Grasping for any kind of traction on the mound, Texas baseball saw its wheels fall off in a 17-9 blowout ignited by a fourth-inning scoring run from UT-Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday night. Unlike the energy seen in their two comeback wins against Houston over the past weekend, the Longhorns showed no sign of hustle, losing to UTRGV in Austin for the first time since 1968.
The Longhorns found themselves in a bases-loaded situation multiple times throughout the game due to pitching complications, going five straight innings with UTRGV filling the diamond. The Longhorns allowed 11 total walks, hit nine batters and struck out 15.
“We’re [going] from one side of the spectrum to the other, and tonight, it was just embarrassing,” head coach David Pierce said. “I coached high school baseball for 11 years and have never seen this. At the end of the day, it’s on me.”
Texas began by sending an unfamiliar face to the mound to kick off the evening, as sophomore first baseman Jared Thomas pitched for the first time ever in his career as a Longhorn. The lefty threw nine strikes and allowed a home run within the first inning before turning around and slamming a solo homer of his own to right field on his first at-bat.
Having been absent from pitching since high school, Thomas wasn’t able to find his footing, giving up three walks in the second inning, two being a hit by pitch.
With bases loaded for UTRGV, Texas switched Thomas for redshirt junior Chase Lummus, but he wouldn’t prove to be of much assistance. Lummus hit one batter for an RBI which would put UTRGV up 2-1, with Vaquero junior Martin Vazquez launching his second home run of the game at the top of the third inning to make it 3-1.
UTRGV picked up the speed it had generated in the third inning and let it flow through the fourth, registering a single and a double for a combined two RBIs. A wild pitch, two walks and a hit batter allowed by redshirt junior pitcher Andre Duplantier Ⅱ dug a deeper hole for Texas, putting UTRGV ahead 10-1 with six runs scored within the fourth inning alone.
The Vaqueros would hold the Longhorns scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when efforts from the bench looked to be the start of a comeback. A walk from freshman shortstop Sam Ardoin and a double from freshman outfielder Oliver Service brought in a combined three RBIs. Freshman outfielder Tommy Farmer Ⅳ hit a single accompanied by a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Jack O’Dowd and a double from redshirt senior outfielder Porter Brown to bring Texas within a score of 15-7.
The Longhorns weren’t able to keep up, squeezing in two more runs before UTRGV snuck away with the win, 17-9.
Pierce said the inconsistency the team has been facing all season is credited to the gap in mentality within his team, a concern that was on full display tonight.
“We have some guys in our clubhouse that are tough as nails, and then we have some guys that are just trying to fit in and trying to figure things out in the middle of competition,” Pierce said. “We gotta figure this out, because it’s going to be a long rest of the season if we don’t.”
Texas will return home for its weekend series against TCU beginning on Friday night at 6:30 p.m.
