No. 8 Baseball completes sweep of Minnesota with 8-0 win

Sunday, February 22

Austin, Texas

1 p.m.

University of Texas

7-2

Minnesota

0-7

Minnesota

Texas

No. 8 Baseball completes sweep of Minnesota with 8-0 win

02.22.2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Kacy Clemens spun five scoreless innings to earn his first career victory; The Texas offense had seven two-out RBIs and stole six bases.

Postgame Notes

AUSTIN, Texas -- Behind strong pitching and seven two-out RBIs, the No. 8 Baseball team defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers 8-0 Sunday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field to earn its third consecutive shutout and a four-game series sweep.

The offense struck for seven runs in the first two innings, thanks in part to six Longhorn stolen bases, and four Longhorn pitchers combined to toss nine scoreless innings.

The victory gave Texas (7-2) its first four-game series sweep since March 12-14, 2010, against Iowa. The three consecutive shutouts were a first since March 22-24, 2002, against UT Pan American, and the pitching staff finished the weekend without surrendering an earned run (two unearned runs on Friday).

For the fourth straight game this weekend, the Longhorns received an excellent outing from their starting pitcher, this time Kacy Clemens. Clemens (1-1) went five innings and allowed just one hit and two walks while striking out four Gophers and turning a highlight-reel double-play on a line-drive back at him in the third inning.

The four Texas starters this weekend did not allow an earned run in their 22 1/3 innings of work and went a combined 4-0 in the series.

Once again, the bullpen picked up right where the starter left off, blanking Minnesota over the final four frames. Travis Duke relieved Clemens, tossing two scoreless frames, and Tyler Schimpf and Andy McGuire closed out the final two innings on the hill.

Not to be outdone, the offense clubbed seven two-out RBIs and stole six bases in the game, the most since they swiped six against California on March 3, 2012. The eight runs today gave Texas 31 for the weekend, the highest total in a four-game set since they had 34 against Dallas Baptist in 1989.

Ben Johnson and Brooks Marlow led the way for the offense, with Johnson turning in a 4-for-5 effort with a run scored and two steals, while Marlow had two hits, including a double and four RBIs. Johnson's batting average is up to .476 on the year.

Collin Shaw added two hits, including his team-leading eighth double of the season, and also stole a base in the game. Shaw now has nine extra-base hits this season, giving him three more than he totaled in all of 2014 (six).

Texas got on the board with two outs in the first inning when Marlow stepped to the plate with Johnson, who had singled and stole two bases, on third, and Tres Barrera, who drew an 11-pitch walk, on first. Marlow drilled an 0-1 offering deep to right for a double, scoring both runners for a 2-0 lead.

The Horns poured five more runs on in the second. Shaw and Marlow delivered an RBI double and a two-RBI single, respectively, and the other two runs scored courtesy of a wild pitch that brought in Zane Gurwitz and a bases-loaded walk by Michael Cantu to bring home Barrera. For the inning, the Longhorns compiled a hit by pitch, two base hits, five walks and four stolen bases.

The eighth run of the game came across in the fourth inning by virtue of a two-out RBI triple by Gurwitz, driving in Bret Boswell, who had singled earlier in the frame. All eight UT runs in the contest came with two outs.

Clemens kept Minnesota at bay, retiring the side in order in the first, second and fifth innings and working out of jams in the third and fourth innings. With Texas' five-run second inning, the sophomore waited more than 40 minutes between pitches in the top of the second and third. After hitting a batter and walking one, he made an incredible grab of a hard-hit liner right back at him before doubling off the runner at second to end the inning.

Minnesota starter Neal Kunik (0-1) left the game after 1 1/3 innings with an apparent injury, and was saddled with the loss after giving up three runs. The loss dropped Minnesota to 0-7 on the year.

Texas returns to action Tuesday night at home against UT Pan American at 6 p.m.

QUOTES

Head coach Augie Garrido

On the series against Minnesota: There's a lot of follow the leader in this game. Things are contagious. Positive things are contagious and negative things are contagious, and right now, things over the weekend went in a very positive way for the whole team. One other thing that I mentioned in there was there wasn't one complaint by the guys that weren't in the game. They were all ready to go into the game. I think we took a giant step toward teamwork this weekend. All-in-all, a very good weekend for the Longhorns.

On hitting success against Minnesota: It was very efficient. All-in-all, you can count pretty easily the number of at bats that weren't really good at bats, let's say, and that's pretty efficient. No matter who went out there and pitched for them over this period of time, we did a good job of making contact and driving the ball. We hit a lot of line drives, got a lot of base hits with runners in scoring position and two outs. I think we played our game. That's what I was most proud of is mentally we were tough. We stayed with it and did the job the way we have asked them to do the job. They're a product of the way they've practiced. They were much more relaxed in this environment at home than they were in the first weekend at Rice. You could see the difference, but that's pretty natural. The next series at home will be with San Diego. They're a very disciplined and talented team. There will be more details to deal with, more fake steals, bunts and all of that kind of stuff. That's a good thing too, to see a different kind of offense. The following week we go back on the road, play on a grass field, and I think we've had about as good a variety of experiences that we're going to encounter through the Big 12 as we move into this thing. There hasn't been anything conservative about the way we've scheduled this first part of the season, and I'm hopeful that it will give us the experience to get off to a good start in the Big 12 and be able to handle the different venues that we will play in and all of that.

On how good Kacy Clemens looked against Minnesota: Kacy looked good. He made a huge improvement. After the really long inning, I think he got a little bit out of rhythm for a while, but by the time he finished his last inning in the fifth, I thought he was right on top of his game again. When he came out in the third, he struggled a little bit and was off his mark and not as consistent, but then he got back on it in the fourth and was even better in the fifth. That was encouraging. Much better than the experience at Rice, but the experience at Rice, he handled it right. This is what we want to see from our players when they do have a negative experience. How did they respond? A champion responds by being motivated and aspire to do better, and they do, and that's what Kacy did. We're confident that he's that kind of player. He did it last year. Even though he wasn't the best hitter on the team, he got big hits in big games to win games, and that's the same personality he's got. He's two years removed, and he's had two starts here so pretty good progress.

Sophomore RHP Kacy Clemens

On sweetness of last game against Minnesota: It was fun to get back out there again and get going. I tried to get it pretty quick with Tres [Barrera] and just stick to relying on what we have. It worked out for me today.

On coming back from Rice series: After experiencing that, I hadn't really experienced that before, I spoke with Augie, and they were proud that I came out and had two good innings after the struggle in the first inning. I threw up two zeros for us to keep us in the game at that point. Because our hitters were hitting so well, we scored a bunch of runs, and it gave us a chance to win that game. I was obviously pretty bummed about my first start finishing like that. I just want to play the best for these guys. We all love each other so much that we want to go out there, do our best and have good outings. This whole week I was talking with Skip [Johnson], talking with Augie, talking with my dad – even he got rocked every once in a while (laughs). I just got everything back to speed, washed all that away and came out today ready to go, and it turned out well.

On his change-up against Minnesota: That's my best pitch right now. It's the pitch that's come back the quickest from bouncing back from surgery. My speed will come back, or my breaking balls will come back as time progresses. Having a changeup with a good fastball, locating that - if I can locate my fast ball, have a good changeup, that's tough to hit. It was tough for me to hit last year. My breaking stuff, my slider, my curveball, will come back with time. Today, I had my changeup, and that's kind of what made the difference.

Senior 2B Brooks Marlow

On early praise for the team: It's just the start of the season for us. We've been practicing all fall and early spring, and this is kind of the outcome we've had during practices – hitting the ball hard and pitching very well. We're just bringing it to the ballpark every day when we play somebody else, and it's good to get the wins.

On the sweetness of this series: It was nice to see what we're made of. Minnesota is a great team, and we played really good every game. We played pitch-by-pitch, the pitchers threw well, and we hit a lot of balls hard and scored a lot of runs.

On keeping pace with hitting well throughout the season: I don't think it's going to change at all because we have a lot of guys that are going to do whatever it takes. They're all going to have a quality at bat. They have a plan when they go up to the plate, and somebody is always going to hit the ball every inning.

Senior RF Collin Shaw

On the biggest reason behind early improvement: I think just all of the work we put in the past year. Coming to the ballpark, working with Tommy [Nicholson] and [Ryan] Russ and Coach Garrido, have a good approach at the plate, swinging with confidence, having a plan – all of that just helps get runs on the board.

On fast-forwarding the season and finding success at the plate throughout: I don't want it to be May or June yet. It's my last year here. I'm just taking it one day at a time, enjoying the moment. Coach has been telling us to treat every day like opening day because everybody has confidence on opening day, and there's no stats to get in the way. Nothing bad has happened, nothing good has happened. You just walk to the plate with confidence like it's opening day.

On if they are impressing themselves on the field: I don't think so. I think we knew we were going to have a good offensive club, good pitching and good defense. The hits are falling right now like we expected them to. We'll just keep on doing it.