Winning pitcher: Coy Cobb (1-0)
Losing Pitcher: Trevis Sundgren (1-1)
BOX SCORE
QUICK SUMMARY
Texas continued a road-heavy portion of their schedule on Tuesday night in San Marcos with an intense 9-8 win over Texas State. There was a stadium-record crowd at Bobcat Ballpark as 3,283 were on hand to see the No. 1 team in the country. A combined 15 runs were scored in the first five innings followed by a combined 3 runs in the rest of the game. Starting pitchers Trevis Sundgren and Andre Duplantier were both roughed up for 7 ER in less than 5 innings of work. The Bobcats scored six runs in the bottom of the third that featured a Daylan Pena grand slam on a horrific breaking ball from Duplantier. In the very next half-inning, Trevis Sundgren did not keep the momentum rolling for the Bobcats with a shutdown inning. He in fact delivered the opposite (an open-up inning?) as the Longhorns immediately responded with six runs of their own, capped off by a towering blast by none other than Ivan Melendez. For the rest of the game, Texas was barely able to hold the lead and captured a victory by the skin of their teeth after a shaky four-out save from Aaron Nixon.
BIG MOMENT
Travis Sthele had been money out of the Texas bullpen this year up to this point and the freshman found himself in another big spot during the 7th inning on Tuesday. Texas State roped two hits and suddenly had runners on second and third with nobody out, trailing by just two runs. For a split second it looked like a ground ball up the middle was going to tie the game, luckily Trey Faltine flashed his range and was able to get the out at first as a run scored. After a hit-by-pitch, the Bobcats had runners on the corners down by just one with Peyton Lewis at the plate. Lewis hit a hard grounder that Sthele was able to snag, but instead of firing a confident throw to second to start the double play, Sthele panicked and babied a throw to his shortstop. Faltine made a nice pick on the poor feed and rifled the ball to first for the inning-ending a 1-6-3 double play that preserved the lead for Texas. Twice in the inning, the game appeared it was going to be tied and both times Faltine saved the day with his incredible defensive talent. The Longhorn shortstop has mentioned multiple times the importance that the team places on winning on Sundays. So following a Sunday loss to UCLA, it was not a surprise to see Faltine laser-focused on Tuesday, providing clutch defense plays and this missile over the fence in left.
THE ARMS
After a so-so relief appearance on Saturday, Texas trotted Andre Duplantier back out to the mound on Tuesday to make a start with just two days of rest. Duplantier entered the game with a 0.77 ERA but left it with an ERA of 4.50. The unfortunate truth of what one bad outing can do to the stats of a pitcher this early in the season. All night long Duplantier could not find his command as he left pitch after pitch over the heart of the plate. This was especially notable with both his slider and his curveball that were left up at the belt of the hitter on multiple occasions, and each time the Bobcats made him pay.
Aaron Nixon also showed real signs of vulnerability tonight. Unlike Duplantier, Nixon was not yielding loud contact, he just couldn’t throw strikes. We have seen Nixon struggle with his fastball command at times this year but he had always been able to rely on his slider to be in the zone. That was not the case on Tuesday as his slider backed up on him and failed to break multiple times. With the game on the line and the bases loaded (all via walks) with two down, Nixon was able to come through and strike out Ben McClain, but it was not a pretty save from the often-dominant closer.
TAKEAWAYS
The bad news is Texas got a bad outing from their starter and their closer looked shockingly human. The good news is that despite both of those things, Texas won a road game against a good team in a semi-hostile environment. The Longhorns overcame some real adversity and were able to get back to their winning ways in a game they easily could have lost control of.
UP NEXT
After Aaron Nixon and Trey Faltine waved goodbye to the Texas State fans on Tuesday, Longhorn faithful will wave hello to the Bobcats on Wednesday as these two teams run it back at UFCU Disch-Falk Field at 6:30.
IMPORTANT NOTES
HookEm
Losing Pitcher: Trevis Sundgren (1-1)
BOX SCORE
QUICK SUMMARY
Texas continued a road-heavy portion of their schedule on Tuesday night in San Marcos with an intense 9-8 win over Texas State. There was a stadium-record crowd at Bobcat Ballpark as 3,283 were on hand to see the No. 1 team in the country. A combined 15 runs were scored in the first five innings followed by a combined 3 runs in the rest of the game. Starting pitchers Trevis Sundgren and Andre Duplantier were both roughed up for 7 ER in less than 5 innings of work. The Bobcats scored six runs in the bottom of the third that featured a Daylan Pena grand slam on a horrific breaking ball from Duplantier. In the very next half-inning, Trevis Sundgren did not keep the momentum rolling for the Bobcats with a shutdown inning. He in fact delivered the opposite (an open-up inning?) as the Longhorns immediately responded with six runs of their own, capped off by a towering blast by none other than Ivan Melendez. For the rest of the game, Texas was barely able to hold the lead and captured a victory by the skin of their teeth after a shaky four-out save from Aaron Nixon.
BIG MOMENT
Travis Sthele had been money out of the Texas bullpen this year up to this point and the freshman found himself in another big spot during the 7th inning on Tuesday. Texas State roped two hits and suddenly had runners on second and third with nobody out, trailing by just two runs. For a split second it looked like a ground ball up the middle was going to tie the game, luckily Trey Faltine flashed his range and was able to get the out at first as a run scored. After a hit-by-pitch, the Bobcats had runners on the corners down by just one with Peyton Lewis at the plate. Lewis hit a hard grounder that Sthele was able to snag, but instead of firing a confident throw to second to start the double play, Sthele panicked and babied a throw to his shortstop. Faltine made a nice pick on the poor feed and rifled the ball to first for the inning-ending a 1-6-3 double play that preserved the lead for Texas. Twice in the inning, the game appeared it was going to be tied and both times Faltine saved the day with his incredible defensive talent. The Longhorn shortstop has mentioned multiple times the importance that the team places on winning on Sundays. So following a Sunday loss to UCLA, it was not a surprise to see Faltine laser-focused on Tuesday, providing clutch defense plays and this missile over the fence in left.
THE ARMS
After a so-so relief appearance on Saturday, Texas trotted Andre Duplantier back out to the mound on Tuesday to make a start with just two days of rest. Duplantier entered the game with a 0.77 ERA but left it with an ERA of 4.50. The unfortunate truth of what one bad outing can do to the stats of a pitcher this early in the season. All night long Duplantier could not find his command as he left pitch after pitch over the heart of the plate. This was especially notable with both his slider and his curveball that were left up at the belt of the hitter on multiple occasions, and each time the Bobcats made him pay.
Aaron Nixon also showed real signs of vulnerability tonight. Unlike Duplantier, Nixon was not yielding loud contact, he just couldn’t throw strikes. We have seen Nixon struggle with his fastball command at times this year but he had always been able to rely on his slider to be in the zone. That was not the case on Tuesday as his slider backed up on him and failed to break multiple times. With the game on the line and the bases loaded (all via walks) with two down, Nixon was able to come through and strike out Ben McClain, but it was not a pretty save from the often-dominant closer.
TAKEAWAYS
The bad news is Texas got a bad outing from their starter and their closer looked shockingly human. The good news is that despite both of those things, Texas won a road game against a good team in a semi-hostile environment. The Longhorns overcame some real adversity and were able to get back to their winning ways in a game they easily could have lost control of.
UP NEXT
After Aaron Nixon and Trey Faltine waved goodbye to the Texas State fans on Tuesday, Longhorn faithful will wave hello to the Bobcats on Wednesday as these two teams run it back at UFCU Disch-Falk Field at 6:30.
IMPORTANT NOTES
- Austin Todd left the game Tuesday with a shoulder injury to the same shoulder that kept him out last year. The team is going to further examine it back in Austin.
- Justin Eckhardt will get the start on Wednesday in what will be a bullpen game for Texas.
- Tanner Witt will throw a bullpen on Thursday and the team will determine his availability for Sunday after that.
HookEm
