The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UC Santa Barbara
Baseball earns series sweep with 11-6 win against UC Santa Barbara
03.10.2013 | Baseball
March 10, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - Freshman outfielder Ben Johnson (Austin/Westwood HS) went 4-for-4 with two doubles and a home run Sunday as the Texas Longhorns completed a three-game series sweep against the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos with the 11-6 win at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Freshman catcher Jeremy Montalbano hit a three-run homer, his first collegiate hit, while collecting a team-high four RBI on the afternoon.
The Longhorns (10-5) produced a season high for runs in extending their modest four-game winning streak. Cameron Cox was credited for his first collegiate win with 1 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on two hits.
Robby Nesovic led the Gauchos (8-7) with a 2-for-4 day and four RBI. Andrew Vasquez fell to 1-2 on the season after lasting only 1 1/3 innings, giving up two runs on one hit with three walks and one strikeout.
Johnson set the tempo early by leading off the Texas first with a solo homer to right. Montalbano later added a sacrifice fly as the Longhorns took a 2-0 lead after one inning and would hold onto the lead for the remainder of the game. RBI singles by C.J Hinojosa and Madison Carter made it a 4-0 margin in the third.
Tyler Kuresa reached on a two-base error by UT first baseman Codey McElroy and later scored the Gauchos' first run on Nesovic's groundout. The Longhorns would make it an eight-run lead as Montalbano's three-run blast to right capped a five-run fourth inning.
UCSB would make things interesting with three runs in the fifth as Nesovic hit a two-run single, but Texas would add a run in the sixth and seventh innings. Corey Knebel salted the game away with two no-hit innings.
Texas continues its eight-game homestand on Tuesday (March 12) against Oral Roberts at 6 p.m. The game will be televised on Longhorn Network with radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Erich Weiss recorded his 13th career triple, tying him for ninth on the UT all-time list with Doug Hodo (1983-86) and Mickey Reichenbach (1974-77)...today's 11 runs were the most since the Longhorns scored 12 in the second game of a doubleheader last season on May 12 against Texas Southern...needing a triple for the cycle, Ben Johnson had a chance in the seventh inning by hitting a deep fly ball to right before settling for the double...the last Longhorn to hit for the cycle was Kyle Russell (April 24, 2007, vs. UTPA)...Texas is now 4-2 all-time in baseball against UC Santa Barbara...with two hits today, Weiss now has seven multi-hit games on the season...C.J Hinojosa extended his team-high hitting streak to six games with a 1-for-4 day.
UCSB 000-130-200---6-9-0 TEXAS 202-501-10x---11-10-1
Records: Texas (10-5), UC Santa Barbara (8-7) WP - Cox (1-1) LP - Vasquez (1-2) T - 3:33 ATT - 5,491
Vasquez, Chapman (2), Mazza (4), Baits (4), Wilson (7), Mahle (7) and Morrow. Thornhill, Duke (5), Cox (5), Boardman (7), Knebel (8) and Montalbano, Felts (8).
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On today's game: Offensively, it was our best game of the year. This was the most consistent 27 innings of the season where we competed from inning to inning, pitch to pitch. We accomplished some things from that point of view. The game got ragged from a lot of different points of view...base-running and defense...some of those things were kind of shaky. Mistakes were made, however, we haven't played a game like that this year. It's easy for players to start to lose focus defensively when the scoreboard shows they have a big lead and that takes experience just like all of the other things in this game takes experience. This was our first experience with a game like this all season. We realize we got something accomplished with the hitting and we have a lot more to accomplish before we can declare ourselves a championship-type team.
On putting Ben Johnson into the lineup: He has been working for his start for a long time. He hits like that in practice. It's not an accident. He really is a good hitter. It's just been a steady progression trying to see if Weston Hall can play center field at a level no one else can. If he can, then in this ballpark, he becomes a hard guy to take out of the lineup. If that doesn't happen, if Ben's not as good defensively as (Taylor) Stell or Weston...now you are trying to find out where does he fit and it's one of the bad things about baseball. Are we willing to give up a defensive position? Our priority here is our defense. He hasn't played baseball on a year-round basis so a lot of this stuff is new to him. He can hit.
Freshman outfielder Ben Johnson
On today's offensive performance: It's one of those days where you are seeing the ball well. It looks like a beach ball. I took advantage of the opportunity.
On mentality after finding out he was in the lineup: I tried not to do anything I haven't done before. I just wanted to be myself. I have confidence in my capabilities and try not to do too much. This game is supposed to be fun and not try to put pressure on yourself.
