After dropping a gut-wrenching, 18-inning affair in Game 1, the Longhorns bounced back with mixed results in Stillwater on Saturday evening. Ultimately Texas lost 3-1, but several players showed signs of improvement. The defeat results in a Big 12 series loss, the first of the season for the Horns.
Texas hit groundballs and line drives early, but stranded a pair of runners in each of the first two innings. Tres Barrera broke a scoreless tie with a homerun to left field in the top of the third frame with two outs.
However, that was the lone run of the evening for the Horns, who only managed three hits in the final six frames. In total, Texas stranded nine baserunners on the night, giving them a two-game total of 29.
Starter Chad Hollingsworth struggled with command early, elevating too many pitches. The Cowboys took advantage, answering Barrera’s blast immediately with a run of their own in the bottom of the third inning. The next inning catcher Bryan Case hit a line drive homer to left field, scoring David Petrino, and giving the Pokes a 3-1 margin they never relinquished.
Freshman Kyle Johnston was a bright spot for the Longhorns. Johnston threw 2.2 scoreless innings of relief, striking out five Cowboys. With the loss, Hollingsworth falls to 3-3 on the season.
The bottom half of the Texas batting order accounted for five hits, but Brooks Marlow, Collin Shaw, and Ben Johnson were a combined 0-11 without drawing a single walk. Marlow stranded four more runners on Saturday, giving him a total of seven left on base in the first two games of the series.
POST-GAME
Augie Garrido
