The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas State
Baseball registers 5-3 win over Texas State
03.26.2013 | Baseball
March 26, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - Alex Silver went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI Tuesday as the Texas Longhorns defeated the Texas State Bobcats, 5-3, in a non-conference game at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Texas (15-9) recorded 11 hits in the game, the third straight game the Longhorns have registered double-digits hits.
Cameron Cox (2-1) recorded the win for the Longhorns with two scoreless innings, allowing two hits with a walk and three strikeouts while closer Corey Knebel recorded his fifth save of the season. Knebel has recorded a win and two saves in three straight games.
Mark Payton went 3-for-4 with a double to extend his career-high hitting streak to 13 games.
Covey Morrow took the loss for Texas State (9-15) after allowing the go-ahead run in the sixth. Morgan Micken had two RBI for the Bobcats while Kevin Sah and Ben McElroy had two hits each.
Texas opened the game with a three-run first. Ben Johnson singled up the middle to start the Longhorns' offense and Weston Hall followed with a sacrifice bunt to advance him to second base. Erich Weiss batted Johnson home from second with a single up the middle. Payton then drove the ball up the middle and moved Weiss to third. Weiss was then brought in by a sacrifice fly from Hinojosa for the 2-0 lead and Silver doubled to left center for the 3-0 advantage.
With two outs and the bases empty in the Texas State third, J.D. Stinnett walked and Sah singled before Micken drilled a two-run double to right to cut the deficit to one, 3-2.
The Bobcats put runners on at first and third in the fourth as Texas reliever Kirby Bellow threw the ball away at first on a pickoff attempt to tie the game at 3-3.
Cox got into a jam in the fifth when a stolen base and passed ball put Sah at third, but Micken hit a grounder to short that C.J Hinojosa then fired to home as Jacob Felts applied the tag for the out.
Payton came out swinging for Texas in the bottom of the sixth and hit a double to center field. Hinojosa was walked and Texas retook the lead after Silver drove Payton home with a single to left center. Hinojosa added an insurance run in the seventh with the RBI single to right.
Texas resumes Big 12 play this weekend at Oklahoma State, Thursday-Saturday (March 28-30). Thursday's game starts at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on Fox College Sports. Friday's game starts at 7 p.m. with a 3 p.m. start on Saturday. All three games will be broadcast on AM 1300 The Zone. Gametracker live stats will be available on TexasSports.com with live Twitter updates @Texas_Baseball.
Notes: Texas has now won 17 straight games in the series against Texas State...Mark Payton is now batting .430 on the season...Payton is batting .500 (29-for-58) at UFCU Disch-Falk Field this season...Weston Hall has reached base safely in 14 straight games...Corey Knebel now has 33 career saves and needs eight saves to tie the school and Big 12 record set by Huston Street (2002-04)...16 of the Longhorns' 24 games this season has been decided by one or two runs...with two scoreless innings in relief tonight, freshman lefty Travis Duke has a 1.17 ERA this season.
TS 002-100-000---3-6-1 TEXAS 300-001-10x---5-11-1
Records: Texas (15-9), Texas State (9-15) WP - Cox (2-1) LP - Morrow (1-1) S - Knebel (5) T - 2:42 ATT - 5,602
Hallonquist, Morrow (5), Williams (6), Hart (7), Lemke (8) and Pearson. Hollingsworth, Bellow (4), Cox (5), Duke (7), Knebel (9) and Felts.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
On bullpen's effectiveness: That was a bright spot. Even Kirby Bellow's performance was a bright spot. It didn't appear as efficient because of the pickoff move that didn't end up in the first baseman's glove and set up the run. If you take that out of it which realistically we can't, but if we just look at how he pitched, then he pitched well and this is the third time he has pitched well. We feel like that is a big step forward for our pitching staff for him to be able to have that kind of command and compete that well. Travis Duke and Cameron Cox were the momentum changers. They were the ones that walked out to the mound and took over the game and turned it back around. They motivated our players to play well on offense, which they did.
Junior first baseman Alex Silver
On what was working well for him today: I was seeing the ball really well. I saw it well this past weekend and carried it over to today. We were sticking with a very simple plan.
On thoughts about the team's confidence at the plate: It is getting much better. It is a day-by-day process and Coach Garrido really stresses that. It is kind of hard for some of the guys to buy into because everybody wants to get a hit or get on base all the time, but you have to take those hard line drives and hard outs as positives and build off of it.
