Hinojosa's three-run homer lifts No. 10 Baseball over Texas State, 6-4

Tuesday, March 24

San Marcos, Texas

6 p.m.

University of Texas

17-8

Texas State

10-13-1

Texas

Texas State

Hinojosa's three-run homer lifts No. 10 Baseball over Texas State, 6-4

03.24.2015 | Baseball

Box Score

C.J Hinojosa launched a two-out, three run bomb to give Texas the lead in the eighth

SAN MARCOS, Texas — Trailing 4-2 with two outs and no one on in the eighth inning, the No. 10 Baseball team rallied for three runs via a three-run C.J Hinojosa home run to get past Texas State, 6-4, Tuesday night at Bobcat Ballpark.

After back-to-back strikeouts to begin the eighth, Zane Gurwtiz laced a ball off the center field wall for a triple and Ben Johnson followed with a four pitch walk. Texas State then went to the bullpen for closer Blake Whitter, but Hinojosa crushed the third pitch he saw well over the left field fence to give Texas a 5-4 lead in front of a record crowd of 2,653 in San Marcos.

From there, UT added an insurance run in the ninth, and Kirby Bellow retired the final four batters to give the Longhorns (17-8) the win over the Bobcats (10-13-1). It marked the ninth win in the last 11 games for Texas, which also got its sixth come-from-behind victory of the year.

Hinojosa and Gurwitz led the Texas offense, with each pitching in two hits including a homer. Gurwitz's round-tripper came the hard way, as he hustled for an in-the-parker in the third inning. Hinojosa's other base knock was a single in the first, and Gurwitz was the only Longhorn two score two runs in the game.

Michael Cantu hit his first career home run in the fifth inning, and Joe Baker had an infield RBI single to provide the rest of the Longhorn offense for the night.

Ty Culbreth (3-2) grabbed the win by recording the last out of the seventh inning with two runners on base, and Bellow's shutdown 1 1/3 frames gave him his third save of the season.

Starter Josh Sawyer (2-1) went three innings and allowed two earned runs, and Jake McKenzie tossed 1 1/3 scoreless frames of relief.

The Texas bats were slowed in the first seven innings by Texas State starting pitcher Montana Parsons, who set season highs in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (6) while allowing two runs on three hits and no walks.

The Bobcats came out of the gates swinging in the first, as leadoff man Cory Geisler sent the second pitch he saw out, over the left-center field fence for a home run. Sawyer then plunked the next man and surrendered an RBI double to the wall in right center to David Paiz, but settled down from there, retiring the next three hitters.

Gurwitz gave the offense a jolt in the third with a homer of his own, though the ball never left the field of play. With one out, he lined a ball deep off the wall in center field that ricocheted hard from the outfielder and back towards the infield, allowing the sophomore to scamper all the way around for an inside-the-park home run to make it 2-1.

Sawyer did not allow a hit over the next two frames and just surrendered just two walks before giving way to Kyle Johnston for the bottom of the fourth. Johnston struck out the first batter he faced, but allowed a walk, steal and RBI bloop single that stretched the Texas State advantage to 3-1.

Cantu wasted little time in tightening the score back up, as he blasted his first career collegiate home run to dead center field leading off the fifth inning. However, the lead bumped back to two in the bottom half of the inning when Texas State cleanup man, Granger Studdard, deposited a two out, 1-2 offering over the wall in right.

The score stayed that way until the top of the eighth, when the Horns rallied to take the lead with two down courtesy of the no-doubt, three-run home run off the bat of Hinojosa.

In the bottom half, it took three pitchers (Ty Culbreth, Connor Mayes and Kirby Bellow), but Texas escaped the inning unscathed to head to the ninth with a lead. The eighth inning kept on a season-long trend for the Longhorns who have now outscored opponents 25-1 in that frame, and 61-17 from the seventh inning on.

In the ninth, UT tacked on another run to make it 6-4. A leadoff walk by Tres Barrera and a subsequent sacrifice bunt and groundout put Barrera on third with two down for Baker, who came through with an infield single down the line at third that allowed the insurance run to score.

From there, Bellow retired the side in order in the ninth with strikeouts of the last two hitters to lock down the save.

The Longhorns return to the diamond this weekend when they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers beginning at 6:35 p.m. Friday, March 27.