Shugart lifts Texas baseball to 4-2 win over Tennessee Tech to even NCAA Super Regional

By Habeab Kurdi

Aggressive and loose yet patient and precise, Texas was everything it needed to be in a crucial 4-2 win over Tennessee Tech in Game 2 of the NCAA Super Regional series Sunday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field.

Where the small things came up short a day before in Game 1, the Longhorns went right back to what got them here in the first inning to take a lead they would never relinquish. The story of the game, though, was [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]starting pitcher Chase Shugart’s brilliance in the midst of adversity in holding the nation’s best hitting team to just two hits over six innings of work. It was the fewest amount of hits the Golden Eagles produced in a game since February of 2015.

“In that moment, I have not” seen a better pitching performance this season, Texas head coach David Pierce said following the game of his junior right-hander. “We have had some great performances, (but) when you’re throwing out an elimination game and everything’s on the line, to go out and give us that performance is probably as good as we’ve seen all year, no doubt.”

Playing as the visiting team in Game 2 at their home stadium, the Longhorns scored one run in each of the first three innings while Shugart and Blair Henley, who normally starts for Texas, came in for three dominant innings in the save.

“Having that kind of offense support you and you know going in that I can pitch my game when we get the lead like that,” Shugart said of the early support. “I don’t have to press, I can be myself and attack the strike zone.”

Leadoff hitter David Hamilton drew three walks in the game and set the tone for the offense, along with — who else? — Kody Clemens. Hamilton started the game with a walk before Duke Ellis played the small game perfectly and executed a sac-bunt to put Hamilton in scoring position for Clemens. The Longhorns’ leading hitter promptly stepped in and drilled a ball into the right-centerfield gap for an RBI double and a 1-0 Texas lead that would never be relinquished.

“We feed off of David and Duke, and if we can get David on base, we can create some action — thats a big key for us,” Pierce said.

Against the Ohio Valley Conference Pitcher of the Year, Tennessee Tech senior ace Travis Moths, the Longhorns knew they once again had to take advantage of any momentum that came their way.

Whereas they had a hard time executing in those moments in Game 1, the Longhorns scored three of their four runs as a result of leadoff walks and smart aggression at the plate.

“For us to get David on to start the ballgame, you know some people say, ‘Well why are you bunting in the first inning?’ But thats how we’ve started a lot of games,” Pierce said. “We’re not always going to bunt there, but it’s an approach for us to get guys in scoring position and puts a little pressure on the defense, put a little pressure on the pitching, and it worked out today.”

Emotions poured out of Texas early and all game long, fueling the Longhorns’ loose spirit and aggressive attitude. Clemens was at the forefront again, following an uncharacteristic moment in the bottom of the second inning when he overthrew to first trying to turn a double play, which allowed the lone — albeit unearned — run against Shugart to score on his error.

He atoned for it moments later. In the top of the third with one out, Clemens absolutely rocketed a towering solo home run, his 23rd of the season and 10th in the last 14 games, over the fence in right-center to give Texas a 3-1 advantage, and narrowly missed another homer in the seventh with two men on.

As Clemens rounded third he looked deep into the Tennessee Tech dugout and flashed the ‘Horns at them. After stepping on home plate, Clemens came out to a rousing ovation call and flashed the same ‘Horns at the sold-out crowd, then he went to his starting pitcher to say something.

“He came in and gave me a hug and said, ‘I got you, sorry about that error,’” Shugart said.

A day earlier emotions helped the Golden Eagles offense, but in Game 2 it was Texas who took emotions by the horns and guided them to a win.

“Big-time players come through in big time situations — that’s an emotional situation for anybody,” Shugart said. “It doesn’t matter what’s going on. If we don’t feed off the emotion, we’re dead the whole time and there’s nothing going on. If we feed off of emotion that makes us better and that makes us more competitive.”

Tennessee Tech head coach Matt Bragga commented that his players stay on an even keel to keep at their competitive best, and that emotional play usually leads to bad things for his club, whereas Texas is looking to do just the opposite and capitalize on those emotional moments.

“Our program is not fueled on emotions. When we play emotional baseball it’s not as good,” Bragga said. “That’s not really us. We’re better if we stay a little bit here. Otherwise we’ll end up in a little bit of trouble.”

Pierce said he was proud his players were able to corral their emotions remain focused on the game plan.

“When something happens in the course of the game, I love for our guys to get excited,” Pierce said. “But then, regroup and understand it’s one play — let’s move on. Our emotion, we feed off of.”

After a rough outing against Texas Tech back on May 5, in which he allowed eight runs in 4-2/3 innings, Shugart only has allowed two earned runs in his past 25 innings and a mere 13 hits over that stretc, which spans his last six outings.

Even the Golden Eagles seemed impressed, and stifled at how they were unable to produce on a day where they drew five walks and threatened to tie the game in the sixth inning.

“The guy was dynamite,” Bragga said of Shugart’s performance. “He was really, really good. For us to get two hits off a guy in six innings, and it’s so funny — and I don’t mean any disrespect to him when I say this — watching (him pitch) from the side (in the dugout) I’m like, ‘OK, we’re gonna be alright.’ And he just kept shoving, and shoving, and shoving. I really tip my hat to him. That’s one of the best performances we’ve seen this year.”

The biggest moment on the mount for Shugart came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when he briefly lost his control and wound up in a two-on, one-out situation with Tennessee Tech slugger Chase Chambers — who was responsible for the go-ahead hit in Game 1 — to the plate. Shugart walked leadoff hitter Alex Junior on four pitches to start the inning, then after a strikeout he walked another hitter to set up the showdown.

Texas assistant coach Sean Allen made a visit to the mound to talk to Shugart, and the right-handed hurler got a huge out on the very next pitch as he got Chambers to fly out to center field.

“Coach ‘A’ came out and told me, ‘Be yourself and attack low in the zone, stay low in the zone and you’ll win,’” Shugart said of the mount conference. “Luckily I threw a first-pitch fastball at his shins and he popped it up.”

He induced a liner to right to end the inning, and made way for Henley, who was spectacular in his own right.

In the next half inning the Longhorns got an insurance run fueled by that patience and aggression. Masen Hibbeler led off with a walk and Tate Shaw drilled a pitch to right, but it smacked into Hibbeler’s ribs as he was running toward second for an automatic out and only one runner on. After Shaw stole second base and Ryan Reynolds struck out, Hamilton drew another walk to put two on for Ellis. The sophomore lefty ripped a single up the middle off Moths to score Shaw from second and give Texas a 4-1 lead. The hit chased Moths from the mound after allowing four runs, six hits and issuing seven walks to the patient Texas team. Clemens greeted reliever Colton Provey by driving a pitch about 390 feet but it fell just short of the 400’ sign in center and was caught for the third out.

“You know, I just stick to a game plan. That’s what I’ve been doing all day,” Ellis said. “Obviously was a tick behind balls all day and I made an adjustment that at-bat. It was just a big time hit.”

Henley came on in the seventh and allowed a solo homer to David Garza on his first pitch out of the pen, but then retired the next nine hitters in order to earn his first save of the season. Facing the meat of the Golden Eagles’ order in the ninth inning — all hitters with at least 17 homers on the season — Henley got a groundout from Chambers, another groundout off the bat of Trevor Putzig and finished what was started by getting Garza to fly out to end the game.

Pierce wouldn’t say who would get the ball to start Game 3, which is back at Disch-Falk Field at noon Monday. The Texas coach did say he saw a team that resembled his club throughout the year, rather than the tight team that played through Game 1.

“We just gotta go back to preparation and how we got here, and we’ve always been a loose team. So today we just went out and went for it,” Pierce said “We were aggressive and very comfortable just trying to do our jobs. We did a much better job laying off pitchers’ pitches and a much better job with two strikes.”
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