The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Dallas Baptist
Harris leads way as No. 4 Baseball sweeps doubleheader with Dallas Baptist
05.13.2006 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Senior Hunter Harris went a combined 4-for-6 with his first career home run to help No. 4 Texas sweep a twinbill with Dallas Baptist by scores of 6-3 and 10-5 in front of 5,219 fans at Disch-Falk Field on Saturday, May 13.
With the two victories over the Patriots (31-20), the Horns (38-15) not only completed their regular-season home schedule with a 24-4 record, but also extended their current win streak to a season-best 10 games.
After loading the bases with one out in the bottom of the first on a walk, a single and a hit batter, Harris (Tulsa, Okla.) drew a four-pitch walk to push UT in front 1-0 in Game #1. Bradley Suttle (Boerne, Texas) then followed with a sac fly to make it 2-0 in favor of the Longhorns. In the second, the Patriots used a leadoff double by Drew Holder and an infield error to cut their deficit in half to 2-1. Answering in the bottom of the frame, Chance Wheeless (Round Rock, Texas) came up with a two-out double with a runner on second to give Texas a 3-1 lead. DBU then strung together a pair of infield hits and a RBI-double off the bat of Jeremy Goldschmeding to make it 3-2 before a hit batter loaded the bases. Despite the chance, UT starter Kyle McCulloch (Houston, Texas) induced a come-backer to the mound and turned it into an inning-ending double play.
Harris led off the bottom of the third with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored on a RBI-single from Kyle Russell (Tomball, Texas) to reclaim the Horns' two-run lead at 4-2. Still alive in the inning, Preston Clark (Rockwall, Texas) singled and advanced to second on an outfield error with two outs in front of a RBI-base hit from Chais Fuller (Fairfield, Calif.) to make it a 5-2 game. Although consecutive doubles to begin the fourth from Evan Bigley and Trevor Head pulled the Patriots back within two, McCulloch worked out of further trouble by getting a sacrifice and back-to-back strikeouts. Two innings later in the fifth, Suttle drew a leadoff walk, advanced to third on a sacrifice followed by a wild pitch and then scored on a groundout to make it a 6-3 game. While DBU would put runners on in three of the next four frames, Texas reliever Riley Boening (Yoakum, Texas) managed to keep the Patriots from scoring with a combination of six strikeouts and a double-play in the eighth. Randy Boone (Yoakum, Texas) then came on for the ninth and worked a 1-2-3 inning to seal the victory. While McCulloch picked up the win in a declared start by working four solid innings, Boone earned his second save of the year and DBU starter Michael Gardner shouldered the loss.
In the second game, Texas jumped out in front 1-0 in the bottom of the first as Carson Kainer (Tomball, Texas) came up with a two-out, RBI-double with a runner on third, but the Patriots tied it at 1-1 in the second via a solo home run from Head. Both teams then put together threats in the third as DBU had two runners on with two out and UT received a leadoff triple from Peoples, but starters Adrian Alaniz (Sinton, Texas) for Texas and Ricky Sparks for Dallas Baptist escaped the chances unscathed.
One inning later in the fourth, the Horns put runners on second and third with two down after a leadoff walk, a bunt base hit and a sacrifice. An error on a failed pickoff attempt then scored one run before a walk was followed by a safety squeeze bunt from Fuller to bring in another score to make it a 3-1 game. Still at bat, the Horns received three RBI-singles and a walk with two outs that combined with an outfield throwing error to bring in three more runs and build a 6-1 UT advantage. While the Patriots loaded the bases in the top of the fifth with two outs, reliever Kyle Walker (The Woodlands, Texas) struck out his next batter to keep the lead in tact. UT then loaded the bases with one out in the sixth on a hit batter and two walks before a two-run single from Kainer and a two-out, two-run home run from Harris to stake the Horns to a 10-1 lead.
Although DBU would scratch across a single run in the top of the eighth and push across three more in the ninth highlighted by a two-run triple from Matt Tucker, three UT relievers combined to record the final six outs of the game to seal the 10-5 victory. While Alaniz, who allowed one run on four hits while fanning five, recorded the win in a declared start, Patriots starter Ricky Sparks incurred the loss.
Headlining the UT offense on the day were Harris, who posted two hits in each game while combining for three runs scored and three RBI, Kainer, who went 4-for-8 over the doubleheader with one run scored and three RBI in Game #2, and Peoples, who collected three hits and scored four runs. On the other side of the ledger, Dallas Baptist, which had its attack collect 10 or more hits in both ends of the twinbill, was paced offensively by the tandem of Holder and Head, who each went a combined 4-for-7 on the day while accounting for two RBI and four runs scored, and Goldschmeding, who collected four hits. Of additional note for UT, Kainer upped his current hit streak to 10 games with hits in both ends of the doubleheader, and Boening struck out six over four scoreless frames of relief in the first game of the twinbill.
Up next, the Horns head to Columbia, Mo., to open a three-game conference series against the Missouri Tigers on Friday, May 19 at 6:30 p.m. Central.
