Friday Night Happy Hour & Baseball Bingo. If you happen to be in Morgantown, West Virginia tomorrow and the rain has not sent you running to the nearest bar or Cheat Canyon (white water rapids), you can score some $5 tickets and get happy hour prices on drinks at the ol ball park. The Texas Longhorns roll into town licking their wounds after a three game beating at the hands of Oklahoma State in Austin and are clinging to a glimmer of hope for a Top 16 seed. A series win at RPI #41 would go a long way towards that goal as the highest ranked RPI team left on the schedule. In addition, I believe most Texas fans would rather not play Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 tournament and a series win would do wonders for setting up a potential rematch with Oklahoma at Globe Life.
West Virginia on the other hand have enjoyed a bounce back Big 12 season in 2022 and currently sit in 5th place with a 9-5 conference record. After surprising many by taking 2 of 3 against TCU at Lupton Park, including a double steal of home base, the Mountaineers have gone on to sweep Baylor, lose 2 of 3 to Okie State, lose 2 of 3 to Texas Tech and win 2 of 3 against Kansas. The Mountaineers won last night against Division II Charleston (W.Va) and let me know if this sounds familiar.... "We didn't play bad. We pitched pretty well, played good defense, we just left a lot of guys on base and they played well and were super excited to play against us." WVU needed two runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat that DII team last night 3-2, so anything can happen.
West Virginia SHOULD not out hit Texas and on paper they are far below Texas offensively, but they are a very well coached and athletic team that likes to put pressure on opposing pitchers and defenses by running. And they run ALOT. 139-174 on the base paths in 2022....They have nearly as many stolen bases in conference as Texas does all year long. In addition to being an athletic team, they have a good number of power arms. Their closer from 2021, Jacob Watters, has moved into a starting role, as he did against Texas in the elimination game of the 2021 Big 12 Tournament (Texas won) and has been decent, but also sports an 0-3 record in conference and has been touched up by Baylor and Texas Tech. While he is no Jackson Wolf or Alex Manoah, two WVU arms that have abused Texas in the past, he does have a solid arm and action. Texas has not played particularly well in Morgantown in the past and as a result has never won a series on the road against West Virginia. Everyone is hoping that streak ends this weekend.
Finally, rain could very well be an issue this weekend as it is expected to rain quite a bit on Friday and even Saturday so we will have to wait and see what that brings. Coach Pierce did have some interesting comments about the team going forward, so be sure to check those out below.
Check out the latest episode of Around the HORNS, in which @AaronLittleOB and I dive into this past weekend, look ahead at West Virginia and also talk a little post season baseball. Around the HORNS
TEXAS (32-16, 9-9) at WEST VIRGINIA (27-16, 9-6)
May 6-8, 2022
Where: Monongalia County Ballpark
Time: Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT; Saturday at 3 p.m. CT; Sunday at 12 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
All-time series: West Virginia leads, 15-11
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (7-1, 3.20) vs. WVU RHP Jacob Watters (2-4, 5.27)
SATURDAY–Texas TBA vs. WVU TBA
SUNDAY–Texas TBA vs. WVU TBA
Probable Starters for WVU:
Bullpen guys to look out for:
Pitching Matchups:
West Virginia Hitters of Note:
Hitting Matchups:
Texas v. WVU Stats:
RPI: 22 v. 41
SOS: 24 v. 60
ELO: 21 v. 52
BA: .316 v. .265
OPS: .966 v. .789
H: 525 v. 377
R: 389 v. 281
HR: 87 v. 40
SB: 42-55 v. 139-174
ERA: 4.31 v. 4.65
WHIP: 1.28 v. 1.48
Fielding % .984 v. .974
Big 12 Standings:
Conference Series this Weekend:
Remaining Conference Series:
Coach Pierce Media Availability:
West Virginia on the other hand have enjoyed a bounce back Big 12 season in 2022 and currently sit in 5th place with a 9-5 conference record. After surprising many by taking 2 of 3 against TCU at Lupton Park, including a double steal of home base, the Mountaineers have gone on to sweep Baylor, lose 2 of 3 to Okie State, lose 2 of 3 to Texas Tech and win 2 of 3 against Kansas. The Mountaineers won last night against Division II Charleston (W.Va) and let me know if this sounds familiar.... "We didn't play bad. We pitched pretty well, played good defense, we just left a lot of guys on base and they played well and were super excited to play against us." WVU needed two runs in the bottom of the 9th to beat that DII team last night 3-2, so anything can happen.
West Virginia SHOULD not out hit Texas and on paper they are far below Texas offensively, but they are a very well coached and athletic team that likes to put pressure on opposing pitchers and defenses by running. And they run ALOT. 139-174 on the base paths in 2022....They have nearly as many stolen bases in conference as Texas does all year long. In addition to being an athletic team, they have a good number of power arms. Their closer from 2021, Jacob Watters, has moved into a starting role, as he did against Texas in the elimination game of the 2021 Big 12 Tournament (Texas won) and has been decent, but also sports an 0-3 record in conference and has been touched up by Baylor and Texas Tech. While he is no Jackson Wolf or Alex Manoah, two WVU arms that have abused Texas in the past, he does have a solid arm and action. Texas has not played particularly well in Morgantown in the past and as a result has never won a series on the road against West Virginia. Everyone is hoping that streak ends this weekend.
Finally, rain could very well be an issue this weekend as it is expected to rain quite a bit on Friday and even Saturday so we will have to wait and see what that brings. Coach Pierce did have some interesting comments about the team going forward, so be sure to check those out below.
Check out the latest episode of Around the HORNS, in which @AaronLittleOB and I dive into this past weekend, look ahead at West Virginia and also talk a little post season baseball. Around the HORNS
TEXAS (32-16, 9-9) at WEST VIRGINIA (27-16, 9-6)
May 6-8, 2022
Where: Monongalia County Ballpark
Time: Friday at 5:30 p.m. CT; Saturday at 3 p.m. CT; Sunday at 12 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
All-time series: West Virginia leads, 15-11
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (7-1, 3.20) vs. WVU RHP Jacob Watters (2-4, 5.27)
SATURDAY–Texas TBA vs. WVU TBA
SUNDAY–Texas TBA vs. WVU TBA
Probable Starters for WVU:
- LHP Hampton: 6-3; 4.48 ERA; 1.22 WHIP; 15 BB; 61 K (2-2, 7.11 in Conf)
- RHP Bravo: 3-1; 6.25 ERA; 1.56 WHIP; 15 BB; 24 K (1-1, 7.94 ERA in Conf)
Bullpen guys to look out for:
- Chase Smith (1-1, 2.21 ERA)
- Noah Short (0-1, 4.01 ERA, 1 save)
- Chris Sleeper (3-4, 2.97 ERA)
- Zach Ottinger (2-1, 3.66 ERA)
- Trey Braithwaite (2-0, 1.38 ERA, 6 saves)
Pitching Matchups:
- West Virginia has a lot of power arms and some good experience. Their biggest strength though lies in the bullpen which has pitch quite a few innings this year as their starters have not always lasted long in the game. Their numbers do not overwhelm you but there guys listed above are guys they count on with a regular basis.
West Virginia Hitters of Note:
- Austin Davis .335 / .862 (25-29 SB)
- McGwire Holbrook .331 / .943
- Braden Barry .308 / .898 (13-16 SB)
- Victor Scott .290 / .895 (33-39 SB)
Hitting Matchups:
- Austin Davis sets the plate and loves to steal. Holbrook and Victor Scott who has shown much more offense this year than in the past are the guys that help bring home the runs. Victor Scott is another guy that you must watch for once he is on the base paths. Make no doubt about it, West Virginia is going to steal some bases this weekend, even with Silas behind the plate.
Texas v. WVU Stats:
RPI: 22 v. 41
SOS: 24 v. 60
ELO: 21 v. 52
BA: .316 v. .265
OPS: .966 v. .789
H: 525 v. 377
R: 389 v. 281
HR: 87 v. 40
SB: 42-55 v. 139-174
ERA: 4.31 v. 4.65
WHIP: 1.28 v. 1.48
Fielding % .984 v. .974
Big 12 Standings:
- Okie State (13-5)
- TCU (12-6)
- Texas Tech (11-7)
- Oklahoma (9-6)
- West Virginia (9-6)
- Texas (9-9)
- Baylor (5-13)
- K-State (4-11)
- Kansas (3-12)
Conference Series this Weekend:
- Texas at West Virginia
- TCU v. OU
- K-State v. KU
- Okie State v. SeMO
- Texas Tech - idle
- Baylor - idle
Remaining Conference Series:
- Okie State: v. Tech & at Baylor
- TCU: v. OU & at Kansas
- Tech: at Okie State & v. OU
- OU: at TCU, v. WVU & at Tech
- WVU: v. Texas; at OU & v. K-State
- Texas: at WVU & v. K-State
Coach Pierce Media Availability:
- A lot of different seasons. Lessons from previous seasons
- You are probably asking about how we unraveled in 2019. That is the first thought in my mind and this team isn’t going to let that happen. I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that doesn’t happen. Have to regroup and move forward. You draw up the day and it hasn’t gone to plan. We still have opportunities and goals and we can still obtain those goals. Have to go play
- Message to the team
- Believe in yourself. Tough game but everyone is playing it. Have to get on the attack, apply pressure and embrace pressure and if you don’t, pressure is going to eat you up. Gotta believe in yourself and in your stuff.
- TBA for Sat/Sun
- Pete on game one and TBA on the next two.
- New role for Tristan?
- We are going to utilize him Fri night if we need to. If game doesn’t play that direction then we won’t. Then we will take a look at Saturday and where we are. Play it by ear with those three and include Zane in that category as a starter
- Going on the road help the team?
- Been really good at home, even in big picture of losing 3 games last week. Season has peaks and valleys. Right now, good thing for us. Love playing at the Disch and our fan base, even though they have struggled with some of the things we have done. I understand it. If I am a fan, I want to see guys compete and attack. Right now, maybe it is good that it is us against the world.
- EK's Health:
- He is so close that if we take him and tweaks it, he is out the rest of the year. If he doesn’t play, he will have two weeks off so we are going to give him the two weeks and he will be full go after that.
- EK and Witt
- Due to conference rules, can only take 30 guys so EK and Witt have to stay home. Unfortunate but that is what it is.
- Murph moved to 2B on Tuesday
- DC progression, wanted to see Boogie (Ace) play. EK is gonna be back in the lineup somewhere. Have to have other options and guys prepared. Look at options. Mitch is not out of the loop. Great infielder and defender, but has struggled offensively. Good production in the 8 hole, but a lot of guys that can be productive
- Drop in Rankings
- Kind of silly to go from 10 to out. I think it goes back to pre-season. Great for the fans and media. Becomes a big negative in those areas. Our team has to overcome that. They have overcome a lot. We just want to get better and play baseball
- WVU
- 139 SB and guys that can run. They are gonna have to earn it. They are going to steal some bags. Power arms and play well at home.
- Cant go in expecting them to make mistakes. If you are going to win this, have to be the aggressor. Intent to win the game and the series. Intent is play our best and be as clean as possible
- Transfers
- Best for their baseball career right now. Have a conversation with them and its time for them to see where they fit in baseball. Some guys want to stay and get degree and there are guys that want to continue playing. I am willing to help them wherever they want to go. I don’t push guys out of the program.
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