Bombs away

FINAL: Texas 7 – Texas State 3

Springboarding off scoring 16 runs against Kansas on Sunday, Texas smashed two more homeruns on Tuesday evening, beating Texas State, 7-3. The Longhorns have mashed seven longballs in the last two games and have seven multi-homerun games on the season.

The Bobcats struck for a pair of runs in the top of the first inning, getting an RBI double from Granger Studdard and an RBI single from Ben McElroy. Texas responded to the early deficit by sending nine hitters to the plate in the bottom half of the frame, scoring three runs and taking a lead they never relinquished.

While staying aggressive on offense, Longhorn batters also did a good job of staying patient and managing the strike zone in the home half of the first inning. Augie Garrido talked about how difficult it is to balance those two mentalities after the game, saying, “One of the things as a coaching staff that we saw in the game offensively, we took a high level of quality at bats through the first five innings. In all five innings, we did a good job of managing the strike zone and not swinging at pitches outside of the strike zone and becoming impatient. Being aggressive like that comes from confidence.”

To take the lead, Texas used a hit batter, a fielding error, a bunt, three walks, and an RBI triple from Tres Barrera. After the commotion, Texas State had already pulled their starting pitcher, and the Horns owned a 3-2 lead.

Texas then got a pair of two-run homeruns in later innings to maintain their advantage. Zane Gurwitz’ blast down the left field line scored Brooks Marlow in the bottom of the third, and Bret Boswell’s dinger to right field in the eighth frame, finished the scoring at 7-3.

Josh Sawyer settled in for a solid five innings after getting roughed up in the opening frame. Sawyer, who earned the win (3-2), struck out four Bobcat batters and only allowed the pair of runs Texas State scored in the top of the first.

Andy McGuire allowed a homerun in the top of the fifth and only recorded a single out before being pulled in favor of Jon Malmin. Combined with an inning of work from Malmin, Connor Mayes and Kirby Bellow shut the door on the Bobcats. The trio of Longhorn relievers tossed 3.2 scoreless innings and did not allow a single hit.

Texas travels to Fort Worth on Friday to face TCU in a pivotal three game series over the weekend.

POST-GAME

Augie Garrido

Josh Sawyer

Zane Gurwitz