UT baseball improves to 2-1 with 7-0 win against UNLV

By Steve Habel/Senior Editor

AUSTIN, Texas — Two dominant performances in two days against a middling opponent might not be an accurate indication of how good the Texas baseball team will be as the season progresses. But Longhorn coach Augie Garrido said the wins — capped by a 7-0 whitewashing Sunday afternoon of the UNLV Rebels at UFCU Disch-Falk Field — showed the kind of attitude that has been prevalent in the Texas camp during fall and preseason practices.

“These past two games have been the kind of play we hoped we would see, and that we expected entering the season,” Garrido said. “On opening night, the players were a little keyed up and excited, and felt the burden of the responsibility of playing for the University of Texas, but these last two games, we’ve seen the approach we need to be successful.”

After losing the season-opener [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]Friday to UNLV, 4-3, in 12 innings, the No. 23 Longhorns dominated the proceedings Saturday and Sunday, outscoring the Rebels, 18-2, and outhitting them, 23-13, over those two games. Texas pitchers now have hurled 12 straight scoreless innings.

The Longhorns had 10 hits off of six UNLV pitchers. Right fielder Patrick Mathis, first baseman Kacy Clemens and third baseman Travis Jones had two hits each to lead Texas (2-1), while designated hitter Michael Cantu and Mathis scored twice and Kacy Clemens had two runs batted in.

UNLV (1-2), picked in the preseason to finish fifth in the Mountain West Conference, managed five hits off five Texas hurlers; A.J. Vanmeetren had two of those hits for the Rebels.

Texas got the only run it would need in the bottom of the first when Mathis ripped an opposite-field solo home run on the first pitch he saw from UNLV starter Ben Wright. He picked up right where he left off Saturday, when he ripped a home run in his final at-bat of an 11-2 Texas win.

“I’m just trying to keep things simple — see ball, hit ball,” Mathis said.

The Longhorns added two runs in the second as a single by freshman second baseman Kody Clemens plated Michael Cantu, who walked and was sacrificed to second by Kacy Clemens, and an RBI single from Travis Jones that brought home the younger Clemens (both Kody and Kasey Clemens are sons of former UT and Major League Baseball pitcher Roger Clemens).

Texas’ advantage expanded to 5-0 in the fifth inning on RBI singles by catcher Tres Barrera and Kacy Clemens that scored center fielder Zane Gurwitz and Mathis, respectively. The lead grew to 7-0 in the seventh as a double by Cantu chased home Barrera all the way from first base and a bloop single to center by Kacy Clemens allowed Cantu to score.

“Unlike in that first game, we didn’t just sit on a lead,” Garrido said. “We kept working to score and added on. We were very good with two-strike hitting, today especially.”

In the fifth, UNLV sent freshman righthander Chase Maddux to the mound in relief of Wright (0-1). Maddux, the son on MLB Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, retired Kody Clemens on a grounder to second. In the sixth, Maddux set down all three Texas batters he faced.

Righthander Connor Mayes started for Texas and went four-plus innings before being lifted for lefthander Travis Duke, who picked up the victory in his first decision of the season by closing out the fifth. Lefthander Nick Kennedy pitched through an error and a single to record a scoreless sixth inning.

In the seventh, sophomore pitcher Morgan Cooper made his first appearance on the mound since the College World Series in 2014. Cooper, who sat out last year after having Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, allow no hits and a walk in two innings of work, after which he was lifted in place of freshman righthander Chase Shugart in the ninth.

Texas returns to play Thursday when it hosts Stanford for the first of a four-game, four-day series.

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