Texas beats Baylor for first sweep in Big 12 play since 2012

By Christian Corona

For the first time since taking three in a row from Oklahoma more than two years ago, Texas swept a team in Big 12 play by beating Baylor, 4-0, on Sunday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field.

The Longhorns had played 17 series against Big 12 opponents -– going 21-30 in those series -– since their last sweep. Mark Payton hit a two-out, full-count bases-clearing walk-off double down the left field line to give Texas a 5-4 win in Friday’s series opener before Dillon Peters struck out a career-high nine batters in the Longhorns’ 6-3 victory over the Bears Saturday.

“I think what we demonstrated over the weekend was three different ways to win a ballgame,” said head coach Augie Garrido. “There’s something in us as humans that, we stay in our way of[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] our own capabilities. When you get out of your way and trust the process that you’re involved with, you can perform at a higher level. I think that’s what happened.”

Those first two victories gave Nathan Thornhill a chance to help Texas (26-7, 6-3) sweep Baylor (15-16, 4-7) for the first time since 2010 and he took full advantage of the opportunities. The senior tossed eight scoreless innings, lowering his ERA this season from 0.88 to 0.73, striking out three and walking two to improve to 5-0 on the year. No Baylor baserunner ever reached third base.

“Nathan was excellent today,” Garrido said. “But that’s within the framework of what he’s capable of doing when he focuses on hitting the mitt and not feeling responsible for winning the game. That’s the demon in the whole deal.”

Those five victories are a career-high for Thornhill, who threw 106 pitches but wanted a chance to pitch his first complete-game shutout since last year’s season finale against TCU. Texas has won 11 of its last 12 games.

“I was trying not to make eye contact with [pitching coach] Skip [Johnson],” Thornhill said. “I did my routine – drank my water, put my jacket on and I was going to sit down. But he found me when I was trying to avoid him. He could see what I was doing.”

Thornhill got plenty of help from his catcher, freshman Tres Barrera, who nailed a pair of Bears trying to steal second base and provide a pair of insurance runs with a two-run double in the seventh inning. The Longhorns were held hitless through three innings and scoreless through four before an RBI single from Brooks Marlow put them on the board.

“What he did there was go back to his short swing,” said Garrido. “The tendency is try as you fail, which he did earlier because hitting’s all about failure. He then made an adjustment, which is very mature in that situation, to go back to his batting practice swing – just hitting a line drive and getting the barrel on the ball.”

But it wasn’t until Barrera’s bases-loaded two-bagger into right-center that Texas pulled away from Baylor – who swept the Longhorns last year. After Zane Gurwitz’s leadoff single and Brooks Marlow’s sacrifice bunt, Ben Johnson laid down a bunt single and Mark Payton was intentionally walked to load the bases.

That set the stage for Barrera to rip a 1-0 offering from Baylor reliever Daniel Castano into right-center, bringing home Gurwitz and Johnson. After starting the season batting .128 in his first 15 games, Barrera is hitting .415 over his last 16.

“Earlier in my previous at-bats, I was pulling off the ball a little bit,” Barrera said. “I told myself to calm down. I knew they were going to walk Mark in front of me. Who wouldn’t? I just stayed within myself, trusted my swing, he left it out over the plate and I put a good swing on it.”

Texas drew as many walks as the number of hits it had (seven), including three in a three-run rally in the seventh inning, when the Longhorns batted around and left the bases loaded. Collin Shaw walked a game-high three times while Payton was also walked twice, including once intentionally. Payton extended his streak of consecutive games reaching base to 72, the longest in the country.

“There’s only two things a hitter can do – hit it or take it,” Garrido said. “But to do that, you have to see it and have pretty good instincts to be able to swing the bat. It’s all instinctive.”

Payton went hitless Sunday for just the second time in nine Big 12 games but reached base four times – twice on a walk and twice via an error. But if not for his heroics Friday night, the Longhorns would never have been in a position to sweep an opponent in conference play for the first time in more than two years.

“We’ve got them right where we want them,” Garrido told his team before that fateful ninth inning. “That spirit that I talk about sometimes is the magic in baseball that develops the intangibles that appear to be luck. But somehow the game knows if you’re fully committed to team and if you’re fully committed to respecting the game and playing the game right. When you do, and you’re unselfish about it and you’re playing for the team, you get great rewards. That’s what’s happening right now.”

That sweep against Oklahoma in 2012 also began with a thriller as the Longhorns erased a four-run first-inning deficit and beat the Sooners, 7-6, in 12 innings before taking the next two games in Norman by more convincing scores of 9-5 and 9-4. Thornhill got a no-decision in that series opener and remembers that series well.

“It was a wild Friday night game and it was probably one of the best series we played all year,” said Thornhill. “I think this team is a lot more consistent than that one. This sweep was much more harder earned than that sweep. I think we played better baseball this time.”

At 26-7, with a No. 5 RPI before sweeping Baylor this week and a solid 6-3 mark in conference play, this may very well not be the last time the Longhorns sweep a Big 12 foe this season.

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