Thoughts and Takeaways from Texas’ series win over Oklahoma State

[Jameson McCausland]

After dropping the series opener on Friday night, Texas baseball responded by winning the next 2 games and taking the series over Oklahoma State. Sunday’s 10-5 win puts Texas’ conference record at 5-1 as they head into a midweek matchup with Texas State before traveling to Kansas State for a 3 game series next weekend. Let’s take a look at some thoughts and takeaways from the series victory over the Cowboys.

Pitcher of the Weekend- Nolan Kingham/ Bryce Elder

Kingham was given an extra day of rest after recording his 2nd save of the season on Tuesday against Sam Houston State, and it seemed to very beneficial. The right-hander tossed 8 innings on Saturday, allowing 1 run and striking 5. The important number for Kingham was number of walks he allowed, which was 0. Saturday’s outing may have even been more impressive than the complete game performance he turned in last weekend against Kansas. Kingham did an excellent job of utilizing his sinker to get easy outs and showed good command of his offspeed pitches. While he still possesses the power fastball that can get into the mid 90’s, the ability to attack hitters and be aggressive in the zone was very encouraging to see.

Bryce Elder turned in his best performance of the season on Sunday, tossing 4 scoreless innings in relief of Chase Shugart, striking out 5 and only walking 1. When the freshman commands his cutter, he is one of the best options in the Longhorn bullpen.

Hitter of the Weekend: Ryan Reynolds

Reynolds finished the weekend 4 for 11, collecting 3 doubles and 2 RBI’s. The sophomore has looked a lot more comfortable this season solely hitting from the right side. It was tempting to go with Kody Clemens with this honor, but Reynolds had a very solid weekend and deserves credit for the quality at-bats he continues to put together.

Stat of the Weekend- 2.70

The Longhorn’s bullpen finished with a 2.70 ERA on the weekend. Along with Elder’s dominant performance on Sunday, Texas also received good showings from Beau Ridgeway, Kamron Fields, Andy McGuire and Chris Fearon. Assistant coach Sean Allen mentioned after Sunday’s game that the the pitching staff is beginning to feel more and more confident as roles are defined. Fields in particular continues to be intriguing as he works his way back from a shoulder injury. He flashes plus stuff and attacks hitters. His role will likely continue to grow as the season progresses.

Main Takeaway

A 5-1 record after 6 conference games is about as good of a start as the Longhorn’s could have hoped for. After getting shut down by Joe Lienhard on Friday night, David Pierce has to be happy with the way his team responded over the next 2 days. Texas showed timely hitting and received a good performance from their bullpen. It appears role are beginning to be defined on the pitching staff, which bolds well moving forward. Overall, it was another good series for Texas and they have now positioned themselves to be a contender for the top spot in the Big 12 as conference play unfolds.

Random Notes and Thoughts

Masen Hibbeler went 0 for 10 in the first 2 games of the series, but rebounded to collect 2 hits on Sunday while also driving in a run. What may be more important is the two games he started at first base on Friday and Saturday. The junior college transfer looked comfortable for someone playing the position for the first time, and he looks to be a viable option at first base moving forward.

Head coach David Pierce has mentioned before about how important mental toughness and having a good approach is to the success of a team. His team seemed to show that on Sunday. Despite falling behind 2-0 early in the game and having to deal with the ejection of their head coach, the Longhorns continued to battle and claw their way back into the game, ultimately taking the lead and running away with things.

David Hamilton returned to the lineup on Friday after dealing with a thumb injury, and the sophomore started all 3 games of the series. His speed was on display on Sunday, when he stole 2 bases. If Hamilton can remain healthy, it will only strengthen a lineup that already boast a lot of athleticism. 

Quotes from Sean Allen

On making adjustments against Carson Teel: 
“We made an adjustment to our approach and gave up the middle-half of home plate. Early in counts we were hunting the fastball. We just made an adjustment and our guys bought in and we got some big hits there.”

On the comeback in game 3: 
“It was awesome. Teel's a good pitcher. He can flat out pitch. His stuff wasn't as good as it normally is today but he really commands the fastball. The biggest thing is we're not trying to command the entire strike zone. As a hitter, you can't handle the entire strike zone, you have to handle part of it. The guys bought into it, made the change in the middle innings and were able to string together 3 or 4 really good at-bats.”

 

[joeywa]

I hope you can get some quotes from Pierce during media availability about the ejection and what his takeaway was. In my opinion, it was total BS. Holliday (OSU coach) was stalling by quibbling over where Reynolds’ feet were on the foul ball catch. I think his MO was to get Shugart out of rythym in hopes of getting a big inning. Pierce questions Blue about this and gets tossed. 

This whole collegiate umpiring thing needs to be blown up and retooled. Far too many egos trying to instert themselves into game stories and not doing what they’re paid to do. 

 

[Jameson McCausland]

I hope you can get some quotes from Pierce during media availability about the ejection and what his takeaway was. In my opinion, it was total BS. Holliday (OSU coach) was stalling by quibbling over where Reynolds’ feet were on the foul ball catch. I think his MO was to get Shugart out of rythym in hopes of getting a big inning. Pierce questions Blue about this and gets tossed. 

This whole collegiate umpiring thing needs to be blown up and retooled. Far too many egos trying to instert themselves into game stories and not doing what they’re paid to do. 

Pierce didn’t meet with the media after the game and there may not be any availability on Wednesday with the team traveling, so it may be a while before we get to ask him about it. After the game, Allen said that all Pierce said was “Let’s play ball”.  The first base umpire then started walking past the dugout and that’s when Kingham said something and was also ejected. Kingham will miss Tuesday’s game at Texas State (probably doesn’t mean much since he wasn’t going to pitch anyway)

 

[tejasrulz]

Even Moreland was saying that the umps let that get out of control. If that's all Pierce really did say, that was a piss poor job by the ump to give him the boot.

 

[Bear19]

Even Moreland was saying that the umps let that get out of control. If that's all Pierce really did say, that was a piss poor job by the ump to give him the boot.

I hope Pierce said more than that. A lot more.

 

[HORNfromETX]

I hope you can get some quotes from Pierce during media availability about the ejection and what his takeaway was. In my opinion, it was total BS. Holliday (OSU coach) was stalling by quibbling over where Reynolds’ feet were on the foul ball catch. I think his MO was to get Shugart out of rythym in hopes of getting a big inning. Pierce questions Blue about this and gets tossed. 

This whole collegiate umpiring thing needs to be blown up and retooled. Far too many egos trying to instert themselves into game stories and not doing what they’re paid to do. 

We have a few "College" umpires in our chapter and I can't stand them. They act like they know everything and try to treat High School games like college, but you can't. The ego statement is spot on when describing them.

 

[Johnstark23]

Like joeywa said earlier the OSU series has been the Bermuda Triangle of umpiring. The Mike Morris series a couple of years ago, now this. The quality of umpiring has gone to shit across the country. 

My favorite college umpire story comes from Tommy Boggs the head coach at Concordia. He was arguing with an umpire who tried to big time him by saying “well I work big 12 games.” Tommy’s response was oh yeah I played in the show for twelve years.