Texas Baseball hosts 4-game series with Stanford

The Texas baseball team hosts Stanford for a four-game series, starting tonight through Sunday.

Stanford owns the all-time series record at 34-31-7, but Texas leads the series when played at UFCU Disch-Falk, 17-13-1. These two teams matched up last season in California, and both schools won two games.

Texas originally announced junior LHP Josh Sawyer would be the Thursday night starter. The Longhorns later tweeted that freshman RHP Nolan Kingham will start instead. Kingham pitched two innings against UNLV last Saturday, allowing only one hit. The Las Vegas native was a three-year starter for Desert Oasis High School. The Milwaukee Brewers drafted Kingham in the 39^th round in the 2015 draft.

Longhorn sophomore RHP Kyle Johnston is slated to start Friday night. Johnston started game one against UNLV, going four innings and giving up one earned run. He allowed five walks while striking out four. Johnston finished the 2015 season with a 2.21 ERA over 40.2 innings. He averaged one strikeout an inning.

Senior LHP Ty Culbreth gets the ball for Saturday’s game. Culbreth earned the first win for the Longhorns’ 2016 campaign. He pitched five innings, allowing four hits and one earned run in Saturday’s 11-2 win. Culbreth finished 2015 with a 3.95 ERA over 54.2 innings. He appeared in 27 games, earning four wins and four saves.

To wrap up the series on Sunday, Texas assigned sophomore RHP Connor Mayes to the mound. Mayes started the Sunday game last weekend, going four innings. He did not allow a run, giving up only four hits and three walks. Mayes struck out three. In 2015, Mayes pitched 66.1 innings, finishing with a 2.58 ERA.

For the offensive side, Texas owns some hot bats right now. The Longhorns scored 21 runs last weekend against UNLV. Junior outfielder Zane Gurwitz finished the weekend with five hits in 14 at bats. Gurwitz recorded a double and a triple. Sophomore outfielder Patrick Mathis struggled in the first game, going hitless over five at bats. He finished the rest of the weekend three-for-six with a double and two home runs. Sophomore catcher/designated hitter Michael Cantu recorded four hits in 11 plate appearances. He finished the weekend with three doubles and four RBIs. Junior catcher/designated hitter Tres Barrera hit safely three times in nine at bats. He plated three of the Longhorns’ 21 runs.

The Cardinal’s head coach Mark Marquess owns 1,557 career wins while Texas’ head coach Augie Garrido is only 48 wins shy of 2,000 for his career. This weekend’s series airs on Longhorn Network.