Horns head home for Friday opener after beating Rice 11-4

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Two bats back from last year gave Texas a breakout win early this season Tuesday.

Sophomore Zach Zubia and senior DJ Petrinsky led an offensive explosion with three RBIs each in an 11-4 road win at Rice amidst fog and dreary weather.

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Texas got ahead 8-1 before Rice scored three in the fifth to tighten the lead, but that’s as close as the Owls got as the Longhorns improved to 3-1 in the young season.

“This year confidence is what I’ve really tried — I have the mindset of no one is going to be able to get me out and if they do, they got lucky,” Zubia said of his approach for this year.

Heading home. #HookEm pic.twitter.com/5G0pjPeg8S

— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) February 20, 2019

Now Texas turns to its first homestand of the season, playing a four-game series — including a doubleheader Saturday — against Purdue.. Game 1 of the series starts Friday night at 6:30 p.m. with the home-opener for the Longhorns, where Disch-Falk field is sure to be rocking with fans first chance to see this Texas team.

Saturday’s doubleheader starts at 1 p.m. with game two to follow the conclusion of that game, and the finale of the four-game set comes 12:30 p.m. Sunday.

Friday’s game features a special bonus for fans as Texas and Yeti Coolers teamed up to release their first-ever burnt orange Rambler, which they are releasing only through an exclusive presale at Disch-Falk this Friday. For more details go here.

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Freshman Eric Kennedy had three runs scored and two hits in the two hole, while junior Austin Todd had two hits and two RBIs in the three-spot in the lineup. Junior Ryan Reynolds and senior Michael McCann both added two hits while freshman Bryce Reagan walked and scored twice.

Junior Duke Ellis was on base three times and scored twice from the leadoff spot with Texas collecting 13 hits overall up and down the lineup.

Trailing 1-0 in the top of the third, Kennedy tied it up with an RBI single before Zubia put Texas up by driving in Ellis to make it 2-1. Petrinsky’s two-run triple and scored himself on an error to inflate the lead to 5-1 and the Longhorns led the rest of the way.

The Owls made it interesting a half inning later by loading the bases with two outs in the bottom of the third, but Beau Ridgeway came in from the bullpen to escape the jam with a strikeout to end the threat.

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