A day after picking up their first road victory of the season, the Longhorns jumped out to an early lead Sunday and held on to win the rubber game of their series against Minnesota. 

Texas (14-9) recorded double-digit hits for a second straight day to top the Golden Gophers 6-3 in the series finale. Five Longhorns reached base at least twice in the contest, and three had multiple hits.

After taking a quick lead on an Erich Weiss RBI single in the first inning, Texas scored three times in the second to open up a 4-0 score. Alex Silver scored on Ben Johnson’s first career triple to jump-start the rally, and Jacob Felts and Weston Hall each had an RBI in the frame.

The Longhorns would add a pair of runs in the fourth inning, with the big blow being an RBI double off Hall’s bat. The junior center fielder finished the game three for five with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.

Nathan Thornhill had a strong start for Texas to improve his record to 2-2. The right-hander allowed three runs in six innings of work and struck out five batters.

Thornhill held the Golden Gophers scoreless though the first six innings before loading the bases without registering an out in the seventh. Relievers Ty Culbreth and Ty Marlow combined to allow each of the inherited runners to score but limited the damage to three runs. Corey Knebel pitched a pair of scoreless innings to pick up his fourth save of the year and nail down the win for Texas.

Mark Payton had two hits on the day to extend his hit streak to 12 games. The junior right fielder went six for 13 over the weekend to boost his season average to .415.

After Sunday’s game, head coach Augie Garrido said he was pleased with his team’s offensive output and he hopes the lineup would continue being productive.

“I want to see how we bounce back on top of some of the fundamentals of our offense and continue to make productive outs,” Garrido said. “We just want to see if we can keep the same level of intensity.”

The Longhorns dropped the first game of the series Friday 5-1 as Minnesota starter Tom Windle struck out 12 batters in a complete game performance. Texas would rebound with a 5-4 extra innings victory Saturday, with the big hit being a go ahead RBI single by Alex Silver in the 10th inning.  

The Longhorns will look to extend their win streak to three on Tuesday as they return home to host Texas State. The game is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Published on March 25, 2013 as "Horns clinch first road victory of year".