FINAL
Texas: 8-6 (1-1 Big 12) - 2
Texas Tech: 11-3 (1-1 Big 12) - 7
Winning Pitcher: Mac Heuer (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Cody Howard (2-1)
BOX SCORE
RECAP:
Basic law of gravity. When something goes up, it must come down. After a cold Friday night when the bats were sky high and red hot, they crashed in a big way on Saturday afternoon as freshman Mac Heuer went 6 innings, giving up just 2 runs on 3 hits, walking 1 and striking out 8. The two bullpen pitchers for the Red Raiders pitched 3 innings giving up just two hits and striking out 2. To say it was a poor day at the office offensively, is a bit of an understatement.
When the Horns did get runners on base, it was always with 2 outs.
The Horns started out doing well at the plate against Heuer, driving up the pitch count and then getting an early 1-0 lead after Max Belyeu hit a bomb to LF. Unfortunately, starter Cody Howard could not put up a zero in the Bottom 2nd and immediately gave up a 3 spot to put the Horns down early. That has been a receipe for disaster this season. To their credit, the Horns came back and plated a run in the Top 3rd as Porter Brown muscled an oppo field home run to LF to make it a 3-2 ball game.
In the Bottom 4th, Texas tech struck back getting a 1 out single off of Howard, who then gave up a no doubter to LF, plating two runs and making it a 5-2 ballgame. At that juncture in the game, it still felt like if Texas could get past Heuer and into the Tech bullpen, they could pull off a victory, but instead, Heuer kept plowing along, getting outs and sitting the Texas batters down.
In the Bottom 7th, Max Grubbs, who had a really good outing for the Horns gave up a 1 out double and then walked a batter. He battled back to get a 2nd out, but that is when disaster struck at the catching position. Kimble Schuessler could not hold onto a ball and it got away from him, moving the runners to 2B and 3B. A hard grounder to Jalin Flores at SS, who had the ball careen off his glove as he went for the back hand to try and make a play ended up in shallow LF with two Red Raiders runners scoring to make it 7-2. It was at that point, the ball game felt like it was over because the Horns still could not muster anything offensively. This was highlighted by Jared Thomas’s 0-5 day at the office where he had 4 strikeouts. GOLDEN SOMBRERO!
At the end of the day, Teas could only must 2 runs on 5 hits and had 2 errors, leaving 9 men on base. Texas Tech scored 7 runs on 13 hits, committing 3 errors and leaving 10 men on base. In reality, the Horns loss could have been much worse and probably should have been.
BIG MOMENT:
The big moment for me was the momentum crushing Bottom 7th when the Horns allowed two runs to score to give the Red Raiders a 5 run lead. Through 14 games this season, the catching and fielding errors have been far too costly.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE:
RHP Max Grubbs had to come into the game early for the Horns and for the 2nd straight day, a reliever went longer than the starter did. That is a recipe for disaster, but Grubbs battled through, scattering 5 hits through 4 1/3 innings pitched, giving up 2 runs, neither earned, and only walking 1 batter. Tip of the hat young man. Grubbs gave the Horns the same type of performance that LHP Ace Whitehead did yesterday, helping keep them in the game.
TAKEAWAYS:
Starting pitching simply cannot go 3 or 4 innings. They have to give the Horns 5 innings every single game. This pitching staff does not have enough quality arms out of the bullpen to sustain that kind of heavy utilization. While I feel for him and the situation that he is in as an iron man, Kimble Schuessler has to protect the plate better and not continue to give up free bases. At the same time, the Texas pitchers have to locate better and stop putting Kimble in a precarious position.
I mentioned it in the weekend series preview, but right now, the Horns pitching staff is simply not missing bats. It is fine to play to contact, but your defense MUST be perfect in every aspect. I don’t know that there is a magical cure for this staff, but being able to generate swings and misses is paramount. More importantly though is to get the first pitch over the plate every time. Lebarron Johnson Jr, Cody Howard, and Charlie Hurley have struggled, but in some large part it is because of their inability to throw strike one, meaning they are consistently on the back foot against hitters.
The weekend is not over thankfully and the Horns still have the opportunity to win the series tomorrow. They will start Charlie Hurley, but have Tanner Witt, Grant Fontenot, Gage Boehm, and others fresh in the pen, so it is in a good spot.
NEXT UP:
The Longhorns and Red Raiders will face either other tomorrow at 2pm in a rubber match series decider.
