The No. 2 Texas Longhorns took down the No. 5 Auburn Tigers 2-1 to capture their first away SEC series of the season.
The Longhorns struggled to close all three games this weekend, giving up seven runs across the final three innings of each game and letting nine baserunners get on across the series’ ninth innings.
Texas has struggled to finish games since entering Southeastern Conference play, losing to the Ole Miss Rebels last Friday after giving up five runs in the ninth, before winning in extras.
Junior pitcher Thomas Burns was being used as the de facto closer in non-conference play, but has become a more shaky option as of late. His ERA has ballooned to 5.87, largely due to three runs he gave up to the Rebels in less than an inning of work.
Burns delivered a save for Texas on Saturday, but he had to get out of a loaded bases situation, walking three consecutive batters in the ninth before getting himself out of the jam to secure a split in the series.
With Burns’ newfound unreliability, head coach Jim Schlossnagle has been forced to experiment and turn to the likes of junior pitcher Haiden Leffew, who gave up two runs in only 1.2 innings of work in the Longhorns loss on Friday.
Potential answers in the bullpen remain for Schlossnagle, as the Longhorns have gotten consistently solid pitching out of freshmen Sam Cozart, Brett Crossland, Brody Walls and Michael Winter.
However, whether any of those young arms are ready to step into a full-time closer role remains in question.
Texas’ starting rotation, for their part, pitched well. The trio of senior Ruger Riojas, graduate student Luke Harrison and sophomore Dylan Volantis combined to throw 16 strikeouts, allowing just three runs across 16 innings of work.
The Longhorns’ offense played about as well as they could be asked to, scoring 15 runs over the weekend. Their power was particularly impressive, firing five home runs at Auburn’s Plainsman Park.
Junior centerfielder Aiden Robbins starred at the dish, going 6-13 and crushing three home runs over 415 feet.
Senior outfielder Jayden ‘Gumbo’ Duplantier hit the first home run of his career, depositing a ball over the wall in Plainsman’s left-center field.
Junior leadoff man Ethan Mendoza, on the other hand, struggled mightily against the Tigers. The second baseman went 0-11 while striking out three times and only walking once.
The Longhorns lacked some clutch offense in the series, only scoring three runs across the final four innings of each game.
Despite it all, Texas managed to pull out two victories against a top-five team in the country at their home stadium just a few days after getting embarrassed by Tarleton State. The Longhorns outscored the Tigers 15-10 and closed their weekend with an impressive shutout victory on Sunday.
Texas will travel to Houston on Tuesday to take on the University of Houston Cougars at 6:30 p.m.
