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FINAL
Texas - 1
Houston - 9
BOX SCORE
The Longhorns strike out 16 times, managing just two hits and one run on the night as they fall to 20-15 overall and 7-6 in Big 12 play.
RECAP
The Horns came out absolutely flat tonight against Houston starting pitcher Owen Woodward, who was making his first start of the season. In the first two innings alone, the lone hitter who did not strike out was lead off man Jared Thomas. The night didn't get much better from there.
In the Bottom 2nd, Houston got the early lead as Harold Coll led off with a single up the middle. The next batter, freshman Ace Reese was hit by a pitch. After a sac bunt put two runners in scoring position, Grubbs was able to battle back for a strikeout, giving Horns fans hope that they could keep the Cougars off the board. That was not to be the case as a wild pitch scored the runner from 3B giving Houston the early 1-0 lead.
After Woodward sat the Horns down in order again in the Top 3rd, only racking up one strikeout amazingly enough, Grubbs came back with a 1-2-3 inning of his own to keep the Horns in get game.
Unfortunately, the Horns again went down in order in the Top 4th, bringing Houston quickly back to the plate where they again got the lead off man on base due to a hit by pitch. Houston then followed that up with a single, putting two runners on with no outs. The Horns were able to get a double play when the next batter hit a grounder to Jalin Flores, but unfortunately, the next batter absolutely crushed a pitch over the CF wall for a two run home run, giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead. Turns out, that was really all they needed on the night.
In the Top 5th, the Horns did get their first hit of the game and a run back in one swing as Will Gasparino launched a ball deep into the night (110 off the bat) for a 1 out solo home run to make it 3-1 Houston. Porter Brown then stepped to the plate and ended up striking out on an awful fastball up and out of the zone. The starting pitcher Woodward looked like he was in discomfort, but went ahead and pitched to Rylan Galvan anyways, immediately grabbing his elbow and squatting down in obvious pain, likely from a torn UCL. Thoughts and prayers to Woodward and may he have a speedy recovery as you never want to see that happen to a player. Houston went to the bullpen and brought in their announced Saturday starter who promptly struck out Galvan, to keep the strike out train going and limiting the damage.
Houston then piled on, scoring two runs in each of the next two innings to give them a 7-1 lead going into the 8th, as both teams came up empty in the 7th inning.
In the Top of the 8th, the Horns kept the strike out train going as Brown and Galvan both struck out and then Jack O'Dowd popped up to 3B. Houston, tasting blood, promptly put up another two spot on the board as Tulimero cranked out two run home run to make it 9-1 Houston. Reliever Cade Citelli came back out for the 9th inning and promptly sat the Horns down in order to close out the game.
In all, the Horns recorded 1 run on 2 hits with just 1 runner left on base, while striking out 16 times. Meanwhile, Houston recorded 9 runs on 11 hits, leaving 7 men on base, finishing with 4 home runs, 5 walks and just 7 strikeouts.
The Horns were massacred.
BIG MOMENT
Bottom of the 4th inning, Cary Arbolida stepped to the plate with 2 outs and a runner on 3B and hit the first pitch he saw from Max Grubbs over the CF wall for a 407 foot 2 run home run. Ballgame, blouses.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
None. They were all terrible.
In fact, the only two players to not strike out at least twice were Will Gasparino (1), Jack O'Dowd (1), and Dee Kennedy (0).
That is not bad, that is not ugly, that is embarrassing.
TAKEAWAYS
The Horns have now lost the first game in 4 of the 5 conference weekend series. Yes, they have won 3 of those 4 weekends, but that is plaintively bad. No way to spin it, the Horns baseball season is in BIG trouble as they cruise towards a .500 Big 12 conference record and now just sit five games about .500 overall. As with any sport or business, there is never just one singular issue, and that remains true with the Horns baseball team as well. It has a multitude of issues and they are compound quickly.
Yes, it is contrite, but it is the damn truth. The Horns season will to some degree hinge on every single conference game from here on out. That begins tomorrow with Ace Whitehead on the mound and Houston having to come up with a starter for both Saturday and Sunday as they have injury issues of their own. Can the Horns pull out a conference win against a Houston team that before tonight had lost their last 11 Big 12 conference games. Absolutely. Can the Horns lose the game tomorrow and series with lackluster play all around? ABSOLUTELY. Tonight, the Horns showed no fight at all in an abysmal effort.
That is more than just a warning siren, that is the bells tolling on the season in what looks to be one in which the Horns will miss the NCAA Tourney.
NEXT UP
Horns are back in action against Houston tomorrow (Saturday) at 630pm.
