No. 12 Baseball falls at Stanford, 5-4

Thursday, March 5

Palo Alto, Calif.

8 p.m.

University of Texas

8-5

Stanford

8-6

Texas

Stanford

03.06.2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Ben Johnson homers twice in loss

STANFORD, Calif. – Ben Johnson homered twice but Texas was unable to overcome a pair of long balls by the Stanford Cardinal in a 5-4 series-opening loss Thursday night.

Stanford led 5-2 after Mikey Diekroeger hit a two-run homer in the third and Austin Barr sent a solo shot out in the fourth, and though Texas pitchers shut down the Cardinal (8-6) the rest of the way, the offense was unable to come up with a big inning.

The Longhorns (8-5) outhit the Cardinal, 7-6, and drew nine walks from Stanford's pitching staff, but were undone by leaving 14 runners on base. Texas had them loaded in the fourth, sixth and ninth innings but each time left them that way.

Starting pitcher Chad Hollingsworth (1-1), who turned in five innings and allowed five runs on six hits and three walks, was saddled with the loss. Connor Mayes (1 2/3 innings) and Ty Culbreth (1 1/3) kept Stanford hitless over the final three innings.

Johnson had a stellar day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs. The junior, who is hitting .456 (26-of-57) this season, also had a fantastic, sliding catch in foul ground in the seventh inning.

Johnson put Texas on the board, and in front 2-1, when he blasted a two-run homer in the top of the third inning.

Stanford, though, took the lead right back in the bottom half of the frame when Diekroeger hit a three-run homer to right field with two on and two outs, making it 4-2 in favor of the Cardinal.

An inning later, Texas had a good opportunity to cut into the lead when it loaded the bases with one out, but Stanford starting pitcher Keith Weisenberg struck out two to escape the threat. In the bottom of the frame, Barr sent a solo home run over the left field wall for a 5-2 advantage.

In the fifth Johnson connected on a 2-2 delivery, sending it well over the left field wall, for the first multi-home run game of his career.

After scoreless frames in the sixth, seventh and eighth, Texas struck in the ninth. C.J Hinojosa led off the inning with a double and later scored on a wild pitch, cutting the deficit to 5-4. With two outs, pinch hitter Joe Baker drew a walk, Michael Cantu singled and Zane Gurwitz drew another walk to load the bases. But Stanford pitcher Logan James closed out the win by retiring Taylor Stell on a soft liner to second base.

Stanford reliever Tyler Thorne (1-0), who tossed 1 2/3 scoreless in relief, was credited with the win, while James got his third save of the year.

Texas and Stanford continue the four-game set Friday at 8 p.m. CT.

Quotes from Coach Augie Garrido

"What separated the two teams – actually I think we have the better team – however we lost the game because we didn't take quality at-bats with runners in scoring position. We didn't drive runners in when we had a chance, either by taking the pitches that would have walked the run in, or by squaring up the ball. We struck out about six times with runners in scoring position and we left the bases loaded three times.

"[Chad] Hollingsworth got hit but kept throwing the ball in there and did a really good job, and then his relief pitching came in and did a really good job, kept them right on that '5.' We had several opportunities to pass them up but we over-competed in those situations. Just trying too hard and not playing with the kind of confidence that we hope we have as we move forward. As long as we continue to swing at balls outside of the strike zone because we're trying to score the runs – it isn't because we're not competing and it isn't because we're not good. It's because we're trying too hard. Hopefully as they gain more experience they'll gain more confidence, and as they gain more confidence they'll be able to balance out the patience it takes to be a good hitter along with the aggressiveness it takes to be a good hitter."