The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
35-20
Oklahoma
34-21
Clemens’ two homers power Baseball past Oklahoma in Big 12 tournament
05.25.2017 | Baseball, Student Services
Senior Kacy Clemens is the first Longhorn to record double-digit steals and homers in a single season since Kevin Keyes in 2010.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.—Ignited by a pair of Kacy Clemens home runs and strong pitching, Texas Baseball opened the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship play with an 8-4 win over No. 3-seed Oklahoma on Wednesday night at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.
Texas got ahead early thanks to the first of two two-run homers for the senior Clemens. In the opening frame, Travis Jones drew a walk before Clemens took the 1-1 offering over the left field wall to put Texas up 2-0.
Zane Gurwitz, who finished with three hits on the night, followed with a single and Bret Boswell singled behind him, scoring Gurwitz on an errant throw from the right fielder.
Up 3-0 after the top of the first, left-hander Nick Kennedy went to work on the hill for the Longhorns, tossing three hitless innings to open the ballgame.
In support of Kennedy, the Longhorns added two more in the top of the third when Clemens went deep for his second two-run bomb of the night. It was the second time this season that Clemens has recorded a multi-homer game, with the other coming on February 24 against UCONN.
OU got one back in the bottom of the fourth and added two more in the fifth, but the Longhorns were able to pull tack on an insurance run in the sixth thanks to a David Hamilton RBI double.
Hamilton, who launched three doubles on the night (the most for any Longhorn this season), doubled down the right field line to plate Boswell and push the Texas lead to 6-3.
Kennedy finished with 4.1 innings for the Longhorns, allowing three runs on five hits and five walks while striking out eight. With two on and one out in the fifth, Kennedy exited in favor of right-hander Chase Shugart (3-2), who quickly got out of the jam and escaped the threat.
Shugart would go on to pitch two more innings. He recorded his first seven outs on just nine pitches before surrendering a solo home run to Oklahoma catcher Renae Martinez, which made it a 6-4 ballgame in the seventh.
Right-handed pitcher Morgan Cooper came on in relief in the eighth inning, making his first appearance out of the bullpen this season. The redshirt-junior allowed one hit and struck out two Sooners to preserve the Texas lead.
Two innings later, Texas tacked on two more runs to make it 8-4 before Beau Ridgeway closed things out in the ninth inning.
The Longhorns will continue Big 12 tournament play on Thursday when they face off against the Kansas Jayhawks at 7:30 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Shugart, Chase (3-2)
L: Wiles, N. (4-4)
Batting:
2B: Clemens, Kacy 1 ; Hamilton, David 3
HR: Clemens, Kacy 2
RBI: Clemens, Kacy 4 ; McCann, Michael 1 ; Hamilton, David 1
SH: Hamilton, David 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Travis 2 ; Clemens, Kacy 2 ; Gurwitz, Zane 2 ; Boswell, Bret 2
SB: Boswell, Bret 1
CS: Boswell, Bret 1
HBP: Jones, Travis 1
PO: Clemens, Kacy 1
Batting:
2B: DeRenzo, D. 1
HR: Martinez, R. 1
RBI: Martinez, R. 1 ; Walker, S. 2 ; O'Brien, A. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Harris, C. 1 ; DeRenzo, D. 1 ; Martinez, R. 2
SB: Murray, K. 1
