Musings from the Disch:
Where to start. This past weekend was all the ups and downs and everything in between. Having watched a significant amount of the top teams in baseball this year, I came out of this weekend with the realization that I learned more about Texas in a positive light than I did about Texas Tech. Make no doubt about it, the Texas coaching staff has to get closer Aaron Nixon right. Texas has to have a back end guy to come in and shut the door down. If Nixon continues to struggle the rest of the year, that is going to be a massive issue. For those who are worried about Texas's ability to hit and the number of strike outs or runners left on base. Sure, those are a concern, but Texas is a team that can hit and it can hit for power (see Useless Stat of the Day below). Daly appears to be finding his groove and DC has been taking much better hacks as of late which bodes well because when the ball comes off his bat, it just sounds different. The kid has electric ability, doubt him at your risk. Two weeks ago, everyone was ready to write off Skyler Messinger the same way everyone was ready to kick Mike Antico to the curb. This is baseball. It takes time to adjust, it takes time to settle in. Skyler is now the 3rd best hitter on the team and has continued to produce. Messinger was not just some orphan on the street. He was one of the top transfer pickups in the off-season and with the loss of Todd, he is even more important as there is not a single guy on the bench that can bring his amount of experience, hitting and defense to the table. Have a cold beer, kick your feet up, cuddle your favorite blanket and enjoy the grind.
As for those guys from Lubbock, ya, Tadlock is going to field a good team year in and year out. He is a good coach and brings in players that suit his system....like Pierce. That said, nothing I saw from that Tech team this weekend makes me think they are an Omaha bound team. Obviously a lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but that pitching staff has issues throughout.
Useless Stat of the Day:
Before the season started, one of the questions everyone asked was where the power and hitting was going to come from. Through 26 games, I think we have a pretty good answer to that. Through 26 games, Texas has hit 40 home runs in 2022. In 67 games, which includes the Big 12 tournament, Regionals, Supers and CWS, the 2021 Texas squad hit 68 home runs. After the end of the 2021 season, Texas as a team, had a .275 average. So far through the 2022 season, Texas is hitting 44 points higher for a .319 average which actually went up 14 points over the weekend. In 2022, Texas is a much more balanced team and instead of relying on just 3 guys for power, there is sneaky power throughout the lineup. Of course, it helps that Ivan has already equaled his HR total from 2021 through 26 games in 2022.
Mid-week Preview:
Once again, Texas shall take the field against its old foe, Texas A&M. The series historically favors Texas as the Horns have 244 wins, 128 loses and 5 ties, though A&M has won the last two games. In 2021, A&M beat Texas in College Station 2-0 and in 2019, A&M won 9-6 in Austin. Prior to that, the home team typically won behind home field advantage. The 2022 edition of the rivalry brings two teams with very different expectations to the field. Texas is looking to get back to Omaha, while Schlossnagle is in a bit of a rebuilding year at A&M, having left his longtime role as head coach of TCU. A&M did score an early conference series win over LSU, but most recently lost 2 of 3 to Auburn this past weekend, with the Fri and Sat games both going into extra innings.
For Texas, the path to victory is a limit production at the top against Arizona St transfer Jack Moss and UTSA transfer Dylan Rock who lead the team in hitting. Rock has good HR power and is tied for the team lead with Logan Britt, each having 5 HRs. This lineup does not have a ton of overt power, but they have come up clutch in a number of situations this year. Texas pitcher (assumed to be RHP Justin Eckhardt) will need to utilize his power sinker and trust the defense behind him as we all know that Disch-Falk Field plays large. If Justin is able to give Texas 5 innings, that would be another really great step forward and boost to the Texas pitching rotation, especially in light of the injury to Tues night starter Curtis for A&M. Still unsure who they are going to roll out now as that is the third arm injury A&M has had this year.
#8 TEXAS (19-7) vs. TEXAS A&M (14-9)
March 29, 2022
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
All-time series with Texas A&M: Texas leads, 244-128-5
Here is a look at how the teams stack up on paper.
Pitching Matchup:
Texas R-So. RHP Justin Eckhardt (1-0, 2.63 ERA, .88 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 13 K)
A&M - TBA
**Tuesday starter Khristian Curtis will miss the contest against the Horns due to an injury sustained during the Tuesday game against Rice in which he only pitched 2/3 of an inning.
Big 12 Recap and Standings:
Big 12 Weekend Series (4/1 - 4/3):
Top 25 Recap (D1 Baseball Poll):
Liberty (15-7)
Maryland (18-5)
Clemson (16-7)
Where to start. This past weekend was all the ups and downs and everything in between. Having watched a significant amount of the top teams in baseball this year, I came out of this weekend with the realization that I learned more about Texas in a positive light than I did about Texas Tech. Make no doubt about it, the Texas coaching staff has to get closer Aaron Nixon right. Texas has to have a back end guy to come in and shut the door down. If Nixon continues to struggle the rest of the year, that is going to be a massive issue. For those who are worried about Texas's ability to hit and the number of strike outs or runners left on base. Sure, those are a concern, but Texas is a team that can hit and it can hit for power (see Useless Stat of the Day below). Daly appears to be finding his groove and DC has been taking much better hacks as of late which bodes well because when the ball comes off his bat, it just sounds different. The kid has electric ability, doubt him at your risk. Two weeks ago, everyone was ready to write off Skyler Messinger the same way everyone was ready to kick Mike Antico to the curb. This is baseball. It takes time to adjust, it takes time to settle in. Skyler is now the 3rd best hitter on the team and has continued to produce. Messinger was not just some orphan on the street. He was one of the top transfer pickups in the off-season and with the loss of Todd, he is even more important as there is not a single guy on the bench that can bring his amount of experience, hitting and defense to the table. Have a cold beer, kick your feet up, cuddle your favorite blanket and enjoy the grind.
As for those guys from Lubbock, ya, Tadlock is going to field a good team year in and year out. He is a good coach and brings in players that suit his system....like Pierce. That said, nothing I saw from that Tech team this weekend makes me think they are an Omaha bound team. Obviously a lot can happen between now and the end of the season, but that pitching staff has issues throughout.
Useless Stat of the Day:
Before the season started, one of the questions everyone asked was where the power and hitting was going to come from. Through 26 games, I think we have a pretty good answer to that. Through 26 games, Texas has hit 40 home runs in 2022. In 67 games, which includes the Big 12 tournament, Regionals, Supers and CWS, the 2021 Texas squad hit 68 home runs. After the end of the 2021 season, Texas as a team, had a .275 average. So far through the 2022 season, Texas is hitting 44 points higher for a .319 average which actually went up 14 points over the weekend. In 2022, Texas is a much more balanced team and instead of relying on just 3 guys for power, there is sneaky power throughout the lineup. Of course, it helps that Ivan has already equaled his HR total from 2021 through 26 games in 2022.
Mid-week Preview:
Once again, Texas shall take the field against its old foe, Texas A&M. The series historically favors Texas as the Horns have 244 wins, 128 loses and 5 ties, though A&M has won the last two games. In 2021, A&M beat Texas in College Station 2-0 and in 2019, A&M won 9-6 in Austin. Prior to that, the home team typically won behind home field advantage. The 2022 edition of the rivalry brings two teams with very different expectations to the field. Texas is looking to get back to Omaha, while Schlossnagle is in a bit of a rebuilding year at A&M, having left his longtime role as head coach of TCU. A&M did score an early conference series win over LSU, but most recently lost 2 of 3 to Auburn this past weekend, with the Fri and Sat games both going into extra innings.
For Texas, the path to victory is a limit production at the top against Arizona St transfer Jack Moss and UTSA transfer Dylan Rock who lead the team in hitting. Rock has good HR power and is tied for the team lead with Logan Britt, each having 5 HRs. This lineup does not have a ton of overt power, but they have come up clutch in a number of situations this year. Texas pitcher (assumed to be RHP Justin Eckhardt) will need to utilize his power sinker and trust the defense behind him as we all know that Disch-Falk Field plays large. If Justin is able to give Texas 5 innings, that would be another really great step forward and boost to the Texas pitching rotation, especially in light of the injury to Tues night starter Curtis for A&M. Still unsure who they are going to roll out now as that is the third arm injury A&M has had this year.
#8 TEXAS (19-7) vs. TEXAS A&M (14-9)
March 29, 2022
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
All-time series with Texas A&M: Texas leads, 244-128-5
Here is a look at how the teams stack up on paper.
| Texas Record 19-7 | Texas RPI 3 | Texas SOS 9 | Texas ELO 5 |
| A&M Record 14-9 | A&M RPI 64 | A&M SOS 41 | A&M ELO 41 |
| Texas BA .319 | Texas OPS .956 | HRs 40 | Hits 290 | Stolen Bases 22-29 |
| A&M BA .279 | A&M OPS .812 | HRs 20 | Hits 217 | Stolen Bases 37-49 |
| Texas ERA 3.15 | Texas WHIP 1.17 | Texas B/Avg .221 | Fielding .987 |
| A&M ERA 4.48 | A&M WHIP 1.30 | A&M B/Avg .245 | Fielding .980 |
Pitching Matchup:
Texas R-So. RHP Justin Eckhardt (1-0, 2.63 ERA, .88 WHIP, 13.2 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 13 K)
A&M - TBA
**Tuesday starter Khristian Curtis will miss the contest against the Horns due to an injury sustained during the Tuesday game against Rice in which he only pitched 2/3 of an inning.
Big 12 Recap and Standings:
- Oklahoma State (18-6, 3-0) - Swept KU over the weekend. Fri and Sat were both one run games.
- TCU (18-5, 5-1) - Frogs continued their hot start to Big 12 play sweeping a K-State team that had been hitting well as of late. The closest game being a 7-5 Fri night victory.
- Texas Tech (20-5, 2-1) - Red Raiders had back to back walk-off wins over Texas before getting run-ruled on Sunday 12-1.
- OU (14-8, 2-1) - Won a pair of close games over Baylor before getting beat up on Sunday.
- Baylor (12-11, 2-4) - Bears lost a pair of close games to OU before winning handily on Sunday to avoid the sweep
- Texas (19-7, 1-2) - Lost the first two games to Tech on back to back walk-off loses in extra innings before run ruling Tech 12-1 on Sunday
- K-State (11-11, 0-3) - Wildcats bats went cold as they ran up against a solid TCU squad in Fort Worth, getting swept in the process
- Kansas (8-14, 0-3) - Jayhawks played the Pokes close in the first two games, but did not have the offense and got swept to start conference play
- West Virginia (13-8, 0-0) - swept Youngstown State in non-conference play
Big 12 Weekend Series (4/1 - 4/3):
- Texas v. OU at Globe Life Park in Arlington
- TCU v. WVU
- Okie State at K-State
- Texas Tech at Kansas
- Baylor v. East Tennessee State (non-conf)
Top 25 Recap (D1 Baseball Poll):
- Tennessee (23-1) - swept former #1 Ole Miss
- Arkansas (18-4) - took 2 of 3 from Missouri
- Oregon State (17-5) - took 2 of 3 from California
- Virginia (22-2) - took 2 of 3 from Wake Forest
- Florida State (16-7) - took 2 of 3 from Duke
- Oklahoma State (18-6) - Swept Kansas to kick off Big 12 play
- Texas Tech (20-5) - Took 2 of 3 from Texas in dramatic fashion
- Texas (19-7) - Lost 2 of 3 to Texas Tech in Lubbock
- Vanderbilt (19-4) - lost 2 of 3 to a mercurial South Carolina team
- Ole Miss (16-7) - destroyed/swept by Tennessee
- Louisville (19-5) - swept Boston College
- TCU (18-5) - swept Kansas State
- LSU (17-7) - impressively took 2 of 3 from Florida
- Florida (17-7) - lost 2 of 3 to LSU
- Arizona (17-7) - lost 2 of 3 to a young UCLA squad
- Notre Dame (12-5) - lost to Virginia Tech (last two games were cancelled due to weather)
- Miami (17-6) - swept North Carolina
- North Carolina (18-6) - got swept by Miami
- Dallas Baptist (15-8) - took 2 of 3 from Maryland
- Texas State (20-5) - took 2 of 3 from Coastal Carolina as the Bobcat resurgence took continues
- Oregon (16-7) - took 2 of 3 from USC
- Georgia Tech (16-9) - got swept by NC State
- Georgia (18-6) - lost 2 of 3 to Kentucky
- Gonzaga (16-6) - took 2 of 3 from BYU
- Connecticut (17-5) - took 2 of 3 from Rhode Island
Liberty (15-7)
Maryland (18-5)
Clemson (16-7)
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