UFCU Disch-Falk Field froze as both the crowd and teams alike took a moment of silence for the victims of Monday’s horrific day on campus.
The Longhorns also sported a black patch right above the burnt orange brim of their hats in remembrance of the tragic attack that took the life of freshman Harrison Brown and injured three others on
campus Monday afternoon.
“Harrison Brown did not deserve to die the way he did,” head coach David Pierce said. “It was just a remembrance from our team and an understanding of their family and our thoughts and prayers with them … It was just something to take a step back and understand how precious life is and to just be thankful for it.”
Pierce and his ballclub took the field just 24 hours after the incident, and once the moment of silence concluded, the No. 24 Longhorns got to work on their 4-1 victory over UT-Arlington Tuesday night.
However, Texas’ Tuesday night win at home isn’t anything new. After the 4-1 win, the Longhorns improve to 9-0 in midweek games at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
“It’s unbelievable,” Pierce said. “It’s one of the things that I brought in here knowing that we have to be good on these types of ball games. You’ve got quality people coming in that want to beat you, but when you start adding those wins up it starts building your résumé and we’re seeing the results of that right now.”
Junior right-hander Kyle Johnston got the start on the mound and found himself in a bases loaded jam with no outs — the Longhorns defense responded.
Freshman third baseman Ryan Reynolds fumbled a ground ball, but he managed to recover and throw the third base runner out at home to prevent a run from scoring. Then, freshman David Hamilton made a 6-4-3 double play to get the Longhorns out of the inning.
It was defensive innings like this which allowed the Longhorns to win despite being outhit 8-7. And they gave up only one run.
“It was one of those deals where we were solid – we weren’t great, but we were very consistent,” Pierce said. “And that’s what I appreciated is the ability to go out there and pitch and play defense
every night to give us a chance to win.”
Although Texas only mustered seven hits, junior left fielder Travis Jones was the one who made a difference at the plate.
“Offensively, not a lot of hits,” Pierce said. “But we had some (high) slugging percentage tonight, had a long ball and a couple of extra base hits and that was the difference.”
Jones got off to a quick start by sending a double to right field in the first inning, which allowed sophomore designated hitter Kody Clemens to score after a throwing error from the UT-Arlington right fielder.
Jones wasn’t done. The left fielder sent a solo shot to right field in the fifth inning en route to Texas’ 4-1 victory.
The No. 24 Longhorns are riding a three game winning-streak, but now they face arguably their toughest challenge of the season this weekend: a three-game series with No. 9 TCU.