After a 39-24 campaign in his first season as Texas head coach, David Pierce has brought a renewed energy to the program. Last year, the team was sitting at home during late May watching as other teams played during a time Texas rarely misses out on. This season, Pierce was one game away from two consistent goals of the Longhorn baseball program; hosting an NCAA regional and advancing to the super regional round.
It’s 140 something a.m., and I missed a portion of the game trying to interview recruits leaving tonight’s camp. That said, I felt like I saw most of what I needed to see in the Horns’ 5-3 12 inning win.
To advance in the NCAA Tournament, teams need to grab runs whenever they can against opponent’s top flight pitching while utilizing their own ace’s best performances in the most important situations.
As the Texas Longhorns sat in the locker room waiting to hear their NCAA Tournament destination, head coach David Pierce already had an idea of where they were heading. The team, however, was in the dark on their destination, expecting to go to one of Fayetteville, Ark., Houston, or Baton Rouge.
With a chance to take a conference series before game three on the way to the Big 12 tournament, the Longhorns dropped another one-run game, this time to the West Virginia Mountaineers, 4-3. Junior Morgan Cooper took the loss in what was likely his final start at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, and sophomore Kody Clemens was the only Texas batter to have multiple hits on the day, smacking two of the team’s seven hits.
With a long time in between the series finale against TCU and tonight’s game against UIW, the Texas Longhorns had to deal with final exams as well as down time they have not experienced since before the season started. Texas showed few signs of rust tonight as they cruised past a 20-32 Cardinals team, 10-3. Sophomore Nick Kennedy’s starting effort earned not only his eighth win, but also Texas’ 12th midweek victory in 14 games.
Texas traveled to Sugar Land to take on the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns in a midweek match-up at Constellation Field.
They forgot their bats and arms at home. A six-run second boosted by a Louisiana grand slam and silence from the Longhorn bats all evening allowed for UL to cruise to an easy win, 8-1
Texas looked to take the series from the University of New Orleans on a dreary day with the wind blowing in. Although the weather was bleak, the Horns got a bright performance on the mound from junior Morgan Cooper. Cooper’s fast start and Texas’ first inning rally were enough for Texas to defeat the Privateers, 3-2, and take the series.
Prior to this weekend’s non-conference series against the University of New Orleans, head coach David Pierce talks adding experience in these last few weeks, playing non-conference in the middle of conference season, and what it takes to make the tournament.
In a minor milestone for head coach David Pierce, Texas matched their win total from 2016 in a Tuesday night 2-0 victory over Texas State