By Steve Habel, Senior Contributing Writer
AUSTIN, Texas — Nothing is going to be handed to the Texas baseball team this weekend when it hosts a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional against upstart Tennessee Tech beginning Saturday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
But the Longhorns have become accustomed to inflicting their considerable will upon opponents when it’s really important, and they are riding the crest of that wave in an attempt to qualify for the College World Series for the first time since 2014.
Given those parameters, and UT’s pitching staff’s recent penchant for making teams earn everything they get, it’s easy to see how Texas will be a huge favorite to roll past Tennessee Tech and advance to Omaha.
Don’t expect the Longhorns to take lightly the Golden Eagles, who are the first [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]team from the Ohio Valley Conference to advance to a Super-Regional and had to beat Ole Miss twice Monday to earn a spot in the final 16 teams against Texas.
“This is a very quality team we’re getting ready to play,” Texas coach David Pierce said about Tennessee Tech. “They can pitch, they can really hit and they play solid defense. We’re looking forward to the competitiveness of it. We’re looking forward to the competition.”
The Longhorns (40-20) are hosting their first Super Regional since 2014, when they beat Houston. Pierce is the first to admit that his team is comfortable at home and welcomes the chance to play, again, in front of the partisan crowd, which should be loud and boisterous.
“We have played really well at home, and when we talk about ownership we talk about the Disch,” Pierce said. “I think it means a lot to our team. This is our place, and we are going to play our best here. For us, there is always an advantage because we are better at the Disch, and our fan base is awesome. It’s just a great comfort for us to play here.”
Texas is coming off three wins in three games last week at the NCAA Austin Regional. The Longhorns beat Texas Southern, 10-0, Texas A&M, 8-3, and then outlasted Indiana, 3-2, to move on.
“I think you approach the Regionals different than maybe a Super, because a Super is back to a three-game series,” Pierce said. “So, you really approach it the same as what you do in a regular-season series.”
One of the keys for the Longhorns in their regional win was the control and command shown by their pitching staff. UT’s starting pitchers allowed just one walk during the regional while posting 21 strikeouts. As a whole, the Longhorns struck out 31 and walked just two in the three games.
“We kind of just play one game at a time, one inning at a time and bring it down,” Texas second baseman Kody Clemens said Friday. “Pitch by pitch, that outlook in each game and we kind of just take it like that.”
Tennessee Tech (52-10) brings a stout offensive team to Austin. The Golden Eagles’ overall batting average is right at .338, and every regular player is hitting at least .310.
“We’ve seen some top arms these past two years — they don’t scare us,” Golden Eagles’ infielder Chase Chambers said. “We know that if we stick to our plans and play the baseball that we’re capable of, we can beat anybody.”
First baseman Chase Chambers paced Tennessee Tech with a .404 average, 78 runs scored, and 82 runs batted in, while outfielder Kevin Strohschein is hitting .386 with 18 home runs and 67 RBI, and leadoff hitter and catalyst Alex Junior has scored 80 times.
Tennessee Tech tops NCAA in overall batting average, home runs, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and scoring.
“There’s no real holes, so we just have to attack the way we attack and be cautious of where their strengths are,” Pierce said of the Tennessee Tech attack. “One thing that we talk a lot about it pitching off our strengths to a hitter’s weakness.”
Since 2007, out of the nine Division I schools in the state of Tennessee, the Golden Eagles have the second-most wins and the second-best winning percentage, and they’ve won six Ohio Valley Conference titles in the past 10 years.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. This is a special year and a special season for our team, as good as some of the ones in the past,” Tennessee Tech coach Matt Bragga said of his team that had eight players chosen in last week’s Major League Baseball draft. “What these guys have accomplished is phenomenal.”
Tennessee Tech won 28 consecutive games at one point this season, breaking the Ohio Valley Conference record of 22 straight wins set by Murray State in 1975.
“To win 28 games in a row … now that’s difficult to do, and these guys just showed up every day and played some really, really good baseball,” Bragga added. “The national record is something like 34, and I can’t even lie to you: we wanted 34, and we were going for 35. Our guys did a phenomenal job just staying very steady, playing as good as they could and it just so happened that they continued to win.”
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