The Longhorns will host Prairie View A&M on Tuesday night in an attempt to salvage what is left of their unsuccessful season. Texas (22-20, 5-12) was swept by in-state rival Baylor this past weekend in Waco, getting outscored 12-4 through three games.
However, despite dropping all but two weekend series this year, the Longhorns have dominated their midweek games. Texas is 7-2 in Tuesday night contests, including a dominating offensive performance in a 12-5 victory over Texas State earlier this month.
“We keep telling them the truth,” junior pitcher Corey Knebel said. “We’re a lot different than last year. We’re actually a team that’s really good, but we’re not showing it right now. We know it will turn around soon. It’s got to. The team we have is actually really good. It just hasn’t gone our way.”
Prior to the series against Baylor, Texas head coach Augie Garrido said that if they couldn’t win their upcoming series against Baylor, Kansas State and Big 12 newcomer TCU, the team would have to rely on their performance in the conference tournament next month. The last time the Longhorns failed to win a conference series was in 1956.
According to the coaching staff, to avoid missing another postseason, the Longhorns will need to win their remaining nine games and hope to carry that momentum into the Big 12 tournament, which only invites the conference's top eight seeds.
“If we can’t respond to that, then we’ll have to respond to what we get from where we place in the Big 12 tournament,” Garrido said.
Last week the Longhorns blanked Houston 4-0 in Austin. Earlier in the season, the Cougars defeated Texas 4-3 in Houston. Junior Erich Weiss hit his first home run of the season during his first at-bat last Tuesday night while Weston Hall and C.J Hinojosa each added an RBI to the evening.
Travis Duke, who came in as relief for starting pitcher Josh Urban, got the win for Texas to move to 3-0 on the season. Along with junior Ty Marlow, who came in at the top of the eighth inning, the Texas pitching staff combined for five strikeouts while surrendering only four hits and no runs.
Urban is expected to get his fourth start of the season against Prairie View A&M on Tuesday night. Urban is 1-0 on the season and has posted a 1.73 ERA, while fanning 18 batters through 26 innings. He is second among relievers in ERA, behind Duke, who has a 0.62 ERA through 29 innings on the mound.
