Matt Cotcher
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submitted Today, 08:29 PM in Texas Longhorns Baseball By Matt Cotcher
Game 4: Texas 12 – Stanford 4
The Longhorns jumped on Stanford starter Griffin Weir for five runs in the top of the first inning, and then cruised to a 12-4 win in the series finale. The victory earned Texas a 2-2 series split after dropping the first two games of the weekend set.
In the top of the first inning, UT used five walks, a hit batter, a wild pitch, and a 2 RBI single by Taylor Stell to take control of the game. Tres Barrera followed that effort by blasting a second inning homerun to left field, making it 7-0 in Texas’ favor.
Stanford slowly cut into the lead with a pair of runs in the third and sixth innings, but Texas answered with their own two runs in the top of the seventh frame. The runs came courtesy of RBI singles from Ben Johnson and Collin Shaw. Zane Gurwitz added another two runs on a ninth inning homer to left centerfield.
Josh Sawyer was the winning pitcher, throwing five innings and allowing one earned run. Three Horns (Duke, Johnston, Mayes) came on in relief over the final four frames.
Game 3 Recap
Game 2 Recap
Game 1 Recap
Team Trends & Trajectory
- This team’s defense is on pace to be one of the best in the country. Stell and Shaw making unbelievable catches in the outfield; Cantu throwing a laser across the entire field; Marlow & Boswell’s performances on Saturday – Texas can do it all, and do it very well.
- The Longhorns had 11 total extra base hits (5 doubles, 5 home runs, 1 triples) in the 4-game set, and have 50 on the season. That’s 37% of their 2014 total (136) in only 16 games.
- Texas scored in the first inning of both wins. The Longhorns are 5-2 when scoring at least 1 run in the 1st inning.
- Considering their free-swinging, aggressive approach at the plate, the Horns still drew 25 walks in the series. Extra baserunners when the team is mashing (Johnson, Barrera, & Cantu all hit over .300 in the series) is good plate discipline.
- After a 5-5 day at the plate on Sunday, Ben Johnson is hitting .443 – and not seeing-eye-singles either. Johnson is seeing the ball incredibly well and driving through it.
Post-game quotes from Augie Garrido:
On the team’s progression in the series: “We really improved in every game we played here. The toughest game was the first one. I didn’t want to bring it up, but the players spent six hours in the airport waiting to take off and got here at 3:30 in the morning, so they had a lot of adjustments to make prior to that first game. We were uncharacteristically impatient and swinging at bad pitches, but we got it straightened out and ended the series in the right way.â€
On finishing the series with a split: “It’s really important for the RPI. If you split 50/50 you’re coming out of it with a pretty good score, but if you go three losses and one win it really adds up in the wrong way quickly.â€
On Josh Sawyer: “He’s improved each time he’s been out there. He’s got a little perfectionist in him which is part of what makes him good. He practices right, takes his bullpens and really works at them game-like. He’s an up-and-coming star pitcher for us.â€
On Ben Johnson: “Ben has worked really hard at his game. He’s worked very hard in the weight room to get stronger and faster, if that can be done, because he’s already the strongest and the fastest guy on the team. But he’s also the hardest working guy. He really takes care of himself and I think this is really leading towards a level of confidence that he really feels like he deserves to be successful. That’s a very important element, that feeling of confidence he has, it’s almost magical the way it turns into base hits. He got five of them today which is a pretty good season for a lot of people. He’s really doing a great job for us.â€
