No. 15/19 Baseball dominant in doubleheader sweep of Columbia

Saturday, March 22

Austin, Texas

Noon

University of Texas

18-6

Columbia

5-11

Columbia

Texas Longhorns

Zane Gurwitz went 2-for-5 in the second game of the doubleheader

No. 15/19 Baseball dominant in doubleheader sweep of Columbia

03.22.2014 | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Barrera has five hits on the day; French, Thornhill dominant on mound.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 15/19 Texas baseball team took both games of a Saturday doubleheader over Columbia, winning 6-1 and 11-0, to complete a three-game series sweep of the Lions.

Texas (19-6) received stellar outings from starters Parker French and Nathan Thornhill on the mound, while nearly every Longhorn was involved in an offensive effort that produced 17 runs on the day. Tres Barrera led the way with a five-hit day, including a 4-for-5 effort in the second game.

With the win, head coach Augie Garrido tied Gordon Gillespie for the most wins (1,893) by any college baseball coach at any level. Garrido, already the winningest coach in Division I history, will have his first opportunity to pass Gillespie in Tuesday's game vs. Texas State.

In game one, French (3-2) went 7 1/3 strong innings, allowing just one run on six hits. Brooks Marlow led the way at the plate by going 2-for-4 with a run and two RBI, and the Longhorns drew six walks as a team.

Texas gave French breathing room early with a run in the first inning, when Marlow scored on a RBI groundout by C.J Hinojosa.

Columbia (5-12) answered with its only run of the day in the top of the second inning, but Texas continued a season-long theme of producing with two outs in the bottom half of the inning. With runners on second and third, Marlow ripped a two-run single to right field for a 3-1 Texas lead.

Columbia pitcher Joey Donino retired 12 out of 13 in a stretch from the third inning through the sixth, but French kept the Lions off the scoreboard with six strikeouts and some help from his defense. In the third inning, Columbia had runners on the corners with one out, and French induced a grounder that Marlow and C.J Hinojosa turned for an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play.

The Longhorns recorded another double play in the fourth, with Zane Gurwitz catching a hard-hit liner and doubling off a runner at first base to end the inning.

Leading 3-1 in the seventh inning, Texas tacked on two more runs as Hinojosa hit a liner off Columbia reliever Adam Cline with the bases loaded. The Longhorns added their sixth run of the game on a fielder's choice RBI by Zane Gurwitz in the eighth.

Travis Duke came on to pitch the last 1 2/3 innings to close out the victory.

In game two, Ben Johnson, Mark Payton and Gurwitz had two-hit efforts, in addition to Barrera's 4-for-5 performance, as the Longhorns churned out 11 runs on 13 hits.

Thornhill was at his best, retiring 13 in a row after allowing an infield single in the first inning. The senior didn't allow a base runner to reach scoring position until the sixth, and he allowed just five hits while striking out four and walking one.

Texas again jumped on top with a run in the first inning, improving to 9-0 this season when they tally at least one in the opening frame, and scored in six of the first seven innings.

Payton had a run-scoring double in the first and a RBI single in the second as the Longhorns took a quick 3-0 lead, with Johnson also contributing a RBI single in the second.

Johnson got his second RBI of the game on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and the Longhorns opened up a 6-0 lead in the fifth on a two-run double by Gurwitz. In the sixth, Barrera had a RBI single and Gurwitz reached on an error with the bases loaded to bring in two more and make it 9-0.

The Longhorns concluded the scoring with two more in the seventh, as Collin Shaw brought in a run on a sacrifice fly and Barrera added another RBI single.

Series Notes

- Texas didn't trail all series while outscoring Columbia 24-4.

- Texas is 9-0 when scoring in the first inning this season. The Longhorns put up a run in the first in both games of the doubleheader Saturday.

- Barrera has raised his average 141 points (.128 to .269) since March 11, going 15-of-30 (.500) in that eight-game span. The freshman was 7-for-13 (.538) against Columbia.

- In the series, Johnson went 4-for-9 (.444) with three RBI and two runs; Marlow went 5-for-12 (.417) with four walks, a .563 on-base percentage, four runs and three RBI.

- Texas committed just one error all weekend while turning four double plays. The Longhorns have 24 DPs on the year.

- The pitching staff had a 0.67 ERA, surrendering just two earned runs. Texas starters Dillon Peters, Parker French and Nathan Thornhill combined to work 21 1/3 innings.

- Payton extended his national-best reached-base streak to 64 games.