Musings from the Disch:
Texas and TCU played in a pair of Super Regionals, the first one being a 2-1 series victory by the Horns in 2009 and the second being a 2-1 victory by the Frogs in 2010, which they infamously dog piled on the Texas logo in center field in 2010. Starting with the 2013 season, Texas and TCU have played each other in conference every year except of course the cancelled 2020 season. During that time, the Frogs have been a serious thorn in the side of the Horns, compiling 16 total wins and 5 series wins against Texas, compared to 9 total wins and 4 series wins for Texas over TCU. The good news is that the last two times that Texas beat TCU (2018 and 2021), the Horns made it to Omaha. I am absolutely not telling you to book your flights, hotels and prepare for two weeks of fun in Nebraska, but recent history does suggest that when the Horns beat TCU, good things are happening. What I will tell you is that everyone should feel good about ending this weekend with a series win over the Frogs. The series win gives Texas their second series win out of three in Big 12 play and gives TCU their second straight series loss with a big showdown looming between Tech and TCU this weekend and then Oklahoma State the weekend after. To win the Big 12 baseball conference, you do not have to be perfect, but you do have to grind out series wins. Another point to add is that Texas has played 3 conference series and 2 of the 3 were on the road and against the top half of the Big 12.
The other positive take away this weekend is the bullpen for Texas. On Friday night, they were perfect...perfectly content to sit on the pine and watch an absolute gem by Hansen. Truth be told, it was beneficial in more ways than one. The pen needed a rest, heck the entire team does, but the pen really needed one after putting in a lot of work early in the season. Over the weekend in which the bullpen accounted for 11 innings pitched, they gave up 2...YES TWO runs. At the end of the day, it does not matter if it is pretty or butt-ass ugly. The bullpen got the job done. Am I ready to raise the Mission Accomplished banner over Disch-Falk and call it a day? No. The good news is neither is the bullpen or the coaching staff. Silas and Pierce both said that they still are a work in progress and they still have a ways to go, but they are getting better and better each and every day and as they get better, they continue to build confidence. Does the staff look and operate like we all thought it would at the beginning of the season? Again, no, but nobody saw Faltine or Murph hitting 10 home runs a piece either. Baseball is a mad sport in which anything can happen.
Moral of the story is to embrace the team's mantra. Get better every day, continue to grind and work hard and trust the process. This team is not perfect, but they don't have to be. They have to work hard and put themselves in the place to win.
During post game interviews, you could tell that Tristan and Ivan were both frustrated and hurt after the loss Saturday night. Tristan sat in the dugout by himself for a good 45 minutes after the game to collect himself, have a chat with Pierce and sear that feeling into his brain. Tristan was devastated that he let his team down. Stevens is not a prototypical ace, nor is he going to hear his name called at the top or even middle of the MLB draft. Stevens is a grinder though and he has a mentality that is hard to beat, combined with a determination to be a good teammate and put his team in a position to win. He is struggling with the feel for his slider right now and he needs time in the bullpen to work on that, which is what he is going to get, but he also has to remember who he is and have a short memory because he IS the Saturday night guy and Pierce is not going away from him. Based on what I have seen of him over the past few seasons, I think he gets it turned around and will be just fine.
As a final note, I still think Texas is the best team in the Big 12 this season based on the baseball that I have seen. Take away three innings by Stevens (1 against Tech and 2 against TCU) and this team would be sitting pretty at the top. But again, this is baseball and there are no gimmes.
Useless Stat of the Day:
I already mentioned that the Texas bullpen only gave up 2 runs in 11 IP over the weekend, so I will go back to my usual. 54 HRs in 34 games. Compare that to last year when Texas had 68 HRs in 67 games. Pretty darn good for a club that everyone has scoffed at their hitting prowess. In addition, in 2021, Texas scored 450 runs in 67 games which is an average of just over 6.7 runs per game. In 2022, Texas has 269 runs in 34 games, which is an average of 7.9 runs per game. For further comparison sake, the 2018 squad scored 380 runs in 65 games for an average of 5.84.
Scoring an average of nearly 8 runs a game is going to win you a lot of ball games, it might just look a little different than what everyone is used to.
Tues Night Preview:
The Horns are back in action on Tuesday at Disch-Falk Field and they will square off against the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin. The game will be at 630pm and it will be televised on LHN.
On the season, SFA is 10-21 overall and 6-9 in conference with a paltry 5-14 away record.
SFA has quite a few common opponents with Texas this year and none of it speaks a very pretty picture for the Lumberjacks. If there was ever a game that Piece should relent on the run rule, it should be Tuesday night as Texas should be able to put up big numbers against a vastly over matched SFA squad.
Results v. Common Opponents:
TCU - loss 11-1
TAMU-CC (series loss) 2-1
Rice - loss 19-3
Sam Houston (series loss) 2-1
Texas Tech - loss 19-1 and 13-5
UTRGV - (series win) 2-1
Texas RHP Andre Duplantier II (2-1, 6.87) vs. SFA TBA
As for SFA, there is no telling right now as they have 8 guys with at least 2 starts a piece. No matter what, it will be a all hands on deck night for the Lumberjacks.
Batting - The two guys to watch out for are Cameron Crawford (.312 with 3 HRs) and Jake Zarrello (.307 with 7 HRs).
History - Texas is 9-0 all time against SFA, including a 9-1 victory over the Lumberjacks in 2021 in which Hansen threw 6 scoreless innings. Southard, Cobb and Walbridge also threw an inning each with the only run being given up by Cobb, whereas Walbridge struck out the side in the 9th. On the night, Texas drew 12 walks while Zubia, Petrinsky and Melendez each hit a home run.
Big 12 Recap
Big 12 Weekend Series:
Big 12 Rankings:
Big 12 RPI/SOS:
Top 25 Recap - D1 Rankings (D1 Baseball Poll):
Stat Madness (NCAA - Individual):
Texas and TCU played in a pair of Super Regionals, the first one being a 2-1 series victory by the Horns in 2009 and the second being a 2-1 victory by the Frogs in 2010, which they infamously dog piled on the Texas logo in center field in 2010. Starting with the 2013 season, Texas and TCU have played each other in conference every year except of course the cancelled 2020 season. During that time, the Frogs have been a serious thorn in the side of the Horns, compiling 16 total wins and 5 series wins against Texas, compared to 9 total wins and 4 series wins for Texas over TCU. The good news is that the last two times that Texas beat TCU (2018 and 2021), the Horns made it to Omaha. I am absolutely not telling you to book your flights, hotels and prepare for two weeks of fun in Nebraska, but recent history does suggest that when the Horns beat TCU, good things are happening. What I will tell you is that everyone should feel good about ending this weekend with a series win over the Frogs. The series win gives Texas their second series win out of three in Big 12 play and gives TCU their second straight series loss with a big showdown looming between Tech and TCU this weekend and then Oklahoma State the weekend after. To win the Big 12 baseball conference, you do not have to be perfect, but you do have to grind out series wins. Another point to add is that Texas has played 3 conference series and 2 of the 3 were on the road and against the top half of the Big 12.
The other positive take away this weekend is the bullpen for Texas. On Friday night, they were perfect...perfectly content to sit on the pine and watch an absolute gem by Hansen. Truth be told, it was beneficial in more ways than one. The pen needed a rest, heck the entire team does, but the pen really needed one after putting in a lot of work early in the season. Over the weekend in which the bullpen accounted for 11 innings pitched, they gave up 2...YES TWO runs. At the end of the day, it does not matter if it is pretty or butt-ass ugly. The bullpen got the job done. Am I ready to raise the Mission Accomplished banner over Disch-Falk and call it a day? No. The good news is neither is the bullpen or the coaching staff. Silas and Pierce both said that they still are a work in progress and they still have a ways to go, but they are getting better and better each and every day and as they get better, they continue to build confidence. Does the staff look and operate like we all thought it would at the beginning of the season? Again, no, but nobody saw Faltine or Murph hitting 10 home runs a piece either. Baseball is a mad sport in which anything can happen.
Moral of the story is to embrace the team's mantra. Get better every day, continue to grind and work hard and trust the process. This team is not perfect, but they don't have to be. They have to work hard and put themselves in the place to win.
During post game interviews, you could tell that Tristan and Ivan were both frustrated and hurt after the loss Saturday night. Tristan sat in the dugout by himself for a good 45 minutes after the game to collect himself, have a chat with Pierce and sear that feeling into his brain. Tristan was devastated that he let his team down. Stevens is not a prototypical ace, nor is he going to hear his name called at the top or even middle of the MLB draft. Stevens is a grinder though and he has a mentality that is hard to beat, combined with a determination to be a good teammate and put his team in a position to win. He is struggling with the feel for his slider right now and he needs time in the bullpen to work on that, which is what he is going to get, but he also has to remember who he is and have a short memory because he IS the Saturday night guy and Pierce is not going away from him. Based on what I have seen of him over the past few seasons, I think he gets it turned around and will be just fine.
As a final note, I still think Texas is the best team in the Big 12 this season based on the baseball that I have seen. Take away three innings by Stevens (1 against Tech and 2 against TCU) and this team would be sitting pretty at the top. But again, this is baseball and there are no gimmes.
Useless Stat of the Day:
I already mentioned that the Texas bullpen only gave up 2 runs in 11 IP over the weekend, so I will go back to my usual. 54 HRs in 34 games. Compare that to last year when Texas had 68 HRs in 67 games. Pretty darn good for a club that everyone has scoffed at their hitting prowess. In addition, in 2021, Texas scored 450 runs in 67 games which is an average of just over 6.7 runs per game. In 2022, Texas has 269 runs in 34 games, which is an average of 7.9 runs per game. For further comparison sake, the 2018 squad scored 380 runs in 65 games for an average of 5.84.
Scoring an average of nearly 8 runs a game is going to win you a lot of ball games, it might just look a little different than what everyone is used to.
Tues Night Preview:
The Horns are back in action on Tuesday at Disch-Falk Field and they will square off against the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin. The game will be at 630pm and it will be televised on LHN.
On the season, SFA is 10-21 overall and 6-9 in conference with a paltry 5-14 away record.
SFA has quite a few common opponents with Texas this year and none of it speaks a very pretty picture for the Lumberjacks. If there was ever a game that Piece should relent on the run rule, it should be Tuesday night as Texas should be able to put up big numbers against a vastly over matched SFA squad.
Results v. Common Opponents:
TCU - loss 11-1
TAMU-CC (series loss) 2-1
Rice - loss 19-3
Sam Houston (series loss) 2-1
Texas Tech - loss 19-1 and 13-5
UTRGV - (series win) 2-1
| Texas BA .316 | Texas OPS .943 | Texas ERA 3.55 | Texas WHIP 1.21 | Texas Fielding % .984 |
| SFA BA .265 | SFA OPS .744 | SFA ERA 8.52 | SFA WHIP 1.75 | SFA Fielding % .967 |
Texas RHP Andre Duplantier II (2-1, 6.87) vs. SFA TBA
As for SFA, there is no telling right now as they have 8 guys with at least 2 starts a piece. No matter what, it will be a all hands on deck night for the Lumberjacks.
Batting - The two guys to watch out for are Cameron Crawford (.312 with 3 HRs) and Jake Zarrello (.307 with 7 HRs).
History - Texas is 9-0 all time against SFA, including a 9-1 victory over the Lumberjacks in 2021 in which Hansen threw 6 scoreless innings. Southard, Cobb and Walbridge also threw an inning each with the only run being given up by Cobb, whereas Walbridge struck out the side in the 9th. On the night, Texas drew 12 walks while Zubia, Petrinsky and Melendez each hit a home run.
Big 12 Recap
- Texas beat TCU on Sunday to win the series - full recap and link to weekend by @AaronLittleOB here - Weekend Series Summary
- Texas Tech hosted K-State over the weekend and swept them, though Tech did need a Vooletich solo HR and a 2 run walk-off HR by Jung to win on Sunday
- OU v. Okie State - Sooners won game one 8-7 while Pokes won game two by the same score 8-7, though in walk-off fashion via a wild pitch. In the Sunday finale, Pokes scored early and took the series
- WVU v. Baylor - Mountaineers might be the hottest team in the Big 12 right now. A weekend after taking 2 of 3 in Fort Worth, they swept Baylor, winning Fri via a walk-off walk. Saturday they had 3 big innings and won 8-4. On Sunday, they scored 6 in the first two innings and held on to earn the sweep
- Kansas played Illinois State out of conference this weekend and swept them.
Big 12 Weekend Series:
- Texas at Kansas State
- Texas Tech at TCU
- Oklahoma State at West Virginia
- Kansas at Baylor
- OU v. Pacific (Thurs), Lamar (Fri) and Pacific (Sat)
Big 12 Rankings:
- West Virginia (20-10, 5-1)
- Texas Tech (27-8, 7-2)
- Oklahoma State (23-9, 7-2)
- TCU (21-11, 7-5)
- Texas (24-10, 5-4)
- Oklahoma (18-12, 4-5)
- Baylor (16-15, 2-7)
- Kansas (13-17, 1-5)
- K-State (15-16, 1-8)
Big 12 RPI/SOS:
- Texas 6/10
- Oklahoma 19/2
- Texas Tech 20/73
- Ok State 21/33
- WVU 41/91
- TCU 43/71
- Baylor 50/7
- Kansas 90/36
- K-State 116/88
Top 25 Recap - D1 Rankings (D1 Baseball Poll):
- Tennessee (31-1) - swept Missouri and despite sticker-gate, they keep on rolling
- Miami (26-6) - swept previous #3 Virginia over the weekend and are on a 13 game win streak
- Oregon State (24-7) - swept USC over the weekend
- Texas Tech (27-8) - lost two mid-week games to Grand Canyon and then swept K-State in Lubbock
- Oklahoma State (23-9) - won 2 of 3 against OU in the Bedlam Series
- Arkansas (23-7) - Lost 2 of 3 to a mercurial Florida squad
- Texas (24-10) - won 2 of 3 against formerly ranked TCU
- Virginia (26-6) - got swept by a Miami team that is en feugo
- Louisville (23-8) - won 2 of 3 against UNC, despite a bomb threat on Sunday
- Notre Dame (20-5) - swept Clemson over the weekend
- Southern Miss (23-8) - beat Ole Miss on Tuesday and then swept Charlotte over the weekend, who wore a jersey top with "CLT" in bold on the front....bold choice
- UCLA (22-9) - Baby Bruins continue to grow as they swept Utah over the weekend and stay hot out in the Pac 12
- Georgia (24-8) - Lost to Clemson on Tuesday and then took 2 of 3 against South Carolina
- Gonzaga (21-8) - Blanked Washington State and then won 2 of 3 against the San Fan Dons
- LSU (23-9) went to Miss State and swept the reigning national champs who are a shell of themselves this season
- Dallas Baptist (21-10) - Beat Baylor on Tuesday and then swept Missouri State over the weekend
- Auburn (22-10) - Took 2 of 3 from Vanderbilt, as Sonny DiChiara continues to rake
- Connecticut (24-7) - Went 5-0 on the week, beating Cen Conn St, Merrimack and swept St. John's
- Texas State (24-9) - lost to A&M on Tuesday and then dropped 2 of 3 to Georgia Southern
- Arizona (22-10) - Rough week for the Cats as they lost to rival Arizona State on Tuesday and then dropped 2 of 3 to Washington State
- Virginia Tech (20-8) - VaTech continues to hit well and took 2 of 3 from NC State over the weekend
- Stanford (17-10) - Lost to St Mary's during mid weekend, but swept Arizona State over the weekend
- Florida (21-11) - Took 2 of 3 from former #2 Arkansas over the weekend
- Alabama (21-12) - Bama continues to pitch really well and swept highly ranked Ole Miss over the weekend
- Ole Miss (19-12) - Speaking of Ole Miss, they lost to Southern Miss on Tuesday and then got swept by Bama at home over the weekend
- Vandy (22-9)
- Florida State (18-13)
- NC State (19-11)
- North Carolina (21-11)
- TCU (21-11)
Stat Madness (NCAA - Individual):
- BA - #4 Stehly
- Hits - #1 Stehly
- HRs - #4 Melendez
- Victories - #8 Hansen
- WHIP - #8 Hansen
- BA - #12
- Doubles - #7
- ERA - #17
- Fielding - #4
- Hits - #4
- HRs - #11
- Runs - #16
- Runs per Game - #33
- Shutouts - #1
- WHIP - #12
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