The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Minnesota
Baseball wins series with 6-3 result at Minnesota
03.24.2013 | Baseball
March 24, 2013
MINNEAPOLIS - Weston Hall went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI Sunday while Brooks Marlow went 3-for-4 as the Texas Longhorns defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 6-3, to win the non-conference series at the Metrodome. Texas (14-9) registered double-digit hits (11) for the second straight game.
Nathan Thornhill improved to 2-2 on the season after being staked to the early lead. Corey Knebel picked up his fourth save with two perfect innings in relief for the Longhorns.
Alec Crawford took the loss for Minnesota (14-11) after allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits in three innings.
Weston Hall hit the first pitch of the game off Crawford off the glove of third baseman Ryan Abrahamson to reach first on the infield single. Designated hitter Matt Moynihan then moved Hall to second on the sacrifice, followed by Erich Weiss, who hit an RBI single to left center for the Longhorns' first run.
Texas brought three across the plate in the second to build the 4-0 advantage. Alex Silver drew a walk to lead off the inning, advancing to second on C.J Hinojosa's sacrifice. Ben Johnson then hit his first collegiate triple to left center to score Silver. Jacob Felts laid down a safety squeeze down the first base line to plate Johnson. Brooks Marlow singled to right with a fielding error by Kurt Schlangen getting him to second. Hall delivered his second hit of the game with the single to left for the fourth run.
With Hinojosa at second base in the fourth, Felts hit a grounder back to the mound, but DJ Snelten's throw was off the mark as Hinojosa would score. Hall then hammered a double to left field as the Longhorns took the six-run lead.
Minnesota put together a rally in the seventh as Michael Handel led off with a double to center. Pinch-hitter Mark Tatera singled to left and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Thornhill as a walk to Abrahamson loaded the bases. Ty Culbreth came in for Thornhill, but his first pitch hit Matt Halloran in the back to force in the Golden Gophers' first run. After Ty Marlow came in for Culbreth, Troy Larson hit a fly ball to right as Mark Payton's throw held the runners. Marlow then walked Connor Schaefbauer on four pitches for the second run as Andy Henkemeyer tallied the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to left.
Texas returns home to face Texas State on Tuesday (March 26) in a 6 p.m. game before resuming Big 12 play next weekend at Oklahoma State. Tuesday's game will be broadcast on Longhorn Network with live radio on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Mark Payton extended his hitting streak to 12 games and is hitting .429 during his streak...Texas is now 11-0 when leading after six innings...Weston Hall had three hits for the second game this season (March 2 at Stanford)...Brooks Marlow recorded three hits in a game for the first time this season...Corey Knebel is now 3-1 on the season with a 1.33 ERA with 29 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings...opponents are hitting just .157 against Knebel...this was the fourth three-game series win for the Longhorns this season.
TEXAS 130-200-000---6-11-0 MINN 000-000-300---3-5-2
Records: Texas (14-9), Minnesota (14-11) WP - Thornhill (2-2) LP - Crawford (0-1) S - Knebel (4) T - 2:41 ATT - 659
Thornhill, Culbreth (7), T. Marlow (7), Knebel (8) and Felts. Crawford, Snelten (4), O'Shea (6), Kray (7), Tukey (8) and Halloran.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On the team's offense the past two games: I think the offense was much more aggressive the past two games. There has been a lot more continuity to it with productive outs. We really had four excellent innings and maybe six out of nine today of quality offensive innings.
On things to focus this week: I want to see how we bounce back on top of some of the fundamentals of our offense and continue to make productive outs. We did leave a few runs out there today. We just want to see if we can keep the same level of intensity.
On Nathan Thornhill's performance: This was Nathan's best game of the season. He was in charge the whole way and got a little tired at the end, but it was his best game of the year.
Junior outfielder Mark Payton
On team's play this weekend: We came together as a team after our team meeting on Saturday. We knew what we had to do with our bats to become a better offensive team in terms of our production. I think we really concentrated the past couple of days and battled the whole time.
On playing in the Metrodome: It was awesome. You get a bunch of adrenaline knowing that you are playing on the same field as major leaguers and All-Stars. It's a cool experience for us.
