Winning Pitcher: Pete Hansen (11-1) - 114 pitches, 5 K, 3 R, 2 BB
Losing Pitcher: Paul Skenes (10-3) - 115 pitches, 4 K, 6 R, 0 BB
Texas v AF - Box Score
Game Summary:
With the win, Texas improved to 43-19 on the year. Texas wins 11-3. Pete Hansen was not at his best today as his fastball was a bit flat at times, but he utilizes an outstanding changeup and breaking ball to go 6 2/3 innings, striking out 5 and only giving up 3 runs. Offensively, the Horns came to the park with a solid approach and executed it to perfection. The Texas batters fouled off a ton of pitches, saw the strike zone really well and went deep in counts to drive up the pitch count of 1st team All-American RHP Paul Skenes in order to get to the Air Force bullpen. Texas got things going early when Hodo was hit by a pitch with a full count to get a lead off man on. EK then laid down a bunt which the catcher could not handle putting two runners on with no outs and Big 12 Player of the Year and Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year Ivan Melendez at the plate. Melendez proceeded to hit a screamer on the ground towards the second baseman who made an excellent back handed stop but threw wide of the SS covering 2B allowing Hodo to come around to score. After Murph popped up, super senior Austin Todd stepped to the plate and hit a sac fly to RF scoring EK.
Air Force was able to get one back in the Top of the 2nd inning and the Top of the 3rd inning to tie the game up at two a piece going to the bottom of the 3rd. Murphy Stehly led the bottom of the 3rd off with a ground rule double to LF and then Skyler Messinger drove in Murph with a single to RF to make it 3-2. Texas would hold that lead going into the 5th inning when Pete Hansen ran into a spot of trouble as he gave up a lead off single and walk to the first two batters. Two hole hitter Blake Covin came to the plate and tried to lay down a bunt but ended up striking out swinging for a huge first out. The dangerous Gabriel Garcia then popped up a slider to EK in LF for the second out followed by a routine groundout to Murph playing second base to shut down the Air Force threat in the top of the 5th inning. The bottom of the 5th inning Texas went to work! Ivan Melendez led off the 5th by hitting a double to the gap in left center. Murph followed up by hitting a single up the middle past a diving SS to put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Todd then stepped in and on the 7th pitch of the at-bat, he was hit by a fastball in the shoulder to load up the bases with no outs. That signaled the end of the day for starter Paul Skenes after 115 pitches.
Skyler Messinger, playing in his first Regional as a collegiate baseball player stepped to the plate and proceeded to hit a fastball to left field for a 2 run RBI single, making it 5-2 Texas. After Silas popped up a bunt attempt, Dylan Campbell, playing in RF today as Murph played 2B and Daly sat, drew a walk after 10 pitches to load the bases. Trey Faltine then stepped to the plate and on an 0-2 count, he was hit by a pitch to bring in another run making it 6-2. Dougie came to the plate and hit a chopper to 3B but it was misplayed and that error scored Messinger, making it 7-2 Texas. EK then stepped in and hit a deep sac fly to right center to make it 8-2 Texas and the rout was officially on.
The Horns would get another run in the bottom of the 6th to make it 9-2, while Hansen finally gave up another run in the top of the 7th inning as he made way for Marcus Olivarez after 6 2/3 innings pitched who was outstanding in his 1.1 innings of work. The Horns then tacked on an additional two runs in the bottom of the 8th to make it 11-3. Coy Cobb entered the game in the top of the 9th inning to close the game out as Coach Pierce and staff looked to preserve pitching for the rest of the weekend. Coy Cobb was able to sit down the lead off hitter Kulasingam after he got a come backer on a changeup and then under handed one to Ivan at 1B like he was playing ski-ball much to the delight of the Texas dugout. Cobb did give up a double to Covin down the LF line, but sat down the next two batters to end the game.
BIG MOMENT(s) - The 5th inning!
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE TO NOTE
TAKEAWAYS
UP NEXT
HookEm 🤘
Losing Pitcher: Paul Skenes (10-3) - 115 pitches, 4 K, 6 R, 0 BB
Texas v AF - Box Score
Game Summary:
With the win, Texas improved to 43-19 on the year. Texas wins 11-3. Pete Hansen was not at his best today as his fastball was a bit flat at times, but he utilizes an outstanding changeup and breaking ball to go 6 2/3 innings, striking out 5 and only giving up 3 runs. Offensively, the Horns came to the park with a solid approach and executed it to perfection. The Texas batters fouled off a ton of pitches, saw the strike zone really well and went deep in counts to drive up the pitch count of 1st team All-American RHP Paul Skenes in order to get to the Air Force bullpen. Texas got things going early when Hodo was hit by a pitch with a full count to get a lead off man on. EK then laid down a bunt which the catcher could not handle putting two runners on with no outs and Big 12 Player of the Year and Collegiate Baseball Player of the Year Ivan Melendez at the plate. Melendez proceeded to hit a screamer on the ground towards the second baseman who made an excellent back handed stop but threw wide of the SS covering 2B allowing Hodo to come around to score. After Murph popped up, super senior Austin Todd stepped to the plate and hit a sac fly to RF scoring EK.
Air Force was able to get one back in the Top of the 2nd inning and the Top of the 3rd inning to tie the game up at two a piece going to the bottom of the 3rd. Murphy Stehly led the bottom of the 3rd off with a ground rule double to LF and then Skyler Messinger drove in Murph with a single to RF to make it 3-2. Texas would hold that lead going into the 5th inning when Pete Hansen ran into a spot of trouble as he gave up a lead off single and walk to the first two batters. Two hole hitter Blake Covin came to the plate and tried to lay down a bunt but ended up striking out swinging for a huge first out. The dangerous Gabriel Garcia then popped up a slider to EK in LF for the second out followed by a routine groundout to Murph playing second base to shut down the Air Force threat in the top of the 5th inning. The bottom of the 5th inning Texas went to work! Ivan Melendez led off the 5th by hitting a double to the gap in left center. Murph followed up by hitting a single up the middle past a diving SS to put runners on the corners with no outs. Austin Todd then stepped in and on the 7th pitch of the at-bat, he was hit by a fastball in the shoulder to load up the bases with no outs. That signaled the end of the day for starter Paul Skenes after 115 pitches.
Skyler Messinger, playing in his first Regional as a collegiate baseball player stepped to the plate and proceeded to hit a fastball to left field for a 2 run RBI single, making it 5-2 Texas. After Silas popped up a bunt attempt, Dylan Campbell, playing in RF today as Murph played 2B and Daly sat, drew a walk after 10 pitches to load the bases. Trey Faltine then stepped to the plate and on an 0-2 count, he was hit by a pitch to bring in another run making it 6-2. Dougie came to the plate and hit a chopper to 3B but it was misplayed and that error scored Messinger, making it 7-2 Texas. EK then stepped in and hit a deep sac fly to right center to make it 8-2 Texas and the rout was officially on.
The Horns would get another run in the bottom of the 6th to make it 9-2, while Hansen finally gave up another run in the top of the 7th inning as he made way for Marcus Olivarez after 6 2/3 innings pitched who was outstanding in his 1.1 innings of work. The Horns then tacked on an additional two runs in the bottom of the 8th to make it 11-3. Coy Cobb entered the game in the top of the 9th inning to close the game out as Coach Pierce and staff looked to preserve pitching for the rest of the weekend. Coy Cobb was able to sit down the lead off hitter Kulasingam after he got a come backer on a changeup and then under handed one to Ivan at 1B like he was playing ski-ball much to the delight of the Texas dugout. Cobb did give up a double to Covin down the LF line, but sat down the next two batters to end the game.
BIG MOMENT(s) - The 5th inning!
- In the top of the 5th inning Pete Hansen allowed the first two runners to reach base but fought back to get a strikeout, a popup and a ground out to end the Air Force threat as Texas was holding on to a narrow 3-2 lead.
- In the bottom of the 5th inning, Ivan got things going by hitting a liner to the gap for a lead off double. Murph followed up with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners. Austin Todd then stepped in and preceded to get hit with a 93mph fastball in the shoulder to load the bases with no outs. That was the last batter that started Paul Skenes faced as he made way for RHP Rob Martin to face Skyler Messinger. Messinger proceeded to hit a line drive to the outfield for a 2 run RBI giving Texas the 5-2 lead. The Horns did not look back and left the 5th inning with a 8-2 lead.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE TO NOTE
- Skyler Messinger came to the park ready to play and he did just that going 4-5 on the day with 2 runs and 3 RBIs. The transfer from Kansas has hit the ball very well in the 2nd half of the season and today was no different as he took a very patience approach at the plate and splayed the ball all over the field.
TAKEAWAYS
- Texas did exactly what they needed to do and executed the offense perfectly against RHP Skenes who was hitting 97mph on his fastball in the first inning. They drove up the pitch count and got to a shaky Air Force bullpen.
- Defensively, Texas was excellent and did not make any errors on the day while taking advantage of everything that Air Force gave them
- Pitching wise, Texas got exactly what they needed from Hansen which was to go at least 6 innings and they got a couple of scoreless innings out of Olivarez and Cobb.
UP NEXT
- The Longhorns will play the winner of the Dallas Baptist v. Louisiana Tech game which will be on ESPN+ with a first pitch of 636pm. LHP Lucas Gordon will be the starter for the Horns.
HookEm 🤘
