The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
12-4
Hawaii
7-8
No. 10/17 Baseball wins pair of games over Hawaii
03.09.2014 | Baseball
Texas takes three out of four in the series vs. Hawaii.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 10/17 Texas baseball team swept a pair of games from Hawai'i Sunday afternoon, winning 3-2 in a game that had been suspended due to weather on Saturday, then defeating the Rainbow Warriors 4-1 to cap off the series.
Texas (13-4) won three of the four games against Hawai'i and has now won eight of its last nine, with the pitching staff accumulating a 0.97 ERA in the eight wins. On the season, the Longhorns own a Big 12 best 1.99 ERA.
Lukas Schiraldi led the effort in the second game on Sunday, pitching five strong innings and allowing just one run on three hits to improve to 2-1 on the year. Left-hander Ty Culbreth came on in relief of Schiraldi and stretched his scoreless inning streak to six with two innings of work, and Ty Marlow followed with a shutout inning. Closer John Curtiss came on to slam the door in the ninth, retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts.
C.J Hinojosa led the offense with a 3-for-4, two RBI performance, while Collin Shaw was 2-for-3 and Mark Payton extended his reached base streak to 56 games with three walks. Payton scored two of Texas' four runs.
Texas fell behind early as Hawai'i scored a run in the third inning on a RBI single from Jordan Richartz. But the Longhorns came right back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning, with a Payton walk and a Hinojosa single setting the table. Texas executed three straight bunts – with the first two by Jacob Felts and Ben Johnson going for singles – to bring in the runs.
Schiraldi came back with a 1-2-3 fourth inning and worked around a walk in the fifth, and exited the game with a 2-1 lead.
Texas built on that in the sixth, when Shaw led off with a single and Payton drew another walk. The pair then executed a double steal, putting two in scoring position for Hinojosa, who singled to right field for a 4-1 Texas lead.
The Longhorns' bullpen shut the door from there, with Culbreth, Marlow and Curtiss allowing just two base runners in the last four innings.
Earlier in the day, Texas and Hawai'i picked up action from Saturday's suspended game in the top of the eighth inning. Morgan Cooper tossed two shutout innings, and Kacy Clemens provided the game-winning hit.
In the bottom of the eighth, Johnson drew a one-out walk and stole second base. After advancing to third on a groundout, Clemens singled up the middle on a 3-1 pitch to give the Longhorns a 3-2 advantage. Cooper then finished off the victory in the ninth to improve to 2-0 on the year.
In Saturday's portion of the game, Texas trailed 2-0 until the fifth inning, when Clemens led off with a single and Brooks Marlow started a two-out rally with another single. Payton followed by ripping a triple to left field to score both runners, knotting the game up 2-2. The game was delayed with lightning in the area after the completion of seven innings.
Earlier, Hawai'i scored single runs in the first and third innings to build the 2-0 lead. In the first, a pair of singles followed by a RBI groundout put the Rainbow Warriors on the board. A walk, single and sacrifice fly made it 2-0 in the third.
Texas starter Nathan Thornhill settled in from there, retiring the side in the fourth and fifth innings and working around a walk in the sixth. Thornhill gave way to reliever Travis Duke in the seventh, who came on with one on and one out and got out of the inning.
The Longhorns return to action on Tuesday, when they face Texas State in San Marcos at 6:30 p.m.
NOTES
- Texas turned four double plays on the weekend, including three Sunday, and ranks second in the Big 12 with 16 this year.
- Collin Shaw finished the series 4-for-9 (.444), C.J Hinojosa was 5-for-13 (.385) with two walks, Kacy Clemens was 4-for-11 (.364) with three walks, Mark Payton was 4-for-12 (.333) with four walks, and Jacob Felts was 5-for-16 (.313).
- Texas is 7-1 in games decided by two runs or less this season. The Longhorns' only loss by two runs or less was 2-1 at Cal on Feb. 15.
- Payton has reached base in 56 consecutive games which leads the nation.
- Head coach Augie Garrido has 1,887 career victories, now just six shy of tying Gordon Gillespie for the most wins by any college baseball coach at any level.
- The Longhorns lead the all-time series with Hawai'i, 8-3.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cooper, Morgan (2-0)
L: Gleese, E. (0-3)
Batting:
RBI: Flores, M. 2
SF: Flores, M. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Aliviado, K. 2
CS: Richartz, J. 1
Batting:
3B: Payton, Mark 1
RBI: Payton, Mark 2 ; Clemens, Kacy 1
SH: Johnson, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Marlow, Brooks 1 ; Johnson, Ben 1 ; Clemens, Kacy 1
SB: Johnson, Ben 1 ; Shaw, Collin 1
