WIN GAME ONE. The University of Texas Longhorns have not won a baseball national championship since 2005. Their last national title series appearance was in 2009 when they came up short against a talented LSU Tiger squad. Since that time, the Horns have been to the College World Series four times (2011, 2014, 2018 and 2021) and in each of those years, Texas has lost the first game. In 2011, Texas starter Taylor Jungman ran out of gas at the end of the season and had his shortest outing of the year as the Florida Gators beat Texas in the first game. The Horns would go on to lose to UNC and go 0-2 in the CWS. In 2014, Nathan Thornhill provided 7 shutout innings for the Horns, but Nathan ran out of steam in the 8th and then reliever John Curtiss gave up two more runs as the Texas offense had nothing going on the day against the excellent UC Irvine pitcher Morales. The Horns did bounce back to take 3rd place in 2014, eliminating Louisville and UC Irvine and winning against Vanderbilt but in the deciding game against Vandy, the Horns came up short in the bottom of the 10th inning as Curtiss gave up a hit for the walk-off. In 2018, the Horns somewhat surprisingly made it to Omaha having knocked out Texas A&M in the Regional and beating a plucky Tennessee Tech team in the Supers before going 0-2 again in Omaha, losing to Arkansas and Florida. In 2021, the Horns were back again but ran into the Will Bednar and Landon Sims buzzsaw as they struck out a combined 21 times in the first game of the College World Series against eventual champion Mississippi State. The Horns did fight back in 2021 to take 3rd place eliminating Tennessee and Virginia en route to beating Mississippi State to force a deciding game between the Horns and Bulldogs to go to the championship series. Unfortunately, the Horns did not have enough to beat Mississippi State and were once again eliminated, proving how difficult it is to come through the losers bracket.
The 2022 Texas Longhorn baseball squad is looking to reverse the trend of going 0-1 in Omaha and build upon their experience gained from the 2021 edition of the College World Series. While there are certainly new faces in the squad, the vast majority of the team knows what it takes and what it feels like to be successful in Omaha. The biggest take away for the Horns is stay within themselves. This Texas team has the best offense and fielding numbers in the field of eight teams and they have the fourth rated pitching staff. The Longhorns need LHP Pete Hansen to come back strong after a shaky start against East Carolina and battle. Hansen does not need to be perfect, but he does need to put his team in a position to that vital game one. The offense on the other hand are back in a big ball park and need to focus on Coach Tulo's hitting strategy of doubles and liners to the gaps. If they run into a home run, great, but Texas cannot afford to take the approach of solely looking for HRs as this is NOT the same ball park they played in Greenville.
This year's College World Series field is wide open. As I look at the stats, the splits, the experience, records, streaks and intangibles, there is not a single team that jumps out to me and screams I am going to win this. Every single team in the field have question marks, but the all equally have data points that suggest they are capable of winning it all. The Longhorns will need to strike first and not let Notre Dame get on a roll as they were able to do in Knoxville this past weekend. Notre Dame is a very veteran team and they are extremely well coached, but as mentioned above, the Horns are a veteran team as well and came up just short last year. Tonight's game should be a heck of a matchup, but at the end of the day, all that matters is for Texas to WIN GAME ONE.
In case you missed the Omaha preview, check it out here - College World Series Preview
TEXAS (47-20) v. Notre Dame (40-15)
June 17, 2021
Where: Charles Schwab Field
Time: Friday at 6 pm
TV: ESPN
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: NCAA.StatBroadcast.com
NCAA College World Series Appearances (last): 38th (2021)
All-Time CWS Record: 88-63
PITCHING MATCHUP
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (11-2, 3.40) vs. LHP John Michael Bertrand (9-3, 2.67)
THE MATCHUPS—Texas heads to the College World Series for an NCAA record 38th time and for the second-consecutive season. The Longhorns entered the postseason as the No. 9 national seed and are matched up in the CWS bracket with Notre Dame, No. 5 Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Texas and Notre Dame have only met six times and the series is tied 3-3. The teams last met in 1995 and have one previous CWS match-up in 1957. The Longhorns hold a 244-129-5 advantage all time over the Aggies, but have only played four times in the postseason and have never met at the College World Series. Texas leads the series with Oklahoma 156-65-2 and holds a 6-0 advantage over the Sooners in Omaha.
The 2022 Texas Longhorn baseball squad is looking to reverse the trend of going 0-1 in Omaha and build upon their experience gained from the 2021 edition of the College World Series. While there are certainly new faces in the squad, the vast majority of the team knows what it takes and what it feels like to be successful in Omaha. The biggest take away for the Horns is stay within themselves. This Texas team has the best offense and fielding numbers in the field of eight teams and they have the fourth rated pitching staff. The Longhorns need LHP Pete Hansen to come back strong after a shaky start against East Carolina and battle. Hansen does not need to be perfect, but he does need to put his team in a position to that vital game one. The offense on the other hand are back in a big ball park and need to focus on Coach Tulo's hitting strategy of doubles and liners to the gaps. If they run into a home run, great, but Texas cannot afford to take the approach of solely looking for HRs as this is NOT the same ball park they played in Greenville.
This year's College World Series field is wide open. As I look at the stats, the splits, the experience, records, streaks and intangibles, there is not a single team that jumps out to me and screams I am going to win this. Every single team in the field have question marks, but the all equally have data points that suggest they are capable of winning it all. The Longhorns will need to strike first and not let Notre Dame get on a roll as they were able to do in Knoxville this past weekend. Notre Dame is a very veteran team and they are extremely well coached, but as mentioned above, the Horns are a veteran team as well and came up just short last year. Tonight's game should be a heck of a matchup, but at the end of the day, all that matters is for Texas to WIN GAME ONE.
In case you missed the Omaha preview, check it out here - College World Series Preview
TEXAS (47-20) v. Notre Dame (40-15)
June 17, 2021
Where: Charles Schwab Field
Time: Friday at 6 pm
TV: ESPN
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: NCAA.StatBroadcast.com
NCAA College World Series Appearances (last): 38th (2021)
All-Time CWS Record: 88-63
PITCHING MATCHUP
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (11-2, 3.40) vs. LHP John Michael Bertrand (9-3, 2.67)
THE MATCHUPS—Texas heads to the College World Series for an NCAA record 38th time and for the second-consecutive season. The Longhorns entered the postseason as the No. 9 national seed and are matched up in the CWS bracket with Notre Dame, No. 5 Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Texas and Notre Dame have only met six times and the series is tied 3-3. The teams last met in 1995 and have one previous CWS match-up in 1957. The Longhorns hold a 244-129-5 advantage all time over the Aggies, but have only played four times in the postseason and have never met at the College World Series. Texas leads the series with Oklahoma 156-65-2 and holds a 6-0 advantage over the Sooners in Omaha.
