Offense stays hot as No. 15/19 Baseball tops Columbia, 7-3

Friday, March 21

Austin, Texas

6 p.m.

University of Texas

17-6

Columbia

5-10

Columbia

Texas Longhorns

Collin Shaw was 3-for-4 with 3 RBI

Offense stays hot as No. 15/19 Baseball tops Columbia, 7-3

03.21.2014 | Baseball

Box Score

Collin Shaw goes 3-for-4 with three RBI, Texas cranks out 13 hits.

Quotes

AUSTIN, Texas -- Collin Shaw went 3-for-4 with three RBI, Jeremy Montalbano went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and the Texas offense cranked out 13 hits in a 7-3 win over Columbia Friday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Coming off a 10-hit game in Tuesday's win over Dallas Baptist, the Texas offense matched its season high with 13 on Friday, also getting two from Brooks Marlow and Tres Barrera. The Longhorns (17-6) did much of their damage with two outs, going 6-for-13 collectively and scoring five of their seven runs.

Shaw, who is hitting .385 this year, had a two-out, run-scoring triple in the fourth inning and a two-out, two-run single in the fifth to break the game open.

Dillon Peters scattered seven hits while allowing just one run in six innings, also getting some major help from his defense to improve to 3-1 on the year. Morgan Cooper pitched the last three innings and was credited with his first save.

Columbia (5-10) starter David Speer (1-2), who entered with a 2.35 ERA, took the loss after allowing six runs on 12 hits in six innings of work. The lefty kept Texas off the scoreboard the first three innings, but Texas plated two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the sixth to take control.

C.J Hinojosa started a rally in the fourth, reaching on an infield single with two outs and scoring on Shaw's triple. Barrera followed with a double down the left-field line to plate Shaw.

An inning later, Montalbano led off with a double, Zane Gurwitz singled on a bunt and Marlow hit a run-scoring single through the right side. After Mark Payton was intentionally walked to load the bases, Shaw came through with a two-out single to right field to make it 5-0.

Columbia got on the board in the sixth with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly from Mike Fischer, but Texas responded in the bottom half of the inning when Ben Johnson singled down the right-field line to score Gurwitz.

Johnson made a pair of highlight-reel defensive plays in the fourth inning. With two on and no outs, he made a sliding catch on a blooper to prevent a bases loaded situation. After Peters recorded a strikeout, Fischer singled to left, and Johnson threw out Robb Paller at home to end the inning and keep the game scoreless.

Payton got in on the action in the fifth, throwing out David Vandercook at home for his second assist of the season.

Montalbano recorded his second double of the night to lead off the eighth, and later scored on a wild pitch. Columbia got a pair of unearned runs on two hits and a Texas error in the ninth, but Cooper finished off the Lions to give the Longhorns their 11th win in the last 12 games against non-conference competition.

Texas and Columbia are set to conclude the series on Saturday with a doubleheader. Due to rain in the forecast on Sunday, the teams will play game two of the series at noon on Saturday, with game three to follow 45 minutes after.