The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
New Orleans
Baseball preview: vs. New Orleans [April 21-23]
04.21.2017 | Baseball
The Longhorns and Privateers meet for the first time since 1989.
TEXAS (25-15) vs. NEW ORLEANS (19-18)
April 21-23, 2017
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field?
Time: Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 4 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM—Craig Way (Play-by-Play), Roger Wallace (Analyst)
Live stats: sidearmstats.com/texas/baseball?
All-time series: Texas leads, 6-0
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY—New Orleans RHP Shawn Semple (5-2, 2.82) vs. Texas RHP Nolan Kingham (5-3, 2.08)
SATURDAY—New Orleans LHP Bryan Warzek (5-1, 2.14) vs. Texas RHP Morgan Cooper (4-2, 1.63)?
SUNDAY—New Orleans RHP Riley Hodge (0-1, 6.75) vs. Texas RHP Kyle Johnston (3-3, 3.99)
SERIES NOTES
THE MATCHUP—Texas and New Orleans meet for the first time since 1989…the two sides have played four times NCAA tournament action, with Texas taking each contest.
A LOOK AT THE PRIVATEERS—New Orleans is led by second year head coach Blake Dean, who played collegiately at LSU…in his 2008 season at LSU, his walkoff double in the College World Series eliminated Rice, where David Pierce was an assistant coach…UNO is led by John Cable's .349 batting average…Tristan Clarke leads the squad with eight homers and 30 RBI…the Privateers have five players who have accrued at least 20 RBI…LHP Bryan Warzek leads the pitching staff with a 5-1 record and a 2.14 ERA.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas dropped its Big 12 Conference series at Baylor, two games to one, over the weekend…the Longhorns dropped Friday's game 6-2 and held a 3-0 lead heading into the 8th inning in game two before allowing Baylor to tie and win it in the 9th…the Longhorns had an early 3-0 lead in the series finale and eventually won it, 5-3, in 10 innings thanks to a two-out walk by Travis Jones and a two-out homer by Kacy Clemens…on Tuesday night, Texas shut out Texas State 2-0 to match its 2016 win total with 25.
NEXT UP—Texas heads to Sugar Land to face off against Louisiana-Lafayette at Constellation Field on Tuesday night.
NO. 42—Kacy Clemens' 10th inning, game-winning home run last Saturday afternoon at Baylor was also his 42nd hit of the season…it came on Jackie Robinson Day, whose No. 42 is retired throughout Major League Baseball.
ONE-RUN WOES—With Friday's 4-3 loss at Baylor, the Longhorns dropped to 4-11 in one-run ballgames…six of those one-run losses have home in conference action.
GOLDEN SPIKES—Texas right-handers Morgan Cooper and Nolan Kingham were both named to the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list, announced by USA Baseball on April 12…Cooper and Kingham have compiled 1.63 and 2.08 ERAs, respectively, so far this season and lead the Longhorns staff.…the duo is among 40 players selected to the watch list which honors the nation's top amateur player… Texas is one of just six (Auburn, LSU, North Carolina, Oregon State, and Virginia) to land two athletes on the midseason watch list…the Longhorns have never had a Golden Spikes Award winner.
DFNS—The Longhorns' defense has been sturdy so far this season…Texas is fielding at a .983 clip, good for fifth-best in the nation…the Horns have also turned 42 double plays, good for second-most in the country.
TEAM ERA—The Longhorns pitching staff has compiled a 2.92 team ERA, good for 10th-best in the nation.
SENIOR LEADER—Senior 1B Kacy Clemens has been a stalwart at first base for the Longhorns so far this season…he had reached base safely in 21 straight games before his ejection on Sunday vs. Oklahoma…he leads the team in BA (.304) and SLG (.543)…he hit his seventh homer of the season on Saturday, a game-winning two-run shot in the 10th…he now has 7 homers, a season-high for the Houston native after he hit five last season…he is tops on the team with 30 RBI.
#MOREOFTHOSE—Through 40 games, nine different Longhorns have gone deep giving Texas 31 total homers…both Michael Cantu and Kacy Clemens homered on Saturday afternoon at Baylor…Patrick Mathis homered in his first start in almost a month April 11 vs. Texas State…Kacy Clemens and Kody Clemens both homered on April 8, the second consecutive season that they both homered on April 8…Kody's tied the ballgame while Kacy's home run was a grand slam to break the game open…Ryan Reynolds hit two at Kansas…Tate Shaw hit a grand slam and Cantu homered in his hometown of Corpus Christi on March 28…Kacy Clemens hit a pair of homers on Feb 24 vs. UConn.
SNEAKY WHEELS CLUB—Michael McCann and Kacy Clemens have both added stolen bases to their respective resumes…combined, they're a perfect 9-for-9 on the basepaths.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE—As a team, Texas has amassed 205 walks, good for fifth-most in the country…Travis Jones has walked a team-high 25 times while Kacy Clemens, David Hamilton and Bret Boswell have each collected 23 walks.
HOME SWEET HOME—Overall, Texas plays just 20 of its 54 games away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field…among those 20 games was a March 28 game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held at Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi and will include Tuesday's game at Constellation Field.
