Texas vs Baylor (Division I championship - RECAP added)

[bcherry168]

Very impressive tournament so far. Congratulations to the team and coaching staff.

 

[utisdabomb12]

I like it. He'll be amped.

no doubt. We don't need big innings from him either, just need 3 to 5 good innings. 

 

[joeywa]

I'm ok with Fench getting the start. No win and there's no tomorrow. Pull out the stops.

 

[Matt Cotcher]

 
submitted Today, 03:12 PM in Texas Longhorns Baseball By Matt Cotcher   

 @mlcotcher
 
FINAL : Texas 4 – Baylor 0

On the strength of a complete game performance from starting pitcher Connor Mayes, the Texas Longhorns beat Baylor 4-0 to advance to the Big 12 championship game. Mayes’ effort marked the third consecutive complete game by a UT pitcher (Parker French, Ty Culbreth) - the first time the feat has ever been accomplished in the Big 12 tournament.

A two out homerun by Tres Barrera in the top of the first inning proved to be the only run support Mayes needed. With the two run lead Mayes attacked the Baylor lineup, finishing the game with 10 strikeouts. In the complete game shutout Mayes only allowed two hits and three walks.

Brooks Marlow delivered an RBI single in the top of the eighth inning, providing two insurance runs for the Longhorns, plating CJ Hinojosa and Tres Barrera. In addition to production from Barrera and Marlow, freshman Joe Baker accounted for a pair of hits.

Theron Kay took the loss for the Bears, falling to 3-4 on the year. Adam Toth and Kameron Esthay were the only Baylor batters to reach base multiple times.

With the win, Texas advances to the tournament’s championship game on Sunday at 12:00PM (Central). The Horns will face either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State in the championship and would automatically earn a berth in the NCAA postseason tournament with a win in the game. Texas is 4-0 all-time in championship game appearances.

POST-GAME

Augie Garrido

Opening Statement: "I don't know if we've done it before, but we've won three complete games in a row. That was new, but they picked the right time for it. If there's a time to let the champion that's inside of you out, it was now. The three pitchers certainly did their part from that point of view. It puts us in the best possible position we could be in, with the pitching staff the way it is. It gives us the best opportunity that we could ever have to be successful. We still have the job of being successful out in front of us, with us not knowing who we're going to play. But by being the undefeated team to this point doesn't make any difference, except for how it affects the players. We did make two errors, but they weren't costly because we didn't couple that with walks and other types of free gifts or extra outs in the framework of the inning. We didn't give up free bases. It was a pretty clean game."

On Connor Mayes: "I want to thank Connor Mayes and his parents, his high school coach and anybody else that coached him because he did a great job today. He's a great pitcher and will be in the future for The University of Texas.

He pitches with a purpose, which is what you want everyone to play with. The purpose has to be higher than their own goals – that's where the team comes in. If the highest level of motivation you have is focused on yourself, you can't contribute to the overall good of the people on your team. You have to have a higher goal than yourself and he has that. When he made the adjustments in the eighth and ninth inning, the adrenaline was going and he could get under the ball. But he could still listen and respond to Skip [Johnson] and the other people talking to him. He continued to dial it down and trust his teammates. That's a higher purpose." 

Connor Mayes

On the bases loaded situation: "It's stressful, it was a grind. I walked a couple of kids, that doesn't help you when you're walking people on four pitches. I had to step off the mound, C.J [Hinojosa] talked to me, Michael [Cantu] talked to me. I was able to calm myself down and get in to the zone, clear the mechanism as Skip [Johnson] would say. He told me to just hit the target and that's what I did. It worked out."

On the trend of pitching going nine innings: "I knew that I wanted to go out there and throw strikes and do the best I could. Those guys did a great job on Wednesday and Thursday. I knew I wanted to do what they did and throw strikes and when my time was done I was done and I knew that I gave it all I had and it went well today."

Tres Barrera

On the season: "It's the type of attitude all of the guys on this team have. Since the fall, we've all worked hard and came together. This season could've easily caused us to crumble and be selfish and become individuals, but we stuck together through all of the downs and kept working hard. Hopefully, as you see now, it's paying off."

On his home-run: "It was just a change-up up in the zone. If you see it up in the zone, I just swing at it and put a good swing on it. As Skip [Johnson] would say, 'physics did its work'."