Texas Baseball Tops Texas Tech, 8-3, in Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Opening Round
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Lukas Schiraldi pitched 5 1/3 solid innings, Ben Johnson and Mark Payton drove in two runs apiece, and the No. 22/28 Texas baseball team defeated No. 23/27 Texas Tech, 8-3, Wednesday night in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship.
The No. 5 seed Longhorns move on to play No. 1 seed Oklahoma State Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
Texas (37-16) used a five-run second inning to take command – scoring all five runs with two outs – and Schiraldi gave up just one run one four hits and five walks. Chad Hollingsworth was credited with a save after coming on to pitch the final 3 2/3, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk.
Zane Gurwitz led the offense with a 3-for-4 performance, while Johnson, Payton, Madison Carter and Collin Shaw all had two hits apiece. Johnson had a game-high three runs, while Gurwitz had two. Texas had 13 hits as a team, marking the fourth time in the last five games it has recorded double-digit hits.
Shaw started the five-run second inning with a single, and stole second before being driven in on a RBI single from Kacy Clemens. After Gurwitz followed with a single and Brooks Marlow drew a walk to load the bases, Johnson drove in two runs with a single through the right side. Payton made it 5-0 when he doubled to left field to drive in two more.
Schiraldi faced trouble in the second and third innings, but limited damage both times. In the second, Tech loaded the bases with one out but Schiraldi used a strikeout and fly out to strand three. An inning later, the Red Raiders got on the scoreboard with a run-scoring double from Bryant Burleson, but Schiraldi again prevented further damage. With runners on first and second, he got a fly out and two strikeouts to end the inning.
Texas responded immediately, scoring twice in the fourth to take a 7-1 advantage. Gurwitz opened the inning by hustling to turn a single into a double, and came around to score on a single to center field by Johnson. Payton followed with his second double of the day to put runners on second and third, and Barrera drove in a run on a groundout.
Schiraldi settled in the next two innings, working a 1-2-3 fourth and allowing just a single in a scoreless fifth. Hollingsworth came on with one out in the sixth and induced a 5-4-3 inning ending double play with the bases loaded to preserve an 8-1 lead.
Texas Tech struck for a pair of runs in the seventh when Adam Kirsch hit a two-run triple, but the Longhorns shut down the Red Raiders (40-17) over the next two innings.
Payton extended his reached-base streak to 92 games, one shy of the Big 12 record held by Nick Martini of Kansas State. Schiraldi (7-3) picked up his team-high seventh win of the season, while the save for Hollingsworth was his second.
