Travelling to Taylor Stadium for the first time in over a decade, No. 7 Texas baseball easily took its second road series sweep of the year, out-scoring the Missouri Tigers by a 20-run differential this weekend in Columbia, Missouri.
“Just super proud of our team. They played 25 innings in 36 hours. It’s a lot of baseball. It’s a lot of competition,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “There was a lot to deal with in terms of the conditions, and then we had the injuries. I’m just really proud of the guys.”
The Longhorns quickly showed they were in a class above the Tigers in their opening game of the series on Friday. Texas went off in the box and piled runs on the board to run-rule the Tigers, 15–4 taking game one in dominant fashion.
Four Longhorns found the back of the fence for home runs on Friday, with sophomore outfielder Will Gasparino shining above his teammates going 3–5 at the plate. Notching two home runs in back-to-back innings, Gasparino brought home eight out of the 15 Texas runs.
“I thought we swung the bat really well, especially early against a good pitcher,” Schlossnagle said. “We made him throw some pitches. We got some good swings off. The wind is blowing out, but those homers are legit.”
Pushing games two and three into a Saturday doubleheader, the Tigers had the Longhorns on the ropes after a three-run home run to put Missouri up by two early in game one of the doubleheader. That would be the Tigers only lead of the weekend as junior infielder Jalin Flores and Gasparino retook the advantage putting a pair of home runs on the board.
For the second game in a row, Gasparino was the most potent Longhorn at the plate going 2–4 tallying another home run in the eighth inning of the first doubleheader to seal Texas’ 7–4 victory and the series win.
Ending his productive weekend against Missouri, Gasparino went 6–12 hitting, launching four home runs and bringing in 11 RBIs. He leads the Longhorns in RBIs, with 31 on the season and is now tied for first in home runs with junior catcher Rylan Galvan with nine.
“He did a tremendous job controlling the strike zone and getting his swing off on his pitch. He didn’t panic or wasn’t in a hurry to hit,” Schlossnagle said. “He took his walks when they were there and when they elevated the ball, he put a good swing on it.”
Flores and graduate infielder Kimble Schuessler both shot two home runs during the hitting dominant weekend. Sophomore infielder Casey Borba shot his fourth home run of the season to kick off scoring for game two of the doubleheader.
Texas’ pitching hammered the zone for all three games, holding Missouri to just 19 hits and nine runs on the weekend. Making the start for the second game of the doubleheader, junior pitcher Ruger Riojas was by far the best pitcher of the weekend. Lasting seven innings and striking out 10 batters, the Tigers were only able to get two hits off of Riojas’ 90 pitch day as he improved to 6–1 on the season.
“I mean, holy cow. We needed that. He gave us a lift. … (Riojas) just dominated the strike zone with multiple pitches,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s awesome when we’re good enough in the other starting roles and the relief roles to allow him to start the games. What a luxury that would be moving forward.”
Texas will face the Texas State Bobcats on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.
