One of the best weekends of the year is finally here. OPENING WEEKEND of college baseball!!
The 2024 edition of Texas Longhorn Baseball kicks off their season this weekend against San Diego Toreros. The Longhorns will be looking to get off to a fast start on the season in preparation of a tough slate of games to come in early March, which includes Big 12 conference play kicking off. Thankfully, the Horns do not open the season up against the SEC gauntlet of Arkansas, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. That said, the Horns first opponent, San Diego, is not one to overlook as they have had fairly recent success against the Horns. Coach David Pierce and staff will also be moving a lot of guys around early on to get a better understanding of what the best lineup and rotation will be.
This series should also be called the Matt Couch series hence forth. Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Couch has been instrumental to a lot of the success the Longhorns have had over the past 5 years, oftentimes not getting the attention and recognition he deserves. Prior to coming to Texas, Coach Couch was the Strength and Conditioning coach at San Diego (his alma mater), where he helped oversee 41 players get selected in the Major League Draft, most notably All-Star Kris Bryant. Prior to his time as a coach at San Diego, Matt Couch played baseball for the Toreros and was a three-time All-West Coast Conference pitcher, with a career record of 23-11 over 65 appearances.
Overall, San Diego is looking to bounce back in 2024 after a fairly miserable 2023 season which saw them finish with a 24-25-1 record and go 17-10 in conference. Last season, San Diego had some solid hitters, but were really let down by their pitching staff who lacked an elite arm to rely upon and suffered from lack of depth as well. This past off season, San Diego hit the portal hard again to build up depth and bring in a group of arms to bolster their pitching staff. The biggest issue with this approach is that the arms they brought in have either had injury issues in the past or have limited effectiveness. The staff has been very pleased with the Fall workouts and early returns this Spring, leading them to believe that they can contend for a West Coast Conference title and chance to return to the NCAA Tournament. In order to obtain this goal, the pitching staff will have to step up and make major strides. The strength of the team is certainly the infield, which has significant amount of experience and proven productivity. Behind the plate, San Diego has one of the best defensive catchers on the West Coast. In the outfield, there is a lot of potential and projection, but they have the ability to be solid.
Matchup:
Date: Feb 16-18
Time: Friday at 7 p.m.; Saturday at 2:30 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
Location: Disch-Falk Field (Austin, Texas)
TV: LHN
Radio: AM-1300 The Zone
Record:
Texas Longhorns: 0-0 (0-0 Big 12)
San Diego Toreros: 0-0 (0-0 WCC)
Series Matchup:
- Texas is tied all-time with San Diego at 7-7
- First played back in 2003 and last played in 2015
- Texas won the first 6 games against San Diego, but is a measly 1-7 since, including three straight losses
- Home Record: 3-2
- Away Record: 3-3
- Neutral Site: 1-2
- Both teams have been picked to finish 2nd in their respective conferences (Big 12 and West Coast Conference)
Pitching Matchups (not yet confirmed, will update once official):
- Friday - Texas RHP Lebarron Johnson Jr v. San Diego RHP Josh Randall (Arizona transfer)
- Saturday - Texas RHP Charlie Hurley v. San Diego RHP Logan Reddemann (true freshman)
- Sunday - Texas RHP Cody Howard v. San Diego RHP Ryan Kysar
Notable bullpen arms for San Diego:
- Vaugh Mauterer (Cal transfer)
- Colton Sundloff (Oklahoma transfer)
- Alex Schrier (UC Santa Barbara transfer)
- Austin Smith
- Ryan Kysar
Offensive Players Leaders for San Diego:
- 2B Angelo Perez
- SS Justin DeCriscio
- 3B Jack Costello
- 1B Jack Gurevitch
- OF Dustin Allen
- OF Gabe D'Arcy
- DH Jakob Christian (DII player of the year, hit .408 with 28 HRs and 70 RBIs last season)
- OF Max McGwire
Prediction Time:
- SERIES SWEEP - San Diego keeps it close throughout the weekend, but Texas has the offensive firepower to start the year off strong
Look Around the Big 12 - Weekend Series:
- Baylor - Nebraska, Oregon, and Tennessee (neutral location)
- BYU - USC, Ohio State, and Grand Canyon (neutral location)
- Cincy - at Jacksonville
- Houston - v. Binghamton
- Kansas - Illinois-Chicago (neutral location)
- Kansas State - Cal, Boston College, Georgetown (neutral location)
- Oklahoma - Oregon, Tennessee, and Nebraska (neutral location)
- Oklahoma State - at Sam Houston State
- TCU - v. Florida Gulf Coast
- Texas Tech - Tennessee, Nebraska, and Oregon (neutral location)
- UCF - v. Bryant
- West Virginia - at Stetson
College Baseball Series/Games of Note:
- #17 UC Santa Barbara v. Campbell
- #9 Tennessee v. #21 Texas Tech
- #23 Northeastern v. Arizona
- #9 Tennessee v. Oklahoma
- #12 Duke v. #18 Coastal Carolina
traDISCHion—Texas Baseball will honor its history throughout the 2024 season as part of the Saturday TraDISCHion series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. For the third-consecutive season the Longhorns are celebrating past greats every Saturday (and a few Fridays) throughout the year.
The 2024 TraDISCHion schedule:
Feb. 18 vs. San Diego: LHP Richard Wortham (1973-76)
Feb. 24 vs. Cal Poly: LHP Justin Simmons (2001-04)
March 16 vs. Washington: RHP Beau Hale (1998-2000)
March 23 vs. Baylor: LHP Austin Wood (2006-09)
April 6 vs. BYU: 1B Danny Peoples (1994-96)
April 20 vs. TCU: OF/LHP Dennis Cook (1984-85)
May 4 vs. OSU: RHP Cole Green (2008-11)
May 17 vs. Kansas: INF Spike Owen (1980-82)
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