The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 2 Baseball wins series opener against Missouri, 5-2
05.21.2010 | Baseball
May 21, 2010
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The No. 2 Texas Longhorns showed no letdown despite entering the final regular-season series of the year with the Big 12 Conference title in hand, posting a 5-2 win over the Missouri Tigers at Taylor Stadium on Friday evening.
Taylor Jungmann (6-2) battled through 7.0 innings to earn the victory. He scattered nine hits, including two home runs, and walked one while fanning nine. The sophomore benefitted from three double plays and a caught attempted base stealer to offset allowing the leadoff batter to reach in five of his seven innings.
Chance Ruffin slammed the door on the Tigers, striking out six of the seven batters he faced, to earn his 13th save of the season. The junior struck out the side on 14 pitches in the eighth inning. He then fanned the first two batters he faced in the ninth before yielding a double. Ruffin closed out the game with a five-pitch strikeout.
The Longhorns pounced on the Tigers early with a run in the first. With one out, Loy beat out a soft grounder to the shortstop for an infield single. With two outs, Loy stole second base and he came around to score when Kevin Keyes hit a wall-banger to the gap in right centerfield for a double.
Texas inflated the cushion to 5-0 with a four-run fourth inning. Keyes drew a leadoff walk and Missouri starter Nick Tepesch fell down before reaching Russell Moldenhauer's sacrifice bunt attempt for the infield single. Cameron Rupp flied out to deep centerfield allowing Keyes to move to third, putting runners on the corners. After Kevin Lusson fanned for the second out of the inning, Jonathan Walsh blooped a single into centerfield to drive in Keyes for the 2-0 lead. Jordan Etier kept the rally going, lacing a double down the rightfield line to score Walsh and Moldenhauer. After Etier stole third base, he scored when Cohl Walla beat out a ground ball to second for an RBI single and the 5-0 lead.
Jungmann's only two blemishes were leadoff home runs which he yielded to Aaron Senne in the fourth inning and Conner Mach in the sixth inning.
Walla, Loy, Moldenhauer and Walsh each had two hits for Texas who registered 11 for the game.
Senne and Brett Nicholas accounted for six of Missouri's 10 hits, both going 3-for-4 in the No. 3 and No. 4 spots in the order, respectively.
Texas' 22 wins in conference play is the most for a Big 12 team since Iowa State dropped its baseball program prior to the 2002 season. Teams now play a 27-game league slate rather than the 30-game league schedule they played from 1997-2001. The 2007 Texas squad posted the best record on the current format with a 21-6 mark.
The Longhorns and Tigers return to action on Saturday with a 2 p.m. game.
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Augie Garrido
On the team defense: The defense was outstanding today. The double plays came when we really needed them and they weren't easy. The 3-6-3 double play we turned is one of the most difficult plays to make for a defense.
On Taylor Jungmann's performance: What impressed me the most is the way he kept attacking. Missouri was hitting some good pitches, but he was undeterred. He kept going at the hitters and gave us a great performance. It's not the best pitching line he's put up this year, but his effort in continuing to attack was just as impressive as those other games.
On the team showing no let down despite having the Big 12 crown in hand: As long as they let us go on the field, we're going to try to win.
