Lingering around UFCU Disch-Falk Field during Friday night’s game, for perhaps the first time this season, was a special energy, an energy reminiscent of the days when the Texas Longhorns routinely finished at or near the top of the Big 12 standings and hosted postseason games. The 6,779 people in attendance tried willing their beloved Longhorns to a win. And as the game’s defining moment emerged when a future All-American confidently walked towards home plate, they sensed something special happening.
“I just remember... It was weird. I got the chills once he went, ‘safe.’ Everybody started going crazy as I walked up to the plate,” responded Kody Clemens about what he was thinking when Duke Ellis beat out an infield single with two outs to keep the ninth inning alive. “I was like, ‘Alright, I'm going to do something cool.’ I was thinking like, ‘Oh, I'm not going to try to hit a home run.’ I was focused on staying inside the ball and putting together a good at-bat and hopefully do something good.”
With one swing of the bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, Clemens turned that lingering energy into a burnt orange explosion of jubilation, and, more importantly, belief; the kind of belief that haunted opposing teams for so long during Augie Garrido's tenure.
“We’re just thinking, ‘Get the bat in Kody’s hands. Get the bat in Kody’s hands, and something is going to happen,” Andy McGuire said about the mood in the dugout during the ninth inning. “As soon as he hit it, I think everyone sort of knew it was gone… I think I beat Duke to home plate. It’s ridiculous. It’s one of those things you can’t even speak about… I can’t even believe what just happened.
These Longhorns don’t quit. And thanks to Clemens’s two-out, two-run walk-off homer, No. 17 Texas (36-18, 16-7) beat TCU, 5-3.
“We just continue to play the right way,” said David Pierce. “Every game is so special, but when you’re always working for a chance to play for a championship. And that’s what we’re doing. They’ve had to earn it. They’ve had to keep grinding. And nothing has been easy for them. This team is a special team. I don’t know how they end up finishing, but I think they’ve got a really, really good chance to be hosting a regional in two weeks.”
The game started ugly for Texas. Chase Shugart labored through the first inning unable to throw strikes with his breaking ball, and after walking in a run, David Hamilton committed a two-out throwing error, which allowed TCU (30-21, 10-12) to take an early 3-0 lead.
Shugart would settle down, though, and Texas started to chip away. In the fourth inning, Clemens doubled off the wall in left-center field, and Zach Zubia put runners on the corners with a single to left. Masen Hibbeler fought up a breaking ball, and punched a soft RBI single into center field. Now trailing 3-1, Ryan Reynolds loaded the bases with no outs when his bunt turned into an unsuccessful fielder’s choice. But the Longhorns managed to do nothing else in the inning.
In the fifth inning, Clemens would tie the game, a game he’d later end the same way. After Ellis burned the center fielder for a one-out triple, Clemens received a mistake 0-2 fastball up in the zone and absolutely demolished it out to right field for a two-out homer. Off the bat, UFCU Disch-Falk Field was the loudest it's been since 2014.
Both bullpens went to work, and effectively pitched out of jams. It appeared like TCU would be able to push across a run in the top of the ninth inning as Andy McGuire struggled with control. After a hit by pitch put runners on first and second with one out, Pierce walked to the mound, and delivered a message.
“I asked him if he wanted me to bring in a freshman and take his spot right now because he was all over the place,” Pierce said about his message to McGuire on the mound in the top of the ninth inning. “I said look, you need to settle down. I have two freshmen in the bullpen. And he goes, ‘I want to the ball.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s go.’ It was pretty simple.”
McGuire, with some help from his friends, retired the next two batters, which set up a tie game in the bottom of the ninth.
Although he said he wasn’t trying to hit a homer, Clemens, against lefthanded reliever Augie Mihlbauer, who came in to face the three lefties at the top of the Texas order, took a massive cut at a 1-1 fastball up; it was the kind of cut that suggested a pitcher shouldn’t throw heat again. Clemens was thinking right with the pitcher, and anticipated breaking ball. When he got it, he didn’t miss it.
“Honestly, yeah, I did because I was on that fastball, and I was like he’s going to flip that curveball in again,” said Clemens about looking breaking ball in a 1-2 count. “And he did, and I saw it well and put a good swing on it… I hit it and I was like, ‘No way?!’ I was so excited.”
Key moment in the game
Ellis’s at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs represented the 2018 Longhorns. Overmatched against a tough lefty? Probably. Down in the count 0-2? Yep. Unwilling to give in, and determined to put the bat on the ball to get on base any way possible? No doubt about it.
With a defensive swing on a good 0-2 pitch, Ellis pulled a grounder between the first and second basemen. TCU first baseman Connor Wanhanen had to dive to make the stop and Ellis, who has good speed, beat the pitcher to the bag on the flip to first. Without Ellis’s competitiveness, and hustle, there wouldn’t have been a chance for Clemens to hit in the ninth inning.
All season, the Longhorns haven’t quit. They’ve always found a way to consistently give themselves a chance to win. It hasn’t mattered if it’s pretty, or ugly.
“This group is loose, and they have fun. And we’ve kind of added to that, and I think that’s helped them,” said UT’s head coach.
Battle on the hill
Winning pitcher – Andy McGuire, Texas (1-2)
Losing pitcher – Augie Mihlbauer, TCU (1-1)
After pitching through the first inning without any feel for a curve or slider, Shugart was able to settle in once he regained feel for his breaking stuff in the second inning. And from that point on, he was pretty decent. The junior righthander didn’t consistently command his fastball or secondary offerings, but there was enough command and feel for a curve to put up some zeroes.
“He really understood getting the ball down,” said Pierce about Shguart’s adjustments after the rocky first inning. “We had a low strike zone. And he did a great job of then starting to hit with his slider. Early on, he wasn’t hitting with the breaking ball and he was throwing fastball down and away and he was leaving it up. We had that discussion about the third inning, and maturely, he stepped up and got it down.”
In 5.0 innings, he gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks, and he struck out five.
Out of the bullpen in a tight game, Josh Sawyer entered with a runner on first and did his job, pitching one scoreless frame with a strikeout. Despite getting squeezed behind home plate, Parker Joe pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with three hits and two strikeouts. His command of both slider and sinker was really good.
McGuire danced with danger in the ninth inning, and was fortunate two hard-hit baseballs found his teammates’ gloves.
Breaking down the batter's box
Star of the game – Ellis finished 2-for-4 and… just kidding. Tonight’s star has been a star all season, and is legitimately in the mix for conference and national player of the year honors. Clemens finished 3-for-5 with three runs, four RBI, two homers and a double.
Frustrating day at the office – TCU shortstop Adam Oviedo finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Dustin's extra bases
Last night, we noted that Clemens just barely missed a handful of pitches, and was really close to driving the ball with authority. Tonight, he didn’t miss.
It wasn’t a great night in the box for Texas, but it faced two of the better pitchers it has seen this season. In particular, Sean Wymer, a future top pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, was really good. Still, Texas, despite its issues, didn’t allow its competitiveness to dip, and didn’t carry its past negative results into the batter’s box. That’s the mark of a team in the right mindset.
After Texas Tech beat Oklahoma State tonight, the Longhorns are now in a tie for first place in the Big 12 standings. They know what’s at stake, and immediately following the game, the team met to discuss what needs to happen.
“I told Michael McCann that we have another ballgame tomorrow, and they have a chance to win a championship. So, take care of your guys,” said Pierce about the message he gave McCann to then deliver to his teammates.
“I just remember... It was weird. I got the chills once he went, ‘safe.’ Everybody started going crazy as I walked up to the plate,” responded Kody Clemens about what he was thinking when Duke Ellis beat out an infield single with two outs to keep the ninth inning alive. “I was like, ‘Alright, I'm going to do something cool.’ I was thinking like, ‘Oh, I'm not going to try to hit a home run.’ I was focused on staying inside the ball and putting together a good at-bat and hopefully do something good.”
With one swing of the bat in the bottom of the ninth inning, Clemens turned that lingering energy into a burnt orange explosion of jubilation, and, more importantly, belief; the kind of belief that haunted opposing teams for so long during Augie Garrido's tenure.
“We’re just thinking, ‘Get the bat in Kody’s hands. Get the bat in Kody’s hands, and something is going to happen,” Andy McGuire said about the mood in the dugout during the ninth inning. “As soon as he hit it, I think everyone sort of knew it was gone… I think I beat Duke to home plate. It’s ridiculous. It’s one of those things you can’t even speak about… I can’t even believe what just happened.
These Longhorns don’t quit. And thanks to Clemens’s two-out, two-run walk-off homer, No. 17 Texas (36-18, 16-7) beat TCU, 5-3.
“We just continue to play the right way,” said David Pierce. “Every game is so special, but when you’re always working for a chance to play for a championship. And that’s what we’re doing. They’ve had to earn it. They’ve had to keep grinding. And nothing has been easy for them. This team is a special team. I don’t know how they end up finishing, but I think they’ve got a really, really good chance to be hosting a regional in two weeks.”
The game started ugly for Texas. Chase Shugart labored through the first inning unable to throw strikes with his breaking ball, and after walking in a run, David Hamilton committed a two-out throwing error, which allowed TCU (30-21, 10-12) to take an early 3-0 lead.
Shugart would settle down, though, and Texas started to chip away. In the fourth inning, Clemens doubled off the wall in left-center field, and Zach Zubia put runners on the corners with a single to left. Masen Hibbeler fought up a breaking ball, and punched a soft RBI single into center field. Now trailing 3-1, Ryan Reynolds loaded the bases with no outs when his bunt turned into an unsuccessful fielder’s choice. But the Longhorns managed to do nothing else in the inning.
In the fifth inning, Clemens would tie the game, a game he’d later end the same way. After Ellis burned the center fielder for a one-out triple, Clemens received a mistake 0-2 fastball up in the zone and absolutely demolished it out to right field for a two-out homer. Off the bat, UFCU Disch-Falk Field was the loudest it's been since 2014.
Both bullpens went to work, and effectively pitched out of jams. It appeared like TCU would be able to push across a run in the top of the ninth inning as Andy McGuire struggled with control. After a hit by pitch put runners on first and second with one out, Pierce walked to the mound, and delivered a message.
“I asked him if he wanted me to bring in a freshman and take his spot right now because he was all over the place,” Pierce said about his message to McGuire on the mound in the top of the ninth inning. “I said look, you need to settle down. I have two freshmen in the bullpen. And he goes, ‘I want to the ball.’ And I said, ‘Well, let’s go.’ It was pretty simple.”
McGuire, with some help from his friends, retired the next two batters, which set up a tie game in the bottom of the ninth.
Although he said he wasn’t trying to hit a homer, Clemens, against lefthanded reliever Augie Mihlbauer, who came in to face the three lefties at the top of the Texas order, took a massive cut at a 1-1 fastball up; it was the kind of cut that suggested a pitcher shouldn’t throw heat again. Clemens was thinking right with the pitcher, and anticipated breaking ball. When he got it, he didn’t miss it.
“Honestly, yeah, I did because I was on that fastball, and I was like he’s going to flip that curveball in again,” said Clemens about looking breaking ball in a 1-2 count. “And he did, and I saw it well and put a good swing on it… I hit it and I was like, ‘No way?!’ I was so excited.”
Key moment in the game
Ellis’s at-bat in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs represented the 2018 Longhorns. Overmatched against a tough lefty? Probably. Down in the count 0-2? Yep. Unwilling to give in, and determined to put the bat on the ball to get on base any way possible? No doubt about it.
With a defensive swing on a good 0-2 pitch, Ellis pulled a grounder between the first and second basemen. TCU first baseman Connor Wanhanen had to dive to make the stop and Ellis, who has good speed, beat the pitcher to the bag on the flip to first. Without Ellis’s competitiveness, and hustle, there wouldn’t have been a chance for Clemens to hit in the ninth inning.
All season, the Longhorns haven’t quit. They’ve always found a way to consistently give themselves a chance to win. It hasn’t mattered if it’s pretty, or ugly.
“This group is loose, and they have fun. And we’ve kind of added to that, and I think that’s helped them,” said UT’s head coach.
Battle on the hill
Winning pitcher – Andy McGuire, Texas (1-2)
Losing pitcher – Augie Mihlbauer, TCU (1-1)
After pitching through the first inning without any feel for a curve or slider, Shugart was able to settle in once he regained feel for his breaking stuff in the second inning. And from that point on, he was pretty decent. The junior righthander didn’t consistently command his fastball or secondary offerings, but there was enough command and feel for a curve to put up some zeroes.
“He really understood getting the ball down,” said Pierce about Shguart’s adjustments after the rocky first inning. “We had a low strike zone. And he did a great job of then starting to hit with his slider. Early on, he wasn’t hitting with the breaking ball and he was throwing fastball down and away and he was leaving it up. We had that discussion about the third inning, and maturely, he stepped up and got it down.”
In 5.0 innings, he gave up three runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks, and he struck out five.
Out of the bullpen in a tight game, Josh Sawyer entered with a runner on first and did his job, pitching one scoreless frame with a strikeout. Despite getting squeezed behind home plate, Parker Joe pitched 2.0 scoreless innings with three hits and two strikeouts. His command of both slider and sinker was really good.
McGuire danced with danger in the ninth inning, and was fortunate two hard-hit baseballs found his teammates’ gloves.
Breaking down the batter's box
Star of the game – Ellis finished 2-for-4 and… just kidding. Tonight’s star has been a star all season, and is legitimately in the mix for conference and national player of the year honors. Clemens finished 3-for-5 with three runs, four RBI, two homers and a double.
Frustrating day at the office – TCU shortstop Adam Oviedo finished 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Dustin's extra bases
Last night, we noted that Clemens just barely missed a handful of pitches, and was really close to driving the ball with authority. Tonight, he didn’t miss.
It wasn’t a great night in the box for Texas, but it faced two of the better pitchers it has seen this season. In particular, Sean Wymer, a future top pick in the upcoming MLB Draft, was really good. Still, Texas, despite its issues, didn’t allow its competitiveness to dip, and didn’t carry its past negative results into the batter’s box. That’s the mark of a team in the right mindset.
After Texas Tech beat Oklahoma State tonight, the Longhorns are now in a tie for first place in the Big 12 standings. They know what’s at stake, and immediately following the game, the team met to discuss what needs to happen.
“I told Michael McCann that we have another ballgame tomorrow, and they have a chance to win a championship. So, take care of your guys,” said Pierce about the message he gave McCann to then deliver to his teammates.
