In its first midweek game of the season, No. 16 Texas baseball put the Houston Christian Huskies in the dog pound after registering 24 total hits, including seven doubles, a triple and three home runs for the evening, securing a 20-3 victory.
After leaving HCU stranded with the bases loaded and failing to score at the bottom of the first, Texas went all gas, no brakes in front of football Head Coach Steve Sarkisian, who was found rooting in the stands. The Longhorns accumulated more doubles, triples and homers on Tuesday night than they did across three days of play against San Diego the weekend prior.
“We took on some quality pitching on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and it’s hard to get that type of explosive offense in any game,” Head Coach David Pierce said. “I think the key is to maintain their discipline. If I’m going to get a pitch, I’m going to be ready to hit it.”
Making his debut on the mound for Texas was redshirt sophomore Luke Harrison who was unable to find his footing and allowed three walks, two hits and one run to put the Longhorns in a 1-0 deficit to end the first inning. He was swapped out early for freshman Easton Tumis, who went on to keep the Huskies under control through two innings.
What followed was a scoring spree enacted by senior infielder Jack O’Dowd, who launched a double to right field, accompanied by an RBI single from sophomore Rylan Galvan to bring O’Dowd home. A hit from freshman Will Gasparino sent Galvan home with another hit from sophomore Jared Thomas loading the bases. The Longhorns finished out the second inning leading 3-1, and from there, they seemed unstoppable.
Tumis left the Huskies without any runs or walks and only one hit entering the third, giving Texas the perfect slate to extend the lead. Sophomore Jalin Flores sent a double flying to left center field, advancing to third on a passed ball and scoring on an RBI single from O’Dowd. Galvan let another double soar, as O’Dowd and eventually Galvan themselves found home base once more to give Texas a 6-1 advantage.
Even when HCU added another point to the scoreboard at the top of the fifth, Texas answered right back with a home run from Galvan. Freshman infielder Dee Kennedy sent a ball skidding to the back of left field, where he raced all the way to third base and scored on a wild pitch. If you thought Texas was done, you’d be sadly mistaken — senior Peyton Powell homered to right field shortly after, combined with scores from Thomas and Gasparino to set the board at 11-2.
The Longhorns saw 12 players register a hit, to which Pierce said he’s been implementing opportunities for different athletes to get a chance at batting. Texas was also one hit shy of its 25-hit record set in 2009.
“There’s some young players that are really good and so I want to see them go out, get comfortable and really just not miss a beat,” Pierce said. “I thought we saw a lot of that for the most part.”
With four more innings left to play, fans already began to file out, while others stayed to watch as the Longhorns added nine more points to its tab, including freshman Casey Borba recording his first career home run with the team.
Texas will face Cal Poly in their second series of the season Feb. 23-25.
