Game one
Winning Pitcher: Pete Hansen (8-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jacob Watters (2-5)
BOX SCORE
Game Two
Winning Pitcher: Lucas Gordon (5-1)
Losing Pitcher: Ben Hampton (6-4)
BOX SCORE
Game One Summary:
Texas picked up a 5-2 victory in game one on the back of Pete Hansen. Simply put, Hansen gave Texas everything he had. The lefty delivered 122 pitches across 8.2 innings, yielding just two runs. The UT offense struck out 17 times but scored 5 runs in the opener of this series. Murphy Stehly and Ivan Melendez each hit solo homers that provided Pete Hansen some wiggle room. David Pierce used Tristan Stevens out of the bullpen in a big situation on Tuesday night and opted to do the same in game one. Stevens was called upon to get the final out and did just that.
Texas has one of the top defenses in the country and that group played its best game of the year in game one. Messenger and Faltine are defensive wizards on the left side and Dylan Campbell is coming on strong in the outfield. This was an excellent road win for the Horns. Superb defense, a few clutch hits, and a gutsy performance from the ace.
Game Two Summary:
Texas quickly turned a good day into a great one with an 11-0 victory against West Virginia in game two of the Saturday doubleheader. Lucas Gordon threw a seven-inning complete game (Horns won in seven via run rule) in which he faced one over the minimum. On the offensive side, UT launched five homers, two of which came off the bat of, you guessed it, Ivan Melendez. Game two was reminiscent of what this Texas team looked like in February and early March.
THE BATS
Ivan is now sitting on a cool 25 dingers this season after 3 on Saturday. This puts him three taters short of tying the single-season home run record of 28 set by Kyle Russell in 2007. Any pitch, any location, at any point in the count, Ivan can and will drive the baseball out of the park.
Austin Todd was 5-8 on Saturday with a homer and 3 RBI. The super-duper-mega-ultra senior is heating up in the two-hole. With Douglas Hodo III looking good at the plate and an Eric Kennedy return looming, the table-setting portion of the lineup is rounding into form.
THE ARMS
Pete Hansen knew he had to eat innings considering how horrid the UT bullpen has been. En route to a stellar 8.2 inning outing, Hansen struck out eight and dominated with his slider. Ridiculous as it sounds, this is the type of effort needed from Hansen going forward. Luckily he has shown multiple times that he is capable of putting the team on his back when he has his best stuff.
The argument can be made that fellow California-lefty, Lucas Gordon, was even better on Saturday. One word describes Gordon’s ascension this year. Confidence. Gordon has gone from a crafty lefty that nibbles at the corners to an absolute DUDE that comes right at the hitter with his best stuff. The Hansen-Gordon combo threw 15.2 innings allowing 2 ER with 13 K and 1 BB.
TAKEAWAYS
The two wins on Saturday outlined the winning formula for the current version on this Texas team. The defense and starting pitching has to be nearly perfect while the offense wallops mistake pitches out of the park. Only one out was needed from the bullpen and Tristan Stevens was the one that was summoned in relief. The game three starter is TBA and whoever gets the ball first out of Morehouse and Stevens will need to attack the zone as Hansen and Gordon did. The flaw of the team is not gone, but it was nice to get a reminder of what Texas is capable of.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Texas (34-16, 11-9) just won a series in Morgantown for the first time ever! Now the mission is simple, get the first ever sweep. 12 on ESPN+, pitchers TBA.
HookEm
Winning Pitcher: Pete Hansen (8-1)
Losing Pitcher: Jacob Watters (2-5)
BOX SCORE
Game Two
Winning Pitcher: Lucas Gordon (5-1)
Losing Pitcher: Ben Hampton (6-4)
BOX SCORE
Game One Summary:
Texas picked up a 5-2 victory in game one on the back of Pete Hansen. Simply put, Hansen gave Texas everything he had. The lefty delivered 122 pitches across 8.2 innings, yielding just two runs. The UT offense struck out 17 times but scored 5 runs in the opener of this series. Murphy Stehly and Ivan Melendez each hit solo homers that provided Pete Hansen some wiggle room. David Pierce used Tristan Stevens out of the bullpen in a big situation on Tuesday night and opted to do the same in game one. Stevens was called upon to get the final out and did just that.
Texas has one of the top defenses in the country and that group played its best game of the year in game one. Messenger and Faltine are defensive wizards on the left side and Dylan Campbell is coming on strong in the outfield. This was an excellent road win for the Horns. Superb defense, a few clutch hits, and a gutsy performance from the ace.
Game Two Summary:
Texas quickly turned a good day into a great one with an 11-0 victory against West Virginia in game two of the Saturday doubleheader. Lucas Gordon threw a seven-inning complete game (Horns won in seven via run rule) in which he faced one over the minimum. On the offensive side, UT launched five homers, two of which came off the bat of, you guessed it, Ivan Melendez. Game two was reminiscent of what this Texas team looked like in February and early March.
THE BATS
Ivan is now sitting on a cool 25 dingers this season after 3 on Saturday. This puts him three taters short of tying the single-season home run record of 28 set by Kyle Russell in 2007. Any pitch, any location, at any point in the count, Ivan can and will drive the baseball out of the park.
Austin Todd was 5-8 on Saturday with a homer and 3 RBI. The super-duper-mega-ultra senior is heating up in the two-hole. With Douglas Hodo III looking good at the plate and an Eric Kennedy return looming, the table-setting portion of the lineup is rounding into form.
THE ARMS
Pete Hansen knew he had to eat innings considering how horrid the UT bullpen has been. En route to a stellar 8.2 inning outing, Hansen struck out eight and dominated with his slider. Ridiculous as it sounds, this is the type of effort needed from Hansen going forward. Luckily he has shown multiple times that he is capable of putting the team on his back when he has his best stuff.
The argument can be made that fellow California-lefty, Lucas Gordon, was even better on Saturday. One word describes Gordon’s ascension this year. Confidence. Gordon has gone from a crafty lefty that nibbles at the corners to an absolute DUDE that comes right at the hitter with his best stuff. The Hansen-Gordon combo threw 15.2 innings allowing 2 ER with 13 K and 1 BB.
TAKEAWAYS
The two wins on Saturday outlined the winning formula for the current version on this Texas team. The defense and starting pitching has to be nearly perfect while the offense wallops mistake pitches out of the park. Only one out was needed from the bullpen and Tristan Stevens was the one that was summoned in relief. The game three starter is TBA and whoever gets the ball first out of Morehouse and Stevens will need to attack the zone as Hansen and Gordon did. The flaw of the team is not gone, but it was nice to get a reminder of what Texas is capable of.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Texas (34-16, 11-9) just won a series in Morgantown for the first time ever! Now the mission is simple, get the first ever sweep. 12 on ESPN+, pitchers TBA.
HookEm
