Kevin Keyes and the rest of the UT lineup could only produce 2 runs. (TexasSports.com)

Kevin Keyes and the rest of the UT lineup could only produce 2 runs. (TexasSports.com)

One day after giving Texas fans hope that the offense was hitting its stride at just the right time, the bats fell back to earth as the team fell to [tag]TCU[/tag] 3-2 Sunday afternoon. Starting pitcher [tag]Cole Green[/tag] spread 3 runs over 7.2 innings but the offense couldn’t back him up and fell short in a late comeback.

The middle of the TCU lineup featuring Matt Vern and Matt Carpenter once again powered the offense, hitting a home run each to drive in all 3 TCU runs. It’ll be interesting to see if Texas pitches around those two hitters during Monday’s game and forces someone else to beat them.

The two teams face off for the right to move on to Omaha Monday at 6pm on ESPN2. Freshman starter [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag] will be on the mound for the Longhorns.

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Austin Woods threw 12+ hitless, scoreless innings in relief before leaving after finally giving up his first hit.

Austin Woods was dominant and durable in relief.

The game lasted over 7 hours and ended after 1 am, but in the end the Longhorns came out on top of [tag]Boston College[/tag] and have moved to 2-0 in their CWS Regional bracket. Next up for Texas will be a game tomorrow at 6pm against the winner of the BC/Army match-up. Texas will have two chances to win one game to advance on to the Super Regionals next weekend.

The heroes of the game on both sides were the relief pitchers. Until the winning run in the 25th inning, Texas had gone 23 straight scoreless innings and BC finished up with 18 scoreless in a row. For Texas, [tag]Austin Wood[/tag] came into the game in relief of [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag] and proceeded to put on a historic pitching display. Wood threw 12+ innings of hitless, scoreless baseball before finally leaving 160+ pitches later in the 20th inning after giving up his first hit of the night. It was an incredible performance from both teams. (more …)

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Chance Ruffin threw a complete game in a 6-2 win over Stanford. (TexasSports.com)

Chance Ruffin threw a complete game in a 6-2 win over Stanford. (TexasSports.com)

The Texas Longhorns dropped their first game of the season over the weekend, but managed to take the series in Palo Alto over [tag]Stanford[/tag] two games to one.

The series win moved Texas to No. 1 in the new Baseball America poll. Right now three of the top five teams in the nation come from the Big 12 South and five of the top 12 teams come from the state of Texas.

Pitching continues to be the anchor for this year’s team. The Longhorns have five legitimate weekend starters with only three slots open. Through 13 games Texas sits at 12-1 with a team ERA of 1.35. Each starter is capable of going seven innings plus, and with closer Austin Wood manning the back end of tight games the Texas bullpen has been untested thus far. [tag]Chance Ruffin[/tag] is the ace and will get Friday starts, it looks like [tag]Brandon Workman[/tag] and [tag]Cole Green[/tag] will get the Saturday and Sunday nods with [tag]Taylor Jungmann[/tag] starting the mid-week games and playing the role of long reliever on the weekend. Jungmann would be the Friday starter on the majority of college baseball teams.

Texas is also receiving great play from their defense. Errors were the Achilles’ heel of last year’s ball club, and so far the work the team put into the offseason has paid off in spades. With the pitching staff on such a role it is imperative opponents aren’t given free base runners because of poor plays in the field. Outside of [tag]David Hernandez[/tag] who has seven errors, no one on Texas’ team has more than one. Texas is fielding .978 as a team.

The weak link so far has been at the plate. Texas is only hitting .296 with five homeruns through 13 games. Texas is going old school with their approach at the plate. The Longhorns will look to manufacture runs throughout the season because the lineup just doesn’t have anybody who is going to strike fear in opponent’s hearts. Hernandez has struggled in the field of late, but is leading the team in hitting at .395. Texas has only four other batters hitting over .300 and no UT batters have double digit RBIs.

Luckily it is early in the year and the pitching staff has not yet needed much run support. When Texas was winning championships it was behind stellar starting pitcher, shutdown bullpen work, good play in the field, and timely hitting. The Longhorns have never been confused with the mash brothers with Augie Garrido at the helm.

Texas faces [tag]Baylor[/tag] in an out of conference matchup on Wednesday March 11th before hosting [tag]Missouri[/tag] and top pitching prospect Kyle Gibson to start the Big 12 season this coming up weekend.

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Horns score in bottom of 9th to beat SoonersThe Texas baseball team blew a big lead against the Sooners in the 7th inning but rallied back in the bottom of the 9th to win it. The win makes the Horns 2-1 in the Big 12 Baseball Championships and they’re now headed to the title game thanks to a Texas A&M win over Missouri.

Once up by 5 runs, the Longhorns had to score 3 in the last frame to win 11-10. Shortstop [tag]David Hernandez[/tag] singled up the middle to score [tag]Brandon Belt[/tag] and win the game. Texas starter [tag]Kenn Kasparek[/tag] pitched well before losing it in the 7th. Pitcher [tag]Keith Shinaberry[/tag] got one out in the 9th but was credited with the win.

The team will play for the Big 12 title Sunday against either Oklahoma State or Kansas State. The game will be at 1pm on FSN Southwest.

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