Baseball opens season with series win over UNLV

By Blanche Schaefer

AUSTIN, Texas — The bats came alive as No. 23 Texas took two out of three games from UNLV over the opening weekend in Austin. Despite dropping the season opener in 12 innings, Texas came back to score a combined 18 runs over the next two games, while the pitching staff allowed six total runs throughout the series.

Texas head coach Augie Garrido said his team’s complete performance right out of the gates is encouraging as the season begins.

“It means we’re doing all parts of the game,” Garrido said. “We’ve been [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]pretty consistent in the last 18 innings with two-out hitting and runners in scoring position. (The players) aren’t thinking about results, but thinking about the ball and squaring it up — that’s a really good sign.”

UT’s season began Friday night in dramatic fashion. The Longhorns jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second. Sophomore designated hitter Michael Cantu knocked a ground-rule double, and freshman third baseman Kody Clemens drew a walk, and the pair scored on back-to-back RBI singles by sophomore second baseman Jake McKenzie and freshman left fielder Tyler Rand. UNLV answered with a run in the top of the third after a walk and consecutive singles, but the Longhorns scored again when junior catcher Tres Barrera singled, reached second on an error and scored on an RBI single by Cantu, giving Texas a 3-1 lead.

The Longhorns lead held until the eighth inning. With two outs and two on, UNLV junior pinch hitter Cooper Esmay drove a high fly ball to right field. UT sophomore right fielder Patrick Mathis misjudged his route, and the ball fell to the grass as two runs crossed the plate to tie the game at three. UNLV senior catcher Andrew Yazdanbaksh snapped the tie in the 12^th inning with a home run into the visitors’ bullpen in left field to claim the 4-3 win for UNLV.

Garrido and Mathis’ teammates aren’t dwelling on the mishap, which Garrido says is highly uncharacteristic of the young outfielder.

“One of our best defensive outfielders misses a ball that he (normally) catches in his hip pocket — that’s baseball, man,” Garrido said. “If you’d watch him practice, he catches balls all over the place. He’s really good.”

Mathis’ mistake was just one of many problems for the Longhorns Friday night. UT sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Johnston allowed three hits and one run over four innings of work, but he also gave up five walks. Texas pitchers issued a combined 11 walks compared to the UNLV pitching staff’s two walks.

Garrido noted the excessive walks, defensive misplays and strikeouts were out of character for Texas, citing first-game jitters as a factor in the loss.

“We played uptight,” Garrido said of Friday’s game. “It’s all a part of being at the University of Texas and feeling the responsibilities of having to win the game and not having the tools to control themselves individually or as a team, and letting their emotions drive them rather than them being in control.”

The Longhorns regained control in games two and three, overpowering UNLV with double-digit hits in each game. UT slugged its way to an 11-2 victory Saturday, with every starter scoring a run for the first time since Feb. 17, 2015, when the ‘Horns pulled off the feat against UTSA. Redshirt sophomore shortstop Bret Boswell and junior center fielder Zane Gurwitz racked up three hits each to supplement senior starting pitcher Ty Culbreth’s five solid innings. Culbreth allowed one run, struck out four and surrendered four hits, including Yazdanbaksh’s second homer. Culbreth also issued the only free pass Texas gave up Saturday.

UT wasted no time rebounding from Friday night. The Longhorns took advantage of two costly UNLV errors to put up three runs and three hits in the bottom of the first inning. UT tacked on another run to make it 4-0 in the second after UNLV senior pitcher Kenny Oakley walked Barrera with the bases loaded. Yazdanbaksh put UNLV on the board with another solo home run to left field in the fourth inning. Two more UNLV errors led to two more runs for the Longhorns, as the Rebels bobbled their way to four errors and three unearned runs on the day.

Garrido said Saturday’s performance was more indicative of the level at which the Longhorns are capable of playing. He said he was especially pleased with the offense’s aggressiveness and ability to score two-out runs and provide support for the pitchers.

“It’s a lot easier to throw when you have a three-run lead, especially that early,” Culbreth said. “That helped me a lot today, and a lot of credit (goes) to the defense too. After last night, you wouldn’t think we’d start hot, but we cooled off a bit and came out ready to play.”

The slugfest continued Sunday as the Longhorns blanked the Rebels, 7-0. Mathis knocked the first pitch he saw over the fence. A pair of RBI singles brought in two runs in the second inning, giving Texas a 4-0 lead. A trio of RBI singles and a RBI double rounded out UT’s offensive showing, which included two hits each from junior first baseman Kacy Clemens, sophomore third baseman Travis Jones and Rand. Sophomore pitcher Connor Mayes turned in four innings of four hits, three walks and three strikeouts.

With the opening-day pressure relieved, Garrido said the Longhorns settled down and focused on the Saturday and Sunday games.

“Today was a lesson well learned from the first night,” Garrido said. “You saw the team that we saw in the fall practices. They were aggressive on the bases, made contact and pitched to the mitt, and then played a high level of defense.”

The Longhorn offense is trying to prove it has changed since last season: Texas’ offense was ranked No. 226 in scoring in the NCAA with a mere 4.6 runs per game. After three games, UT is averaging 7.0 runs per game and will try to keep its offensive momentum rolling this weekend against Stanford. The Cardinal arrives in Austin to play a four-game series Feb. 25-28. The first pitch is set for 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We just had to get the first game out of the way — being under the lights, first game, opening day,” Boswell said. “Everybody is calmed down, and now we can perform the way we need to.”

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