Felts making impact any way he can

Jacob Felts started 153 games at catcher over his first three years at Texas. He hasn’t started there once this season.

Tres Barrera and Jeremy Montalbano have split catching duties this year but Felts has still found a way to make his presence felt. Since grounding into a game-ending double play in the Longhorns’ second game of the year, he has delivered two game-winning hits, the last coming in Friday’s 3-2 win over Hawaii.

(Also See: Horns win three of four against Hawaii, improve to 13-4)

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After a leadoff triple in the fourth sparked a game-tying, two-run rally, Felts stepped to the plate in the eighth with one out and Mark Payton at second base. Felts broke a 2-2 tie with a single up to right as Payton raced around to score, somehow dodging a tag at the plate to give the Longhorns a 3-2 win.

“I saw the second baseman was shaded over towards second base, so he had the 4-hole open My approach there was to hit it through that hole,” Felts said. “It kind of got in on me a little bit but my approach was just to hit the inside half of the ball. Luckily, it found a hole. Mark made a great slide.”

Felts didn’t play in any of Texas’ next five games after pnch-hitting and ending a 2-1 loss to Cal by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play, leaving the bases loaded. That left the Longhorns, who missed the NCAA Tournament each of the last two years, at 0-2. Felts, who came into this year with a career .255 batting average and .298 slugging percentage, could have been extremely discouraged.

“I just knew I was going to have to be patient,” Felts said. “My time was going to come. Everybody gets an opportunity at some point during the season. I just had to keep the faith and stay with my approach and know I have the skills to get the job done at some point.”

Ten days later, Felts got another chance. Texas was held scoreless for the first eight innings against UT-Pan American on Feb. 25 but a Ben Johnson sac fly sent the game into extra innings.

The Longhorns had managed only three hits through the first 10 innings before turning to Felts, pinch-hitting once again in a potentially outcome-altering spot. This time, he came through. He drove a 2-1 offering into center, allowing Alex Silver to score the game-winning run for the walk-off single.

“Everybody’s picking up the slack,” Felts said. “If someone happens to not get the jbo done, there’s always some teammates right there behind you to pick up the slack. We’re mentally tough like that.”

That mental toughness came in handy in this week’s series opener. The Longhorns faced a 2-0 deficit after the first inning but didn’t allow another run all night. Felts knocked his first career triple in his 532nd career at-bat into right-center, scored on a double down the left-field line by Andy McGuire, who tied the game when he scored on Collin Shaw’s RBI single.

Felts couldn’t remember the last time he tripled.

“I don’t exactly have blazing speed,” said Felts, who squared around and tried to drag bunt his next at-bat. “It was an exciting moment to get us jump-started. I think that’s what got us going a little bit.”

Four innings later, Felts delivered his second game-winning hit in as many weeks.

“Our definition of mentally tough is doing something you don’t like to do,” Felts said. “Our motto is: If it’s not tough, we don’t want to do it anyways. Our other saying is: Bring on the hurricane. If it’s not easy, we don’t want to do it.”

It may not have been easy for Felts, a senior, to lose his job as the team’s starting catcher. It may not have been easy for Felts, a three-year starter, to record only one disappointing at-bat over the first three weeks of the season. But that’s not keeping Felts from making an impact.

“Honestly, as long as we win, it really doesn’t matter who gets the job done,” Felts said. “I’m pulling for my teammates. I’m proud of what we’ve done. I’m proud of how far we’ve come as a team.”

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