Habe on the ‘Horns: Texas baseball is in a funk and running out of time to get things fixed

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — Few folks thought the Texas baseball team would have a losing record after 20 games of the 2016 season, especially since 15 of those contests would be played at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field, where the Longhorns are supposed to hold most — if not all — of the cards.

But Texas has not played well enough to establish a winning foothold and has, at times, been beaten at its own small-ball and pitch-to-contact game. Opponents have [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]played “Augieball” better that UT coach Augie Garrido’s own team has, and the Longhorns have been beset my crucial injuries and mistakes that have kept them from breaking through.

Another example of the UT struggles was presented Sunday on a cool but sun-splashed spring day at Disch-Falk when Tulane took advantage of two Texas errors with two outs in the third inning to score twice in a 5-3 win, granting the Green Wave victories in two of the series’ three games.

The loss, which dropped Texas to 8-12 on the season, was the 11th game this year decided by three or fewer runs. The Longhorns have won just one of those 11 games, getting out-clutched when the games are on the line.

Garrido’s frustration level is at a boiling point as his team seems to have plateaued in a mediocrity and continues to make mistake after mistake.

“We’ve given away 11 of the 12 games we’ve lost by giving the opposition too many opportunities,” Garrido said. “We gave Tulane six outs in the inning, they scored their first two runs and we keep making the same wrong play over and over, just from different players.”

Texas finally got on the board in the sixth with a ringing two-out double by Patrick Mathis that sent Bret Boswell (who had singled with two out) home all the way from first base. The Longhorns had a chance to do more damage, but Kody Clemens grounded back to Tulane pitcher Emerson Gibbs to end the threat and strand two baserunners.

The Longhorns tied the game in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out Zane Gurwitz single that plated Michael Cantu, who reached on a sun-aided bloop double to centerfield.

But the Green Wave played small ball to retake the lead in the eighth, scoring on a bunt single that was supposed to be a safety squeeze and then on a bases-loaded walk issued by Texas freshman reliever Chase Shugart. Tulane played add-on in the ninth with three consecutive one-out singles off Shugart, the last of which was by Matt Rowland and sent home Jake Rogers with a key insurance run.

Baseball is a funny game, and is nothing if not streaky. But it is also a given that  the Longhorns had hoped to have a full head of steam as they begin Big 12 play this week, when sixth-ranked TCU hits Austin for an Easter weekend series. Instead Texas is still looking for the spark that Garrido predicted for his team in the preseason.

“We should be surging, but we’re not, and we are in a position now where we are 20 games into the season and having to start over,” Garrido said. “We know our players can make the right decisions and make the plays that are routine for Div. I college baseball, but we aren’t doing that. We see it every day in practice, but we have to be better in the execution during the games.”

Texas has now dropped three straight series and has not won a series since the opening week, when it won a series against a very average UNLV squad.

Garrido admitted that he “aggressively counseled” the team after its lackluster performance in the late-game situations in Saturday’s loss to Tulane. That seemed to get a spark out of his players in the Saturday’s second game, which the Longhorns won easily.

“I didn’t go after them after the game today, and we continued to try to find a way to stay positive with our players,” Garrido said Sunday. “We are 20 games into this thing and it’s time to perform now and to make the plays and decisions we need to win games.”

The clock is ticking on the Longhorns. Texas returns to the field Tuesday at home against Texas-San Antonio before TCU comes to town for a three-game series beginning Thursday.

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