Longhorns Attempt to Sweep Oklahoma

by Wescott Eberts (GoBR) on Apr 19, 2009 9:00 AM CDT in Texas Longhorns Baseball

Gametime: 1 pm CT.

Game preview: Augie Garrido and Skip Johnson made the decision before the series to move Brandon Workman's start to Sunday, instead of his normal Saturday slot after lasting only 3.2 innings last week against Nebraska in the second game of a doubleheader. To make up for his lost work, he started the Wednesday game against the Beach Aggies and worked an efficient three innings during which he gave up nothing other than a solo home run, striking out three in the process.The switch worked well enough for Cole Green to gut his way through the second game Saturday, leaving it up to the flame-throwing Workman to complete the sweep and start consolidating the league lead after taking over first place with the second Saturday win.

Austin Wood won't be available after pitching brilliantly in both Saturday games, but since the Longhorns were not forced to use Taylor Jungmann, the stud freshman could pitch three of four innings, possibly even to close the game. No doubt that Skip Johnson would probably be happy getting three or four innings from Workman before handing the ball to Jungmann and asking him to close the door on the series.

The big OU bats may well break out of their general silence, as the Sooners have an extremely dangerous lineup full of players hitting .300 or over and heavy on left-handed hitters -- there's no rest for opponents at the bottom of the Sooners' lineup and big first baseman Aaron Baker is positively scary to me after taking two consecutive Chance Ruffin offerings well out of the ballpark in the first game Saturday -- he just managed to wait on the second pitch a little longer. And hit it a little farther. It may only be a matter of time on Sunday before balls starting finding the gaps, as many hard-hit balls in the first game on Saturday were hit right at Longhorn defenders.

The Sooners haven't announced their Sunday starter,but Antwonie Hubbard is the only OU starter besides Doyle and Porlier with an ERA under 8.78. Ultimately, that will matter less for the Longhorns than their approach at the plate, which continued to be much improved from the early part of the season.

No time to relax on Sunday. This is the time to show the killer instinct that makes trips to Omaha possible.

Remember when that seemed like a rite of summer for the Longhorns?

0 recs | 140 comments

Comments

Good Pitching beats good Hitting

This team really reminds me of the 05 team. The team that went into Omaha and shut down every one. They also had some very timely hitting. I have been unable to catch many games this season, but I am really looking forward to the next month or so and the run that they could possibly make.

blazzinken - April 19, 2009 reply

Man, that was one fun day :)

Sweeping OU would give Texas 10 straight wins for the second time this season and 12 of 13. Texas’ run totals the last 9 games: 8 6 7 11 9 5 8 7 6…remember when Kevin Keyes was hitting .220? He’s now at .320. Can June get here fast enough?

40AS - April 19, 2009 reply

I was thinking yesterday that I hope the team doesn't peak too soon.

Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - April 19, 2009 reply

Is anyone going to run a live thread of the game?

Ill be at the ranger game and wont be able to follow gametrack.

future_longhorn_dad - April 19, 2009 reply

I can try for a bit here.

Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - April 19, 2009 reply

Sand Aggies?

I thought that was Texas Tech.

Should aTmCC be the Beach Aggies? Or Gulf Aggies? Bay Aggies? Port Aggies?

patienthornsfan - April 19, 2009 reply

Oops, Beach Aggies I meant.

Wescott Eberts (GoBR) - April 19, 2009 reply

BoydsWorld now has us as needing to go 10-5 for a top 8 RPI finish

That’s certainly doable. Much better than the 18-1 it was at one point.

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