Texas baseball rolls past Texas State, 9-2

By Steve Lansdale

AUSTIN, Texas — Sometimes, one is enough.

The University of Texas baseball team got all the offense it would need in the first inning Tuesday, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after the first stanza and never looking back en route to a 9-2 victory over Texas State at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

With the victory, the Longhorns improved their season record to 23-13, while Texas State fell to 20-14.

Freshman third baseman Ryan Reynolds drove in the game’s first run when he smacked a double to score left fielder Tate Shaw with the game’s first run. After catcher Michael McCann walked to load the bases, Bret Boswell [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]doubled the Longhorns’ lead with an RBI single to center. First baseman Jake McKenzie then drove in what proved to be the deciding run when he hit into a fielder’s choice. Freshman David Hamilton drove in the fourth run of the first inning on a bases-loaded walk.

Texas head coach David Pierce said that after the Longhorns’ emotional series against Oklahoma over the weekend, he was pleased with his team’s performance.

“It was a great Tuesday night win on a short week after a very emotional weekend for us to come back and really play well,” Pierce said. “I thought it was big for our team and the maturity of our team. We’ve got great pitching, but we did a great job in the first inning when they had bases loaded, nobody out. We were able to get out of that unscathed and then bounced right back and scored four, and that set the tone of the game.”

UT stretched its lead to 5-0 in the third inning when Kody Clemens drew another bases-loaded walk.

Texas starter Nick Kennedy pitched his way out of a bases-loaded, no outs jam in the top of the first, and threw three scoreless innings before allowing a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Kennedy was pulled in favor of Chase Shugart, who got the Longhorns out of the inning without any more damage and got the win to even his season record at 2-2.

“(Kennedy) has been developing that (changeup) pitch and having the availability of it made the difference for him, because they are a very good hitting team, and they are really good against the fastballs,” Pierce said. “I thought he did a really good job of settling in and pitching.”

With his team leading, 5-2, right fielder Patrick Mathis put the game out of reach with a two-run home run — his third long ball of the season — to left field, putting UT ahead, 7-2.

Mathis, who recently returned to the lineup after being out injured, said the pitch he hit out looked familiar.

“It felt amazing, coming back from an injury,” he said. “It felt great, just to be back in the lineup. Going through that (at-)bat, he threw me the same pitch right before. It was down and away. I honestly didn’t think it was going to go out, because I checked the wind the inning before and it was blowing in, so I didn’t think it was going to go, but I knew I hit it pretty well.”

The Longhorns are back in action this weekend when they host New Orleans at 7 p.m. Friday, 4 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday. All three games will be shown on the Longhorn Network.
[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [article-offer] [/s2If]