The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas State
Baseball preview: at Texas State [March 21]
03.20.2017 | Baseball
The Longhorns head to San Marcos for the first of three games against the Bobcats this year.
TEXAS (13-9) at TEXAS STATE (12-8)
March 21, 2017
Where: San Marcos, Texas
Time: 6 p.m. CT
TV: Spectrum Sports TV
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM—Craig Way (Play-by-Play), Keith Moreland (Analyst)
Live stats: TexasState.Statbroadcast.com
All-time series: Texas leads, 45-10
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
TUESDAY—Texas State RHP Cam Baird (0-2, 6.48) vs. Texas LHP Nick Kennedy (3-0, 0.75)
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP—Texas heads to San Marcos for the first of three games this season against the Bobcats…Texas leads the all-time series 45-10 and leads 4-0 in San Marcos…last season, Texas went 2-1 against the Bobcats…Texas State won the previous matchup in Austin by a 3-2 final, snapping a 25-game Longhorns win streak over the Bobcats.
A LOOK AT THE BOBCATS—The Bobcats are coming off a 2-1 series win over reigning NCAA national champions Coastal Carolina…Texas State is led by Jonathan Ortega's .379 batting average…Theodore Hoffman has a team-high six homers.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas went 0-3 over the weekend against Big 12 Conference foe and No. 6 Texas Tech…the Longhorns were outscored 12-7 over the weekend, dropping games one and two by identical 2-1 finals…earlier in the week, the Longhorns defeated then-No. 17 Texas A&M, 4-3.
NEXT UP—Texas faces off against UT-Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday night before hosting a three-game Big 12 series against Kansas State.
CLEMENS—Through 22 games this season, Kacy Clemens has compiled a .342 average (25-for-73) to go along with a team-best .589 slugging percentage…the senior also leads the squad in home runs (4) and RBI (15)…Clemens led the Horns offense in 2016 with a .303 average while hitting five homers… he hit two long balls on Feb 24 vs. UCONN, becoming the first Longhorn to hit two homers in a game since C.J Hinojosa on May 16, 2015 at Baylor…he also snagged his first career stolen base on Feb 26.
TATER—Since earning his first career start on March 8 vs. TAMU-CC, redshirt sophomore Tate Shaw has produced for the Longhorns…in six starts, the outfielder has gone 6-for-16 with three doubles and his first career home run… he also earned five walks and was hit with a pitch four times.
FIRST FRAME—The Longhorns have outscored their opponents 22-1 in the first inning so far this season.
#MOREOFTHOSE—Through 22 games, nine different Longhorns have gone deep giving Texas 15 total homers…Tate Shaw hit his first career homer on March 17…Mathis picked up his first homer on March 8, a three-run shot…freshman Reynolds picked up his first collegiate homer on Feb 26 vs. UConn…Kacy Clemens hit a pair of homers on Feb 24 vs. UConn…the Horns also hit two bombs in the Feb 22 game at Sam Houston State…Michael Cantu hit the first, giving him his first home run since March 24, 2015 at Texas State after not hitting a home run all of last season, and Travis Jones hit the second, a three-run shot.
MCCANNIMAL—Backup catcher Michael McCann has been on a tear in limited duty so far this season…the redshirt-sophomore is 11-for-29 with two doubles, a triple and five RBI.
INJURIES IN THE OUTFIELD—Junior Patrick Mathis and senior Zane Gurwitz have been sidelined since Tuesday night vs. Texas A&M…Gurwitz has tweaked his hamstring, an injury that hampered him during the start of the season as well…Mathis is day-to-day with a lower leg injury.
FENCES FORWARD—UFCU Disch-Falk Field saw some renovations this winter as a new FieldTurf was installed and the outfield dimensions have been changed…the left-field line remains 340', center field remains '400 and the park remains 325' down the right-field line, however, the left-center field gap moves from 384' to 370' and the right-center field gap moves from 384' to 365'.
A NEW CHAPTER—February 17 marked David Pierce's first game at the helm of the Texas Baseball program…Pierce was named head coach on June 29, 2016, making him just the fifth Longhorn head coach since 1911 (with the exception of the war years of 1943-45 when Blair Cherry was at the helm) and the 13th head coach in 122 years of Texas baseball…Pierce—along with assistant coach Sean Allen, assistant coach Philip Miller and volunteer coach Phil Haig—came to Texas after two years at Tulane and three years at Sam Houston State.
MILESTONES—Pierce's first win with the program came on Saturday, February 18 over Rice in game one of the doubleheader…on Wednesday night, Pierce collected his 200th career win, a 7-2 defeat of Sam Houston State, the program where Pierce first got his start as a collegiate head coach…he earned his first series win at Texas with a pair of victories vs. UCONN.
HOME SWEET HOME—Twenty-one of the Longhorns first 27 games take place at home in Austin…the only road games are at Sam Houston State (Feb 22), Stanford (March 2-5) and Texas State (March 21)…overall, Texas plays just 20 of its 54 games away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field…among those 20 games is a March 28 game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi and an April 25 game against Louisiana at Constellation Field in Sugar Land.
D1 PREVIEW—Texas is projected to finish fourth in the Big 12 according to the D1Baseball.com staff, with RHP Morgan Cooper selected as the preseason Pitcher of the Year favorite…in D1Baseball's Top Prospects (2017 Draft) list, four Texas players ranked in the top seven—RHP Morgan Cooper (No. 1), RHP Kyle Johnston (No. 3), OF Patrick Mathis (No. 6) and INF Bret Boswell (No. 7).
PRESEASON POLL—In the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, Texas was selected to finish fourth behind preseason favorite TCU (64), Oklahoma State (54) and Texas Tech (48), all three of whom reached the College World Series last season…a different league team has won each of the past six Big 12 titles with Texas the last squad to repeat as regular season champions ('09-11).
