The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Houston
Baseball shuts out Houston, 4-0
04.23.2013 | Baseball
April 23, 2013
AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas Longhorns used three pitchers for a combined four-hit shutout Tuesday in the 4-0 win over the Houston Cougars at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns (22-17) evened its season series with the Cougars (27-14), ranked No. 30 nationally by Collegiate Baseball, after Houston defeated Texas, 4-3, last month in Houston.
Josh Urban went four innings while Travis Duke (3-0) was credited with the win on three shutout innings and two hits. First baseman Ty Marlow came in as a reliever in the eighth and struck out three in two innings to finish off the Cougars.
It was the fourth time this season that Texas shut out an opponent.
Erich Weiss, who missed action this weekend against West Virginia after being hit by a pitch last Friday and suffering a nasal bone fracture, belted his first home run of the season with a solo shot to right center in the first to give Texas the early 1-0 lead. In the Texas fifth, Weston Hall stole second and scored when C.J Hinojosa hit a two-out single to left for a 2-0 advantage.
Price Jacobs doubled off Duke to lead off the sixth with Ashford Fulmer drawing a walk. Josh Vidales attempted a bunt, but Duke fired a strike to third for the force. Kyle Survance singled to left to load the bases for Houston before Duke retired Frankie Ratcliff and Jonathan Davis to strand all three runners.
The Longhorns used the momentum to score twice in the bottom half of the sixth. After a passed ball moved runners to second and third, Ryan Vruggink uncorked a wild pitch to score Jacob Felts. Hall then blooped a double to center to score Brooks Marlow for the final run of the game. Ty Marlow left runners at second and third in the UH eighth by striking out Ratcliff for the final out and then retired the side in order in the ninth.
Texas resumes Big 12 play this weekend with a series at Baylor. Friday's game begins at 6:35 p.m. and will be televised on Fox Sports Net. Saturday's game starts at 8:05 p.m. with live television on ESPNU and Sunday's game (no television) starts at 2:05 p.m. All three games will have 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 streak of reaching base safely to 28 games with a walk in the seventh...Brooks Marlow now has a 10-game hitting streak with a 1-for-4 night...Travis Duke has allowed only two earned runs in 28 1/3 innings this season for a 0.64 ERA.
UH 000-000-000---0-4-0 TEXAS 100-012-00x---4-8-0
Records: Texas (22-17), Houston (27-14) WP - Duke (3-0) LP - Garza (4-3) T - 3:03 ATT - 5,266
Garza, Ford (3), Vruggink (5), Hernandez (6), Lemoine (7) and Barker. Urban, Duke (5), T. Marlow (8) and Montalbano.
Post-Game Quotes
Texas head coach Augie Garrido
Opening statement: It was a grind on offense. It really was. Erich (Weiss) hit that ball that looked like it was shot out of a cannon. That homerun was extremely impressive. In addition to that, we just had to keep grinding it out. We played extremely well defensively. The turning point probably was in the sixth. When we got out of that jam, that was uplifting to our players and we scored some runs after that, as well. You frequently see that. When a team escapes a bases-loaded situation and turns it around to where the team gets zero runs out of it, I think it is depressing for the team that leaves the runners on base and it is motivating to the team that gets the outs.
On this weekend's upcoming series at Baylor: Every game is big for us. Every game is a must-win game. There is nothing left for us to do but win every game we possibly can. You can't hide from that. If we can't respond to that, then we'll have to respond to what we get from where we place in the Big 12 tournament. We would have to take whatever opportunity--if we are placed in the tournament--to win and that would be the only way to get in. We still have the second-best RPI (in the conference). (Houston) is the 30th ranked team in the country, so this adds to (our RPI). Winning as many of the nine (remaining) games as we can in conference is mandatory.
Freshman shortstop C.J Hinojosa
On how good it was to win tonight: It was really good. We played well all last weekend. We played against a good team and played against another good team tonight, who is coached really well. I believe they are ranked in the top 30. It feels good to come out here and be able to compete and pull out games that we know we should win.
On whether this is a turning point for the end of his team's season: I think we've already turned. We turned before this game. We've gotten better every game. Every game that we've lost has been a learning experience. I think it's going to start here. We have to win quite a few of our next games, so this is a good place to start.
Junior center fielder Weston Hall
On whether tonight's win was sweeter because UT beat a ranked team who won in their last meeting: That was awesome. Our pitching staff did a great job against a team in the top 30. We really bounced back from playing them last time at their place. You just need to tip your hat to our pitching staff.
On whether this game could mark a turning point for the end of his team's season: It definitely could be. As a team, we had all things working for us in all aspects of the game. It was a great starting point from here on out.
