Corey Knebel made just his third career start and it was by far his worst. The sophomore was knocked around for five runs on nine hits in under five innings and the Horns couldn't overcome Missouri's pitching or the extra 'L' the Big 12 decided was necessary for their signage. Nathan Thornhill kept Texas alive with four shutout innings but it was all for naught as the Texas offense managed just five hits and no runs. The Horns have now been shutout twice in their last three games and have scored just seven runs in their last four games.
The Horns return to action today against Kansas at 12:30 in an elimination game. There's not much positive to dwell on from Wednesday so we won't try. Look for Dillon Peters or John Curtiss to pitch today as the Horns try to avoid a two-and-done in Oklahoma City. Join us here for an open thread and video should be available through the Big 12 here.
Last we left Texas baseball they were desperately needing a win over Big 12 champ Baylor before the start of the conference tournament. Texas got just that last Saturday, becoming just the second Big 12 team to beat the Bears this season. John Curtiss made a case for a weekend starting role, throwing 4.2 strong innings and Hoby Milner didn't give up a run in the final 4.1 innings. Jonathan Walsh scored on a wild pitch in the 8th to give Texas a 2-1 lead. The Bears started the 9th with a leadoff double but he was gunned by Mark Payton trying to advance to third in Texas baseball's play of the year to this point.
The victory over Baylor gives Texas three wins this season over teams in Boyd's World's top 15 and should guarantee the Horns a spot in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens in Oklahoma City this week. A good week at the Big 12 tourney could ensure the Horns will be a 2-seed in a regional somewhere, but we'll see.
Texas hopes to get some revenge tonight against Missouri at 7:30. Video should be available here and you can join us after the jump for the open thread.
| Wednesday, May 23 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma | 9:00 a.m. | ||
| Kansas State vs. Baylor | 12:30 p.m. | ||
| Kansas vs. Texas A&M | 4:00 p.m. | ||
| Missouri vs. Texas | 7:30 p.m. |
Despite an elbow stress fracture sidelining him in early May, Parker French was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year today. French follows in the footsteps of sophomore Erich Weiss who won the award this year and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team today. French finished the year 6-2 with a 2.84 ERA in 21 appearances (9 starts) and was rounding into the team's best starter when he got hurt making his first Friday night start against Missouri.
In addition to Weiss, Corey Knebel made First Team, Jonathan Felts, Hoby Milner and Mark Payton were All-Big 12 Second Team and French, Jonathan Walsh and Jordan Etier were Honorable Mention. That Felts, Knebel, Weiss and Payton are all sophomores bodes extremely well for Texas baseball in 2013 and we wish them all a hearty congratulations.
Corey Knebel was very good on Friday night in making just his second career start and the Longhorns outhit Baylor 7-5 on Friday night. The good news ends there. Baylor scored four runs and the Horns scored zero to bring on Texas' third straight conference series loss. Knebel gave up three runs, but two of them scored on an infield single after Knebel had left in the 7th with two outs.
So we move on to Saturday's finale. It'll likely be John Curtiss on the mound for Texas as the Horns look to avoid a sweep of Baylor. The good news? The last time the Horns were swept by Baylor they want on to win the national title. Yup, a trip to Omaha seems like a sure thing.
The regular season's final game starts at 2 PM on the Longhorn Network. Join us here to help avoid the sweep.
Texas baseball ends its trying regular season this weekend against a Baylor Bears team that was just swept by Oklahoma after having won 18 straight conference games. The Horns have lost a starting rotation worth of pitchers in Sam Stafford, Ricky Jacquez and Parker French and will take on the best team they've seen since Stanford with freshman Dillon Peters going on Friday, Corey Knebel making his second career start on Saturday and a yet-to-be-announced starter on Sunday. For a squad built on pitching it hasn't been a good year.
Yet, the Horns also enter this weekend with a chance to secure second place in the Big 12 ahead of the Aggies who face a tough series in Stillwater. For all that has gone wrong this season for Texas baseball, the series against Baylor represents an excellent opportunity to shore up something of a starting rotation and solidify a 2 seed in the upcoming NCAA tournament.
Offensively, the Bears bring three hitters hitting .340 or better. Logan Vick leads the pack at .348, followed by Lawton Langford at .342 and Josh Ludy at .341. Langford and Ludy have been particularly terrifying in conference play, hitting .372 and .357 respectively with the latter adding seven home runs in 21 conference games.
On the mound, Friday starter Josh Turley has been lights out, going 7-0 with a 1.59 ERA in 12 starts. Turley is 5-0 in conference play with a slightly higher 1.82 ERA. Saturday starter Trent Blank has been fantastic as well, putting up a 9-1 record and 2.30 ERA.
Just how good have the Bears been this season? Their staff has four saves. In 40 wins, only four times has an opponent forced Baylor into a save situation. The Horns, by contrast, have 16 saves in just 29 wins.
It's a tall task for Texas this weekend but, as the old saying goes, with great something or other comes great opportunity. First pitch is 6:30 tonight in Waco with Friday and Saturday's games in Austin on the Longhorn Network. Projected pitching matchups and open thread after the jump.
Our apologies for not having a preview/open thread for Saturday's two game jaunt with Texas Southern. This was one of those times when life's little foibles overpowered the end of the Texas baseball regular season. Anyhow, it was quite the eventful day for both Texas baseball and the Big 12. Corey Knebel got his first career start and was masterful, throwing seven shutout innings giving up just one hit and one walk in a 3-0 victory. Mark Payton led off the game for Texas with a solo home run and it would be all the offense the Horns needed in the early game. Knebel's work was extremely encouraging and he may be the Friday starter for the foreseeable future. Texas is a team desperate for a true top of the rotation starter entering the postseason and Knebel could make the Horns a tough out in a regional.
The bats were a bit more lively in the late game. Dillon Peters got the start and threw a very solid four innings. Payton hit his second homer of the day in the second game, breaking a 1-1 tie with a 2nd inning grand slam. The Horns would eventually tally 12 runs in a much needed 12-3 victory.
In the rest of the conference, Oklahoma swept a doubleheader with Baylor, ending the Bears' incredible 18 game conference winning streak. It won't mean much in the grand scheme of things but Baylor has had an amazing regular season that nearly culminated in an impossible undefeated conference season. The Horns'll need to take two of three from Baylor next weekend to have any prayer of a second place conference finish.
Speaking of A&M, Saturday starter Ross Stripling threw a no-hitter against San Diego State yesterday. Stripling faced the minimum giving up just one walk while striking out seven and needing just 106 pitches. Congrats to Stripling for his accomplishment.
No midweek game this week again then the season's last series against Baylor next weekend. Your guess is as good as ours as to which Texas baseball team shows up.
The Houston Chronicle is reporting that freshman pitcher Ricky Jacquez has been dismissed from the Texas baseball team for violating a team rule. Jacquez, a 39th round pick of the Chicago Cubs, took the mound on Sunday but returned to the dugout after throwing his first inning warmup pitches. Rumor was that Jacquez was sick but that is clearly not the case. He was replaced by John Curtiss who pitched admirably in a tough spot. Jacquez, who had been 2-1 with a 5.79 ERA in nine starts this season, has shown flashes of brilliance but also has had limited command -- he leads the team in walks. Jacquez was suspended a start earlier in the season against Kansas for an unspecified violation of team rules.
The loss of Jacquez and injury to French leaves Texas with a growing hole in the starting rotation. Thornhill should return to starting now (likely joining Dillon Peters there) and we wouldn't be surprised to find life behind the increasingly loud chatter that Corey Knebel would like to start. If they were going to lose another starter, doing so the week before the series with Texas Southern isn't a terrible time. But a critical series with Baylor and the Big 12 tournament awaits, and the Texas baseball team may start to find itself on perilously thin ice as it approaches the NCAA tournament.
Everybody will remember Austin Wood's 169 pitches, 14 strikeouts and 13 innings pitched (12.1 hitless) against Boston College on May 31st, 2009. Most will remember Connor Rowe scoring on a single through the right side in the 25th inning to break the 2-2 tie and give the Horns an incredible 3-2 win. It's easier to forget though just how magnificent Austin Dicharry was that night. Dicharry, as a freshman, pitched the game's final 5.2 innings, giving up just one hit and one walk to earn the win once the Horns grabbed the lead.
At the time Dicharry was a stellar 8-2 as a freshman. He had an ERA under 2.50, opponents were hitting under .200 against him and the future seemed almost as bright for Dicharry as at was for any pitcher on a Texas pitching staff loaded with talent.
He would not earn another win for 1066 days. Nearly three full years.
Dicharry only threw 65 pitches against Boston College, but the seemingly unhittable freshman has been imminently hittable ever since. There are a lucky few players in any collegiate sport that have the opportunity to have their careers positively defined by what they do in just one night. Dicharry's role in the win over Boston College may have been lesser than Wood's, but he played a major part in giving us the first magical night in what was to become a postseason full of them.
We interviewed former Longhorn kicker Phil Dawson a few years back for the Eyes of Texas preview magazine. Dawson was talking about Hunter Lawrence's game winning field goal in the Big 12 Championship against Nebraska when he told us "(Lawrence) deserves a ton of recognition for that, and I hope Longhorn fans show him respect for the rest of his life for what he did that day."
In our opinion, Dicharry deserves the same.
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