Horns hanging on to hope heading into final homestand

The Horns have hope, even with the way things have gone of late.

There are the close losses, the ball bouncing the other way as they say, that has led to plenty of heartbreak for the Texas baseball team.

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Yet so long as they keep taking the field, the Longhorns have a chance.

Sure, the sweep at the hands of Kansas puts things into a realistic perspective, but as the pitching staff has mostly been sturdy all season long, there is still that slim chance that Texas could go on a run and somehow pull out a win in the Big 12 Championship.

This weekend will definitely go a long way toward seeing if the Horns can flip their perspective and momentum, but winning the Big 12 could put Texas into the NCAA Tournament still even with the way it’s all gone this year.

The winner of the Big 12 tourney is granted an automatic bid into the NCAA bracket.

Texas looked like it could capitalize on a weak opponent when it went to Kansas this weekend, but the same things that have plagued the Horns the latter half of the season — letdowns on the mound when the offense is going well, the offense going dormant when the pitching is dominating, the defense letting little miscues add up in big ways and, biggest of all, wins somehow becoming losses in the last inning.

Over the weekend, the Longhorns lost two close ones and let another one get away.

On Friday Texas held a 2-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth before Kansas tied it on a homer and won it on a two-run walkoff home run.

Then the bats went totally silent in a 1-0 defeat on Saturday, then the Horns again blew a lead on Sunday as they led 6-3 in the fifth before allowing four runs in the bottom of the fifth and three more in the eighth to fall 10-6, giving them a 10th loss in 11 games.

Here’s everything you need to know heading into Tuesday night’s home game at 6:30 p.m. against Texas State, courtesy of Texas Sports, with some good mojo needed back on Texas’ side:

FIRST TERM—Outfielder Eric Kennedy has had a big first season on the Forty Acres, leading Texas in hitting as a freshman. Kennedy leads the team with a .300 batting average and 51 hits, and is second in slugging with seven doubles, three triples and two homers. He has shown his speed in a variety of ways with hustling doubles and triples but also with infield hits. Kennedy has an astounding seven bunt singles and 18 total infield hits this season. In the outfield, Kennedy is tied for the team lead with four assists. Fellow freshman Lance Ford has also had a big debut season, starting 36 games at second base and batting .258 with 25 runs scored. Ford’s first two career homers came as part of a six-RBI game to lead Texas to a 10-2 win over West Virginia.

TAKING ITS TOLL—Texas entered the season knowing that it would be without shortstop David Hamilton, but just a few weeks into the season the Longhorns also found themselves without catcher DJ Petrinsky. Both Hamilton and Petrinsky were expected to anchor key defensive positions and bat in the top half of the order this season. Texas went 8-3 early in the season with Petrinsky in the lineup and the Longhorns have gone 17-22 in his absence. In the 39 games this season without both Hamilton and Petrinsky, Texas has batted .242 and fielded .966

GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL—Michael McCann is filling a role he’s never had in his career, serving as the team’s everyday starting catcher due to the injury to DJ Petrinsky. The redshirt senior came into the season having made just 49 career starts spread over his first four seasons with the program. This year McCann has played in 46 games with 40 starts. With the extra workload, McCann’s offensive numbers have dipped this season and he is batting just .216.

YOUNG’UNS—Head coach David Pierce’s 2019 pitching staff is likely the youngest he has ever head, featuring seven freshmen (one redshirt) and five sophomores (one redshirt). All 12 of the underclassmen pitchers have been called upon several times this season and seven of Texas’ nine pitchers to have started a game are underclassmen. The true freshmen have accounted for 126.1 innings pitched and 21 starts, while the underclassmen as a whole have logged 310 innings out of the team’s 435.2 total innings pitched.

NEXT UP—Texas will have a bye week before returning to action against UIW on May 14 at 6:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

GROWING PAINS—The Longhorns’ young pitching staff has been known to be wild this season, with 232 walks and 56 wild pitches. However, opponents are only batting .240 against Texas pitching this season. The Longhorns have had 15 games in which they struck out 10 or more batters. On the other side, Texas pitching has walked nine or more in eight games and there have been 16 games that saw Longhorn pitchers throw multiple wild pitches.

THE DECISION MAKER—Junior starting pitcher Blair Henley has managed to factor in the decision in nine of his 12 starts this season and more often than not he has picked up the win with a 6-3 record. Henley started the season slow, before tossing five-consecutive quality stats and he has pitched six-plus innings in nine of his starts. The Longhorns have backed Henley well all season, averaging 6.3 runs in the games that Henley has started. On the flip side Bryce Elder has not had the same luck, holding a 2-3 record and Texas averages just 3.7 runs in his starts.

VIRTUOUS—The Longhorns have not produced big numbers at the plate this season, but what they have done is show patience with the 35th-most walks in the NCAA (244). Duke Ellis has been one of the nation’s best at taking a free pass, ranking 18th in the country with 44 walks in 49 games played.

WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS—Five Texas players have received weekly awards from the Big 12 Conference this season, including a pair of multiple-time honorees – Bryce Elder (Pitcher, Feb. 18), Coy Cobb (Newcomer, Feb. 25), Austin Todd (Player, March 4), Eric Kennedy (Newcomer, March 4), Masen Hibbeler (Player, March 18), Bryce Elder (Pitcher, March 25), Eric Kennedy (Player, March 25) and Bryce Elder (Pitcher, April 29).

PACKING THE HOUSE—This season Texas has set and re-set attendance records at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Longhorn fans showed up in droves to see Texas host Texas A&M on April 2, establishing a new regular season record crowd of 7,952. The April 2 crowd topped the previous regular season record of 7,879, set earlier in the season against Texas Tech (3/16). The total attendances for the three-game series against LSU (22,434) and Texas Tech (22,729) are also program records. Texas ranks sixth in the country, and first in the Big 12, in total attendance (166,121) and average attendance (5,933) this season.

MARCH MADNESS—Back in March the Longhorns tested themselves against some of the best teams in the country, playing 15 games against nationally ranked teams. The Longhorns swept LSU, won the series over Texas Tech, dropped series on the road at Stanford and TCU and split a pair of midweek games against Arkansas. Texas finished the month of March with a 13-8 record that included eight wins over ranked teams.

PIERCE TO THE POSTSEASON—Head Coach David Pierce has reached the NCAA postseason in each of his seven seasons as a head coach at Texas, Tulane, and Sam Houston State. Last season marked the skipper’s first trip to the College World Series as a head coach. Pierce advanced to the College World Series four times as an assistant coach at Rice, including winning the 2003 National Championship.

WATCH ‘EM—All but one Texas home game will be broadcast on Longhorn Network this season. The team of Lowell Galindo, Keith Moreland, and Greg Swindell will return to the booth to call the action.

HEAR ‘EM—In partnership with IMG-College, Texas games will be broadcast on the Austin Radio Network, primarily on 104.9 The Horn and AM 1260. Craig Way handles primary play-by-play duties alongside Roger Wallace and Quan Cosby.

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