FINAL
Texas - 10
Texas Tech - 4
Winning Pitcher: Luke Harrison (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Lukas Pirko (0-1)
Save: Dylan Volantis (1)
RECAP
Starting late for the second day in a row, the highly anticipated matchup between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Texas Longhorns started out quietly for the Horns...for all of one inning. After Luke Harrison had to deal with a pair of baserunners in the Bottom 1st, the Horns came to bat in the Top 2nd. By the end of the top half of the frame, the Horns had a 7 run lead, leaving Tech fans and players both to wonder what had just occurred.
After 3B Adrian Rodriguez grounded out to the shortstop, SS Jalin Flores reached base after an error by the Tech 3B who couldn't corral the chopper hit to him. 1B Kimble Schuessler hit a single to RF, followed by a walk from freshman DH Cole Chamberlain to load the bases with just 1 out. LF Tommy Farmer was hit by a pitch on a 2-1 count, bringing home the first run of the inning and game. C Rylan Galvan came to the plate and wasted no time in hitting a double to the base of the LF wall to make it 3-0 Texas. Not finished there, 2B Ethan Mendoza took advantage of a poor pitch and hit a 3 run HR to right CF to make it 6-0 Horns. Not finished there, Will Gasparino hit a mammoth HR to LF to make it 7-0 Horns, which helped lead to Texas Tech pulling their starter from the game after having gone just 1.2 innings.
LHP Luke Harrison wasn't the sharpest I have seen him as he had some trouble locating his fastball, but the slider was really working tonight and he put up zeroes on the board in the first four innings of action, working around base runners in the Bottom 2nd and Bottom 4th.
After a pitching change in the Top 5th, the Horns offense got cranked up again as 3B Adrian Rodriguez led off the inning by planting the first pitch he saw from the new Tech RHP over the LF wall to make it 8-0 Horns. DH Cole Chamberlain and LF Tommy Farmer both earned walks, prompting another pitching change by Texas Tech. Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, the new pitcher immediately walked C Rylan Galvan to load the bases. This brought 2B Ethan Mendoza to the plate and putting together a very mature at-bat, he drew a walk to plate another run to make it 9-0 Horns, prompting yet another pitching change by Texas Tech. LF Tommy Farmer, standing on 3B came home to score on a wild pitch by the new pitcher to make it 10-0 Horns. Unfortunately, they were not able to further their lead as Will Gasparino struck out with bases loaded.
In the Bottom 5th, Luke Harrison started to wane a bit, giving up a run after Tech able to get a base runner on and moved over via throwing error. Harrison battled though and was able to get out of any further trouble while also completing the frame to be eligible for the win.
In the Top 6th, the Horns loaded the bases up again with just one out, but came up empty to keep the score at 10-1 Horns.
RHP Drew Rerick came into pitch for the Horns in the 6th and racked up two strikeouts and got a ground out, despite having some command issues, largely due to him being amped up too much.
The Horns again got two runners in scoring position in the Top 7th, but came away empty as 1B Jaquae Stewart, making his first appearance of the season could not bring them home.
In the Bottom 7th, Texas Tech took advantage of some shaky command by Drew Rerick, as he walked the first two batters he saw. LHP Dylan Volantis came in a tough spot, but did not make things easy on himself as he immediately gave up a single to load the bases with no outs. Texas Tech plated their second run of the game as Garet Boehm (brother of Texas alum Gage Boehm) reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Schulze to score making it 10-2. After battling back to get a strikeout, Volantis then allowed the runner on 1B to steal 2B and on the thrown down to 2B which was wide of the bag from Rylan Galvan, the Texas Tech runner at 3B came home to plate their third run of the game to make it 10-3. Not finished there, Texas Tech got an RBI single from Hughes to make it 10-4 and causing vertigo for Texas fans as they remembered the late inning collapse the prior night against Washington. Thankfully, Dylan Volantis was able to get a strikeout to end the threat and preserve the Horns lead.
Going into the Bottom 9th, the Red Raiders trailed the Horns 10-4. Dylan Volantis was still on the mound for the Horns and despite getting behind in the count, he was able to to get the best hitter on the Red Raiders team, Damian Bravo to ground out for the first out. Unfortunately, Garet Boehm reached on an error by 3B Adrian Rodriguez as he he could not corral a hot shot to the left side. Undeterred, Volantis used his devastating breaking ball to get a strikeout for the second out, but allowed Boehm on 1B to advance to 2B without a thrown down. This would matter as the next batter Hughes hit a single to CF, scoring Boehm to make it 10-5 Horns. Undeterred, Volantis got the pinch hitter to pop up for the last out of the game.
BIG MOMENT
More like a big inning. The Horns offense for the second day in a row put up a 7 spot in an inning. This time was particularly significant as it happened early in the game which caused the Red Raiders to go to the an already depleted bullpen.
When the offense is working and in rhythm, this lineup 1-9 is very hard to beat. They get deep into counts, they have power 1-9, and they live on the motto of passing the bat.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Luke Harrison - while he wasn't perfect and didn't have his best fastball tonight, Luke battled and made use of his devastating breaking ball to rack up a career high 7 Ks.
TAKEAWAYS
Another day, another outstanding start by the Texas rotation. After guessing and wondering all of last season what Texas might get from the pitching staff, it has been really nice to see Spencer and Harrison go out and battle, even if their stuff isn't the best.
While folks will complain about the bullpen the last two days and rightfully so, remember that the two arms that the Horns used tonight are freshman. Some of these guys are going to have days when they are too amped up or just not sharp. These guys are still getting used to what it means to compete at a high level in D1 baseball where they cannot afford to have iffy command.
Both guys that the Horns saw tonight are going to play big roles for the Horns this season and going forward.
Defensively, the errors certainly are not what you love to see, but having a freshman at the hot corner is going to be an experience at times. On the one error by Rodriguez, he was baited into moving in as the batter showed bunt only to drive it right at him in the next hit. That is just baseball. This is not going to be the best defense statistically all time for the Horns, but I actually am not that concerned by their play (yet) as it is still early. This weekend and Arlington are certainly data points about what they need to do to improve defensively on natural surface, which most of the SEC is.
While their record certainly does not show it, tonight's win over Texas Tech is a good early win for the Horns as they look to continue to rack up wins before heading into SEC play.
Oh and there is always this...
and this...
NEXT UP
Texas (8-1) will face off against Illinois (6-2) at 1pm CT on Sunday
Texas - 10
Texas Tech - 4
Winning Pitcher: Luke Harrison (2-0)
Losing Pitcher: Lukas Pirko (0-1)
Save: Dylan Volantis (1)
RECAP
Starting late for the second day in a row, the highly anticipated matchup between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Texas Longhorns started out quietly for the Horns...for all of one inning. After Luke Harrison had to deal with a pair of baserunners in the Bottom 1st, the Horns came to bat in the Top 2nd. By the end of the top half of the frame, the Horns had a 7 run lead, leaving Tech fans and players both to wonder what had just occurred.
After 3B Adrian Rodriguez grounded out to the shortstop, SS Jalin Flores reached base after an error by the Tech 3B who couldn't corral the chopper hit to him. 1B Kimble Schuessler hit a single to RF, followed by a walk from freshman DH Cole Chamberlain to load the bases with just 1 out. LF Tommy Farmer was hit by a pitch on a 2-1 count, bringing home the first run of the inning and game. C Rylan Galvan came to the plate and wasted no time in hitting a double to the base of the LF wall to make it 3-0 Texas. Not finished there, 2B Ethan Mendoza took advantage of a poor pitch and hit a 3 run HR to right CF to make it 6-0 Horns. Not finished there, Will Gasparino hit a mammoth HR to LF to make it 7-0 Horns, which helped lead to Texas Tech pulling their starter from the game after having gone just 1.2 innings.
LHP Luke Harrison wasn't the sharpest I have seen him as he had some trouble locating his fastball, but the slider was really working tonight and he put up zeroes on the board in the first four innings of action, working around base runners in the Bottom 2nd and Bottom 4th.
After a pitching change in the Top 5th, the Horns offense got cranked up again as 3B Adrian Rodriguez led off the inning by planting the first pitch he saw from the new Tech RHP over the LF wall to make it 8-0 Horns. DH Cole Chamberlain and LF Tommy Farmer both earned walks, prompting another pitching change by Texas Tech. Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, the new pitcher immediately walked C Rylan Galvan to load the bases. This brought 2B Ethan Mendoza to the plate and putting together a very mature at-bat, he drew a walk to plate another run to make it 9-0 Horns, prompting yet another pitching change by Texas Tech. LF Tommy Farmer, standing on 3B came home to score on a wild pitch by the new pitcher to make it 10-0 Horns. Unfortunately, they were not able to further their lead as Will Gasparino struck out with bases loaded.
In the Bottom 5th, Luke Harrison started to wane a bit, giving up a run after Tech able to get a base runner on and moved over via throwing error. Harrison battled though and was able to get out of any further trouble while also completing the frame to be eligible for the win.
In the Top 6th, the Horns loaded the bases up again with just one out, but came up empty to keep the score at 10-1 Horns.
RHP Drew Rerick came into pitch for the Horns in the 6th and racked up two strikeouts and got a ground out, despite having some command issues, largely due to him being amped up too much.
The Horns again got two runners in scoring position in the Top 7th, but came away empty as 1B Jaquae Stewart, making his first appearance of the season could not bring them home.
In the Bottom 7th, Texas Tech took advantage of some shaky command by Drew Rerick, as he walked the first two batters he saw. LHP Dylan Volantis came in a tough spot, but did not make things easy on himself as he immediately gave up a single to load the bases with no outs. Texas Tech plated their second run of the game as Garet Boehm (brother of Texas alum Gage Boehm) reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Schulze to score making it 10-2. After battling back to get a strikeout, Volantis then allowed the runner on 1B to steal 2B and on the thrown down to 2B which was wide of the bag from Rylan Galvan, the Texas Tech runner at 3B came home to plate their third run of the game to make it 10-3. Not finished there, Texas Tech got an RBI single from Hughes to make it 10-4 and causing vertigo for Texas fans as they remembered the late inning collapse the prior night against Washington. Thankfully, Dylan Volantis was able to get a strikeout to end the threat and preserve the Horns lead.
Going into the Bottom 9th, the Red Raiders trailed the Horns 10-4. Dylan Volantis was still on the mound for the Horns and despite getting behind in the count, he was able to to get the best hitter on the Red Raiders team, Damian Bravo to ground out for the first out. Unfortunately, Garet Boehm reached on an error by 3B Adrian Rodriguez as he he could not corral a hot shot to the left side. Undeterred, Volantis used his devastating breaking ball to get a strikeout for the second out, but allowed Boehm on 1B to advance to 2B without a thrown down. This would matter as the next batter Hughes hit a single to CF, scoring Boehm to make it 10-5 Horns. Undeterred, Volantis got the pinch hitter to pop up for the last out of the game.
BIG MOMENT
More like a big inning. The Horns offense for the second day in a row put up a 7 spot in an inning. This time was particularly significant as it happened early in the game which caused the Red Raiders to go to the an already depleted bullpen.
When the offense is working and in rhythm, this lineup 1-9 is very hard to beat. They get deep into counts, they have power 1-9, and they live on the motto of passing the bat.
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE
Luke Harrison - while he wasn't perfect and didn't have his best fastball tonight, Luke battled and made use of his devastating breaking ball to rack up a career high 7 Ks.
TAKEAWAYS
Another day, another outstanding start by the Texas rotation. After guessing and wondering all of last season what Texas might get from the pitching staff, it has been really nice to see Spencer and Harrison go out and battle, even if their stuff isn't the best.
While folks will complain about the bullpen the last two days and rightfully so, remember that the two arms that the Horns used tonight are freshman. Some of these guys are going to have days when they are too amped up or just not sharp. These guys are still getting used to what it means to compete at a high level in D1 baseball where they cannot afford to have iffy command.
Both guys that the Horns saw tonight are going to play big roles for the Horns this season and going forward.
Defensively, the errors certainly are not what you love to see, but having a freshman at the hot corner is going to be an experience at times. On the one error by Rodriguez, he was baited into moving in as the batter showed bunt only to drive it right at him in the next hit. That is just baseball. This is not going to be the best defense statistically all time for the Horns, but I actually am not that concerned by their play (yet) as it is still early. This weekend and Arlington are certainly data points about what they need to do to improve defensively on natural surface, which most of the SEC is.
While their record certainly does not show it, tonight's win over Texas Tech is a good early win for the Horns as they look to continue to rack up wins before heading into SEC play.
Oh and there is always this...
and this...
NEXT UP
Texas (8-1) will face off against Illinois (6-2) at 1pm CT on Sunday
