The third and final day of the State Farm College Baseball Showdown brought more disappointment for No. 9 Texas. The Longhorns had no solution for their batting woes as they fell 8-1 to No. 6 Ole Miss, finishing winless in Arlington, Texas.
The Longhorns failed to score a run in eight of nine total innings played as they failed to find a rhythm for the third straight contest. It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth inning that redshirt junior infielder Cam Williams launched a solo home run for Texas’ only run of the night. Immediately following Williams’ bomb, Ole Miss squandered any momentum the Longhorns might have gotten by scoring four runs in the top of the sixth.
Ole Miss led Texas in hits, RBIs, doubles and triples. The Longhorns just seemed outmatched the entire game, finishing with just five hits, one run and one RBI.
Despite the winless showing in Arlington, head coach David Pierce is confident his team can bounce back for their four-game series against BYU starting Wednesday.
“Wednesday is game one,” Pierce said. “We’re not 0–3 and we’re not 3–0. We’re playing game one on Wednesday, and then we’re going to execute and play well, and then we’re going to do it again.”
Ole Miss controlled the contest throughout. The Rebels were able to get nine hits and eight runs against a bevy of Longhorns pitchers. Ole Miss was led by sophomore utility player Peyton Chatagnier, who had two runs and three hits.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Kolby Kubichek threw five innings for the Longhorns, giving up four hits as well as two runs. Kubichek displayed poise and control on the mound, Pierce said.
“Kolby’s performance was the best start that he’s had at Texas,” Pierce said. “I feel like he did what we were talking about. He went out and was Kolby Kubichek.”
The Longhorns have a lot to improve on before their first regular-season game against Brigham Young University on Wednesday.
Throughout the three games in the State Farm College Baseball Showdown, Texas did not exceed three runs scored in a game. The Longhorns also failed to reach more than nine hits in a game during the tournament.
Texas has struggled just as much on the defensive end as they have on the offensive end. They gave up at least four runs in every game of the tournament.
Arlington was not very kind to the Longhorns this time around. However, there’s a lot of room for improvement before the season begins Wednesday. As the regular season is set to kick off soon, expect the Longhorns will look to tighten up and make adjustments on both sides of the ball.
