No. 2 Texas baseball had already clinched the Red River Rivalry series over the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners heading into the final game of the series on Saturday, courtesy of a walk-off base hit on Friday.
And in the series finale, the Longhorns hit the replay button.
For the second straight day, nine innings wouldn’t be enough to separate the two rivals, with extra baseball on deck once again. The Longhorns earned the sweep after a walk-off, 5-4 victory over the Sooners.
“Always satisfying when you win,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Some of our losses have been pretty tough, so for us to get some positive energy in a close game like the last two nights has been great.”
Getting the winning run across this time would be junior infielder Casey Borba, who settled in for his at-bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the tenth inning. Borba, up until his at-bat in the final game of the inning, was 0-4 at the plate.
And Borba delivered in a clutch situation to seal the game with an RBI base hit right up the middle, putting the finishing touches on the rivalry series. The junior’s night ended 1-5 from the dish with the game-winning RBI.
“It felt great,” Borba said. “Anything I can do to help the team win. Rough game going into it, so being able to pull out a win and being the game winner was awesome.”
Texas would once again have to work from behind, with Oklahoma getting its scoring started early with two runs in the second inning, and in the top of the third inning to take a quick 3-0 lead.
The Longhorns didn’t wait until late into the ballgame to get themselves on the scoreboard, with junior catcher Carson Tinney having a prompt response in the bottom of the third with a two-run home run to get within a single run of the Oklahoma lead.
After the third inning, the Sooners would only score one more run, which came in the sixth inning as starting pitcher sophomore Dylan Volantis settled in after giving up the early runs, tossing 5.2 innings while giving up nine hits and four earned runs, also striking out seven batters.
Schlossnagle turned to his bullpen in the sixth inning after Volantis gave up his fourth run of the night, and, even with the question marks surrounding the bullpen after recent struggles, freshman pitcher Brett Crossland and junior pitcher Haiden Leffew answered those questions.
The pair pitched 4.1 shutout frames to end the game, with Crossland pitching 2.1 innings while allowing three hits and striking out four. Leffew would be lights out after coming into the game in the ninth inning, pitching two hitless innings and giving Texas the chance to find the walkoff winner.
While the Longhorns’ pitching staff took control of the Oklahoma offense, they also allowed their own bats to chip into a 4-2 deficit with junior infielder Ethan Mendoza getting the Longhorns within striking distance courtesy of an RBI single in the seventh. Sophomore infielder Adrian Rodriguez would even the ballgame, allowing a run to score on an RBI fielder’s choice.
The Longhorns will have a quick turnaround after their rivalry sweep, as they’ll welcome in the Texas State Bobcats for some midweek action. Texas will host Texas State at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
