Red River Rivalry on the diamond gives Texas chance to shine

By Riley Zayas
Horns Illustrated Contributor

The Red River Rivalry.

It’s been dubbed by many as “The greatest rivalry in the Big 12” and never lacks energy or excitement whether it be on the basketball court, football field or baseball diamond.

“OU-Texas — it’s the greatest rivalry in college athletics,” head coach David Pierce said.

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So far, Texas has split games against the Sooners this year with the football team winning in the regular season and falling in the Big 12 Championship game and the basketball team winning a close game, but falling to the same Sooners’ squad later on in the season.

However, history doesn’t factor into results on the baseball field as will be the case this weekend. Simply put, Texas can’t afford to stumble during this upcoming three game set against their rivals to the north. Sitting at last place and on the verge of not earning a spot in the Big 12 Tournament, the entire team senses the importance of these next three games and is confident they can sweep the series.

“If you don’t go into this weekend confident you’re going to sweep, then more than likely you’re not going to,” outfielder Duke Ellis said. “We have to go into this weekend knowing that this is what we’re here to do and this is what we need to do and let’s get it done.”

Senior Day

This series not only marks the end of the Horns’ regular season, but also the end of five players’ careers on the Forty Acres.

These guys have really proven themselves throughout the past few seasons and were instrumental in the Longhorns making an appearance in the College World Series last summer. Each of them, Masen Hibbeler, Micheal McCann, Tate Shaw, Matteo Bocchi, and Brandon Ivey, have played a unique role during their time on campus.

Hibbeler has been a consistent force at the plate, McCann was thrust into the starting role at catcher and easily stepped into the new position, and Shaw went three for four in the Horns’ recent win over Incarnate Word. Both Bocchi and Ivey have seen quality innings in relief and combined for 21 strikeouts and a 4-2 record.

Without a doubt, it is partially due to the leadership of these young men that Texas even has hope heading into the final games of the regular season. As Texas takes the field for the final time at home, these seniors will definitely be giving their all, hoping to end their final series at “The Disch” on top with a series win.

Now or never

Not only will this be an important series for the UT seniors, it will also hold the future of the season.

If they can get a couple of wins, they increase their chances to make the Big 12 Conference Championship, as they currently sit two games back from eighth-place Kansas State. However, a single loss can end the 2019 season on a very low note for the team who was hoping the successfully follow up on a 2018 campaign which resulted in a trip to Omaha.

“Going in to the season, you come out of Omaha hoping to prove your worth,” Pierce said. “We started with a lot of energy, a lot of confidence, and I felt like when that got exposed a little bit, we couldn’t get out of it.”

Thankfully for Texas, Oklahoma has also had a challenging season and is still under .500 after losing two of three in a recent series at Oklahoma State. Still, Texas needs to be careful as the Sooners’ pitching staff is led by an excellent reliever in Jason Ruffcorn, who leads the Big 12 in saves, Levi Prater, who has struck out 90 batters this year and Cade Cavalli who posts an impressive 2.93 ERA.

With this considered, Pierce is not ready to look further ahead than game one.

“It’s really just about preparing and winning game one,” he said. “I think there’s a big picture and you have to play it as one pitch at a time.”

The bottom line is that this series is a must win. As much as people surrounding the Texas program have said that before, this is the Horns’ final chance to make this season a true success and continue playing into next week.

“It’s simple,” Pierce said, “You sweep or you go home.”

Battle of the bullpens

While run production has been the biggest hindrance to victory for both of these squads, their bullpens have been stellar in recent contests. During the Longhorns’ 9-0 win over Incarnate Word, their bullpen gave up two hits and let just four runners reach base. Prior to that, the Horns’ picked up their last conference victory at home against West Virginia, when reliever Matteo Bocchi came in for starter Ty Madden and fired three scoreless innings while allowing just a hit. Pierce is proud of how his young arms have matured throughout the course of the season.

“This process has taken longer than we had liked, but this is a team that has developed slower, and there is guys who can get it done,” Pierce said.

On the same note, the Sooners won a close contest in the Bedlam series against in-state rival, Oklahoma State, as the relievers struck out nine and allowed four hits. During the past couple of games, both bullpens have been a driving force in putting their teams’ in a position to claim the win. The question in this series will ultimately be, which bullpen will show up and close out these games to help their team make the Big 12 Tournament?

As the Longhorns square off against Oklahoma this weekend, the regular season will end one way or another. Whether the Horns do rise to the occasion or not will be determined in the next three games, but Pierce is just glad that his team has something to play for so late in the season.

“It’s nice to know that you’re going into a weekend series where you have the chance to play for something. Normally, we are playing for a regional host or a conference championship, so this is uncharted waters for us. But we are still playing for something,” Pierce said.

Playing for something they are, the season in fact. Regardless of what the standings look like before this series begins, Texas will be ready to play and will come with their A-game as they control their own destiny on a quest to make it to Oklahoma City and the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

“If we just bring the three phases together,” says Ellis, “ I don’t think anybody can beat us.”

Both Thursday’s and Friday’s game will begin at 6:30 along with the finale on Saturday at 2:30, when the team’s six seniors are honored. All three contests will be live on Longhorn Network and Craig Way will be doing the play by play over the air on 104.9 The Horn.

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