After seeing their five-game win streak snapped Tuesday, the Longhorns will look to right the ship against Stanford this weekend in their first road series of the year.

Texas will send right-hander Parker French to the mound in Friday’s opener to take on Cardinal ace Mark Appel. French is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA and has struck out 11 batters in 13.1 innings thus far.

The Longhorns will have their work cut out for them against Appel, who is 1-1 with a 1.93 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 14 innings. The right-hander is coming off a season in which he went 10-2 with a 2.56 ERA and tallied 130 strikeouts in 123 innings, and he is a strong candidate to be taken first overall in the 2013 MLB Draft.

Left-hander Dillon Peters is slated to start Saturday’s game for Texas against John Hochstatter, and Nathan Thornhill will oppose Stanford’s Bobby Zarubin in Sunday’s series finale. Thornhill is coming off his best start of the year last Sunday, in which he allowed just two hits in seven shutout innings.  

The Longhorns are hopeful to have better results this time around in their trip to Palo Alto after getting outscored 28-5 in a three-game sweep last year against the Cardinals. Outfielder Mark Payton, who leads Texas in 2013 with a .536 average and 11 RBIs, knows that Stanford poses a significant threat but expects his team to be motivated and ready to play.

“That rivalry between Texas and Stanford is just two schools built on tradition,” Payton said. “You’re just ready to go against them. [Against] a great team like them, if you’re not ready to go you shouldn’t be playing baseball. It’s going to be an excited weekend and we’re looking forward to getting after it.”

Friday’s series opener is scheduled to begin at 5:30 PT at Sunken Diamond, where the Cardinals are 4-0 this season.

Published on March 1, 2013 as "Longhorns seek new win streak at Stanford".