top 5 guy or at least he wasn't. Now they seem to be on a almost certain back to back championship run as they have destroyed a 5 seed & a 3 seed to get to final 4.

My little yard of a home I bought in 2023 is pretty much sticker burs, clover, crab grass...not even sure where to start. I bought mower and blower and all that to keep it nice and short - I started bagging the grass first few times I mowed with the thought that it will hopefully capture any sticker burr seeds and not germinate...is that correct or can I just mow/mulch now already?

It's all junk - although it looks good now bc it's green - so not sure weed-n-feed or anything like that would even help...but I'm pretty tired of bagging the grass clippings and slowing the mow down.

Any suggestions? Am I doing the best thing (to bag) in hopes that burrs and such don't germinate and grow, or does it even make a difference

Great hire. Just led Arizona State to National Championship.
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Apparently it's a new tradition in Baton Rouge.

CDC swings and hits a grand slam

Mac Engel, Star-Telegram:

Shaka Smart was never a bad coach, but he was at the wrong job. Some coaches are better fits for certain jobs, and Texas never fit Smart.

How he wound up at a job that fits him better was made possible by the place that needed to fire him.


It all worked out perfectly for Marquette and Smart, who are now in the Sweet 16 this weekend at the NCAA Tournament’s south regional in Dallas while the Longhorns are in a different spot, at home in Austin.


Go back to March 20, 2021, when Texas was upset by Abilene Christian in the first round of the NCAA Tournament; that 53-52 loss is one of the lowest points for Texas basketball this century.

Everyone liked Shaka, but it wasn’t working. The success he had at Virginia Commonwealth didn’t come with him to Texas. With three NCAA Tournament appearances but no tourney wins, Smart’s tenure had been more potential and promise than results.


Meanwhile, out on the plains in Lubbock, head coach Chris Beard was killing it at Texas Tech. He was happy there, but the job he coveted was Texas, and the timing was right for all of it.

The trouble was Smart’s contract; UT was on the hook for the remaining two years and $7.1 million. UT did not just want to eat that contract while signing Beard to an even larger deal, as well as paying Texas Tech $4 million to buyout his deal there.


According to people familiar with the situation, it was Texas that worked the phones to find a solution. It could get out of the Smart contract by acting as a head hunter for a school that wanted a head coach.

Marquette fired head coach Steve Wojciechowski, on March 19 of that year. With resources, facilities and history, Marquette of the Big East is a good job in men’s basketball. All Marquette had to do was think Smart was the right guy, and UT could switch from Shaka to Beard with minimal problems.


Texas never had to fire Smart, who “left” Texas for Marquette on March 26. On April 1, Chris Beard was named as Shaka Smart’s replacement.

At Marquette, Smart has had the success that Texas sought. The Golden Eagles have reached the NCAA Tournament in all three of his seasons there, and are a second seed for the second consecutive season.


This is what he did at VCU when he built that into a mid-major power, from 2009 to ‘15.


He is the classic example of a coach who is better suited for a certain level of college sports. Some people aren’t wired for the muddy brutality of a “power” job.

Marquette is not some third-tier Division I program, and it’s not Texas.


“How have I changed? Gotten older. My hair has changed,” Smart said at a press conference on Thursday at the American Airlines Center in Dallas. “I think probably the biggest transformation for me as a coach since 2011 is just understanding how much that I don’t control. I think as a young coach you try to assert control over so many different things.


“Trying to understand what helps the players be their best and I think with that, learning that coaching your team is not the same as coaching your players.”

Texas’ timeline with men’s basketball after Shaka left took a detour into a ditch through no fault of its own. Texas had the guy it wanted in Beard. Beard had the job he wanted in Texas.


After Beard led UT to the NCAA Tournament in his first season with a win, his personal life caught up to him. On Dec. 12, 2022, Beard was arrested after a domestic violence charge from his fiance. On Jan. 5, 2023, Texas fired Beard.


According to the Travis County District Attorney, Beard’s fiance did not want to prosecute Beard, and based on the evidence the charges were dropped.


Assistant coach Rodney Terry coached the team the rest of the season, all the way to the Elite Eight. He was named the full-time head coach in March of ‘23.


In his first full year as head coach, the Longhorns were decent. They finished 21-13 with a .500 mark in the Big 12; they narrowly lost to second-seeded Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, and former UT head coach Rick Barnes.


Texas hiring Shaka Smart made sense, as did hiring Chris Beard.


The big winner in all of this is Marquette, who found the right guy for that job.

Nobody is taking it harder than @OBJuan ’s mom.

I want to make certain that I don't spend my life constantly seeking new beginnings, because I am constantly creating bad endings.
~~~~~~~~~~~ Craig D. Lounsbrough

This is an epilogue of sorts to yesterday's Easter discussion.

Mrs. NT and I were out of town for the weekend. We stayed at a small hotel in Amarillo, of all places, because Yes, I know how to show a girl a good time. I got on the elevator yesterday morning, and was joined by a young man who was a hotel employee. He gave me a Gift worth sharing.

He gets on the elevator, so I ask "How you doing this morning?" Like most elevator conversations, it was more of a greeting than an actual inquiry, but his reply will follow me around for a long time to come. He gave me a smile bright enough to light up a gymnasium, and exclaimed "It's Easter, baby! I woke up forgiven! What a day!" He exited on the next floor down, off to his next set of chores, unaware that he had just preached the best Easter sermon I'd ever heard. Said it all in ten words.

That's a lesson worth remembering. Baby.

In His love and service,
NT
Matthew 28: 19-20
John 3:16
Dedicated to Allen Jones, who knew that kind of enthusiasm.

Loved I am pilgrim, and the jack carr series, anyone have some good recommendations? Happy Easter

It's also clear proof FBI and Facebook are colluding together against Law Abiding Citizens


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and conservative men aren’t:

Only in the liberal hive mind can you come up with such silly bullshit.



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