By Steve Lansdale
AUSTIN, Texas — Starting pitcher Blair Henley teamed up with four relievers to scatter six hits and strike out six over nine innings to lift the Texas baseball team to a 2-0 victory over visiting Texas State Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
With the victory, UT improved its season record to 25-15, while Texas State fell to 22-16.
“We just got a great start from Blair Henley,” Texas head coach David Pierce said. “(I) thought [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]his command was really good, his stuff was really good. He was able to pitch out of some trouble, so we pushed him up to about 73 pitches, and he pitched on Friday, so it was a perfect outing for him. We got good bullpen relief. To get a shutout against a team as good as Texas State, that is a great accomplishment. We played solid defense, pitched and got two timely hits.”
After a pair of scoreless innings, Texas got the only run it would need when Kody Clemens singled to center field, driving in center fielder Zane Gurwitz. Freshman third baseman Ryan Reynolds went 3-for-4 at the plate, doubling twice and driving in the Longhorns’ second run in the sixth.
“I came off a kind of slow weekend and got with the coaches,” Reynolds said. “Coach Pierce came up and just told me to not swing as hard as I can. He actually came into the cages with us and was showing us how to do it, me and David — it was fun. Just take about 75-80 percent on our swings, not try to muscle it … just drive it, let it happen.”
Pierce said that the time he spend in the cage with Reynolds allowed the freshman from Monroe, La., to overcome the nerves that plagued him during UT’s recent three-game series at Baylor.
“It’s interesting, because when he gets in trouble, he just overswings and he tenses up a little bit, and that’s what he did in Waco,” Pierce said. “He had a great session (in the batting practice cage), and he’s just got to relax and stay within himself, because he’s got great eye-hand coordination, and he needs to use it.
As it turned out, the two runs the Longhorns scored were twice as many as needed. After Henley, who improved his record to 3-3, departed after five innings, Connor Mayes, Chase Shugart, Tyler Schimpf and Beau Ridgeway scattered a pair of hits over the last four innings. His save was Ridgeway’s eighth of the season. Reynolds said the credit for the victory belongs to the Longhorns’ pitchers.
“Starting pitching — Blair was lights-out,” Reynolds said. It’s awesome how he just comes in there and throws strikes, has a great tempo. We were just ready to play behind him, make plays. Connor came in, did his job. Schimpf, then Ridgeway comes in and closes. The pitchers did a phenomenal job.”
The Longhorns will be back in action at 7 p.m. Friday when they host the first game in a three-game series against New Orleans at Disch-Falk Field.
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