The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Missouri
No. 8 Baseball completes three-game sweep of Missouri with 10-1
04.03.2011 | Baseball
April 3, 2011
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 8 Texas Longhorns wrapped up a three-game series sweep of the Missouri Tigers with a 10-1 victory at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Sunday afternoon.
The Horns pounced on the Tigers early with a two-out rally in the top of the first inning resulting in five runs. Erich Weiss and Lucas Kephart each worked full counts before drawing walks. Texas drew first blood when Tant Shepherd fouled off six pitches and bounced the ninth offering he was served up the middle to drive in Weiss. Jordan Etier continued the rally with a single to leftfield, driving in Kephart. The scoring was capped off when Jacob Felts blasted a home run off the leftfield to inflate the cushion to 5-0.
Missouri tried to respond in the bottom of the second with a one-out triple by Dane Opel but starting pitcher Cole Green fanned the next two batters to prevent the Tigers from building momentum.
The Longhorns added a run in the fourth inning to inflate the cushion to 6-0. With one out, Paul Montalbano drew a walk and moved to third when Loy laced a single through the left side of the infield. Mark Payton pushed a squeeze bunt down the first base line scoring Montalbano.
Texas tacked on another run in the fifth. Kephart drew a walk, Shepherd doubled to rightfield and Etier grounded out to third to push Kephart across, staking the Horns to a 7-0 advantage.
A fielding error foiled Green's shutout bid in the seventh inning. With two outs, Ben Turner doubled to centerfield. He was replaced by pinch-runner Ryan Ampleman who came around to score when Loy muffed a fielding chance off the bat of Jesse Santo and the ball trickled into short leftfield, cutting the Texas lead to
Texas responded with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh. After Shepherd hit a double of the outstretched glove of Missouri's leftfielder Blake Brown who was racing towards the warning track, Etier roped a double down the leftfield line to add to the lead. Etier would come around to score on a throwing error on a ground ball by Felts to extend the advantage to 9-1.
The lead ballooned to 10-1 in the eighth inning when Texas loaded the bases and Missouri reliever Dusty Ross balked allowing Montalbano to score.
Texas had three players with three hits, including Loy (3-for-5), Shepherd (3-for-5 with two runs, two doubles and one RBI) and Etier (3-for-4 with 2 runs, one double, one triple and three RBI). The Horns scored a season-high 10 runs in Big 12 play despite grounding into four double plays.
Opel paced Missouri's offense going 2-for-4 with a double and triple.
Zack Hardoin (2-4) was saddled with the loss for Missouri. He yielded five runs on three hits and two walks in 0.2 innings.
The Longhorns return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi for a 6 p.m. game against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders.
