After pulling off a walk-off win on Tuesday, Texas dominated in its second game against Air Force, winning 12-3. As head coach David Pierce has emphasized throughout the season, he feels that his team played well in all three phases of the game tonight.
Texas traded runs with Air Force at first, but took the lead in the second inning and never looked back. Senior pitcher Charlie Hurley pitched for five innings, throwing 77 pitches, 50 of which were strikes, struck out four batters, gave up four hits and two earned runs, making his record 2-0 on the season.
“We’re trying to just be sharp and clean throughout the game, and I thought Charlie pitched well,” Pierce said. “(He was throwing) pitches that he’s dependent on. When he starts sinking the baseball, that’s who he really is and you could see the action on the ball.”
Hurley’s solid pitching performance allowed for a sharp defensive performance, where Texas did not have to make any highlight-reel plays, but, as Pierce said, made all of the routine ones.
The Longhorns had no defensive errors on the night. While the hitting was slow at first, it took off late in the game.
“Finally we got us some big blows and got a big inning,” Pierce said. “We’d kind of been sitting on one run at a time so it was good to get out there and put some hits together, string some extra bases together and drive the baseball.”
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Texas put together eight straight hits. Texas had opened up the scoring floodgates, bringing home seven runs in the inning. The streak was ended only by sophomore Jared Thomas getting hit by a pitch.
Texas batted through the order and faced three pitchers without having Air Force record an out, starting with redshirt senior third basemen Peyton Powell launching a single to right field. His single was followed by two more from sophomore shortstop Jalin Flores and Schuessler to load the bases.
Sophomore right fielder Max Belyeu stepped up to the plate and launched a two-run double to center field, his hit dropping just short of what would have been his second home run of the day. But it didn’t matter, as sophomore designated hitter Rylan Galvan followed Belyeu and launched a three-run home run.
Texas didn’t stop there as senior left fielder Porter Brown doubled for the sixth straight hit of the inning. Freshman outfielder Will Gasparino followed Brown with a home run of his own, a two-run shot to right-center field. Senior first baseman Jack O’Dowd followed Gasparino with a single but was ultimately left on base.
While the hits flowed in, the Texas pitching stayed collected. After Hurley left the game, he was replaced by junior David Shaw who pitched two innings. Shaw threw 30 total pitches including 21 strikes, struck out three and gave up two hits for one run.
He was followed by redshirt sophomore Luke Harrison and freshman Hudson Hamilton, who each pitched one inning. Both saw four batters and gave up one hit but did not give up any runs.
“Sometimes it just takes time,” Pierce said. “It was good for them to be (on the mound) tonight and just get a little closer to being what we expect out of them. We’re still working towards reliability and we’re still working on combinations from different guys who can help us.”
Texas pitching is trending in the right direction, especially with the bullpen pitchers being able to produce solid innings and keep runs off the board.
Now, the Longhorns will move to 13-8 on the season and will go back into conference play this weekend against Baylor.
