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JT Bowen, Common Sports activities Reporter
June 12, 2023

Within the span of simply over 24 hours, the elation of an unbelievable comeback has been changed with the nerve-racking nature of the duty at hand.

Texas entered the ninth inning in a well-known place, down two runs, however had been unable to duplicate sport one’s heroics, falling 3-8 to Stanford within the Tremendous Regionals to increase the collection.

For his second straight begin, redshirt sophomore Lebarron Johnson Jr. pulled himself out of early jams, giving up only one earned run whereas leaving six runners on base to maintain Stanford from capitalizing on the Longhorns’ sluggish offense.

“All he’s carried out is simply paid consideration, he’s like a sponge,” Texas head coach David Pierce stated in a mid-game interview of Johnson Jr.’s development. “Simply no matter you inform him, you higher be proper, as a result of he’s gonna attempt to do it.” 

Nonetheless, Texas wasn’t capable of journey Johnson Jr. the entire approach like final weekend, as he was pulled after an uneven 4.1 innings following an RBI-double that made it a 3-2 sport in favor of the Cardinals. Travis Sthele took the mound, and regardless of giving up a two-run homer in opposition to his first batter, the redshirt sophomore finally proved to be the spark the Longhorns had been on the lookout for.

Sthele tossed three scoreless innings to present the Longhorns an opportunity after getting into within the fifth, tallying 4 strikeouts, together with a very nasty one within the backside of the seventh with two outs and runners on first and second that left possible first-round decide Tommy Troy frozen. 

Apart from an RBI-triple within the third inning from freshman first baseman Jared Thomas the Longhorns had been unable to muster a lot on offense, logging simply eight hits within the contest and rendering Sthele’s outing in useless.

Stanford opted to avoid wasting their ace, senior Quinn Mathews, for sport two. The Pac-12 Pitcher of the 12 months was electrical for the Cardinals in a full 9 innings of labor, throwing 156 pitches, racking up 16 strikeouts, one stroll and a spot within the nightmares of Texas batters.

Junior shortstop Mitchell Daly scored a run within the backside of the seventh for the Longhorns with two outs, pulverizing a solo homer into left area to chop the Cardinal result in two, but it surely was too little, too late for Texas.

With two runners on base and one out within the prime of the ninth, the Longhorns turned to redshirt sophomore Andre Duplantier II, presumably to salvage Sthele’s arm for Monday’s motion. Any hopes of a miracle had been dashed after a trio of insurance coverage runs had been tacked on to increase Stanford’s result in 8-3, a rating that may maintain after Texas limped out of a runless ninth inning.

Texas enters Monday’s sport three with their season on the road and their prime two pitchers tapped, a less-than-optimal state of affairs given the shoddy bullpen depth the Longhorns have displayed thus far. 

The Longhorns will play for a visit to the School World Collection on Monday, with first pitch set for 7 p.m. CST.

4 days after a title-winning sweep in opposition to No. 6 West Virginia, the Longhorns’ scorching streak rapidly got here to an finish as they had been outmatched in opposition to the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday.

Regardless of a promising weekend in Austin that noticed Texas securing the No. 1 seed within the Huge 12 match and a share of the common season title, the Longhorns did not experience their momentum heading into match play. The Kansas Jayhawks, who completed simply 8–16 in Huge 12 play, knocked the Longhorns to the decrease bracket after a 6-3 victory in Arlington.

The deciding second got here within the seventh inning, with the sport tied at two, an already low rating for the Longhorns who spent the weekend scoring six runs per sport within the first two innings. With junior lefty and Huge 12 Pitcher of the 12 months Lucas Gordon chased out of the sport after 5 innings, redshirt sophomore right-hander Travis Sthele was tasked with maintaining the sport inside attain. After an improved sixth inning, Sthele bought into hassle within the seventh, loading the bases off of a single, a stroll, and an intentional stroll. Stepping in was Jayhawk and junior DH Janson Reeder, who had already homered in opposition to the Longhorns in a 4-10 dwelling victory just below three weeks earlier, Kansas’ solely win over Texas this yr.

On a 3-2 rely, Sthele threw a fastball proper down the center, permitting Reeder to launch a bomb to proper discipline, simply over junior Dylan Campbell’s head. The DH flipped his bat and rounded the bases in swagger, understanding he’d simply hit the most important dwelling run of his life and his first grand slam of the season.

Wednesday’s loss spelled one other unlucky outing for Sthele in Arlington. Although he was capable of end the sport with no extra harm, the pitcher has now given up 12 runs this season in Arlington, eight of which got here unearned in opposition to Vanderbilt in Texas’ third sport of the season throughout the 2023 Faculty Baseball Showdown.

Texas’ most important spark of offense got here from junior second baseman Jack O’Dowd, who homered twice within the sport and was liable for the primary and final runs UT scored. Wednesday was O’Dowd’s first multi-homer sport of his profession and was the catalyst that Texas wanted on the finish of their lineup.

Sadly for O’Dowd and the pitching workers, the remainder of the Longhorn batters didn’t come to play. The workforce struck out 9 occasions, three of which got here within the ninth inning. The highest six within the Longhorns order hit simply 4/20 with zero additional base hits. Although the field rating made the sport appear shut, it felt just like the Longhorns had been enjoying defensive the entire sport, distinction to the 14 runs per sport they’d been scoring of their final 5 video games.

The Longhorns now fall to 0–4 at Globe Life Subject in Arlington on the season and can want a robust displaying in opposition to Kansas State on Thursday for an opportunity at a Huge 12 match title.