The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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TCU
Baseball advances to championship game with 9-3 win over No. 6 TCU
05.27.2017 | Baseball
Texas will face eighth-seeded Oklahoma State on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Oklahoma City.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.—Texas Baseball took down No. 6 TCU, 9-3, on Saturday night to stave off elimination and advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship game on Sunday against Oklahoma State.
After dropping game one to the Horned Frogs on Saturday (and dropping three in Fort Worth earlier this month), the Longhorns came out hot to start game two. David Hamilton opened the ballgame with a base hit before Kody Clemens reached on a fielder's choice sacrifice bunt. Following a sac bunt that moved the runners into scoring position, Kacy Clemens lifted a sac fly to right field to put the Longhorns in front, 1-0. Freshman Austin Todd, who finished the day with a pair of hits, singled to left field to plate Clemens and give Texas a 2-0 lead. One batter later, Ryan Reynolds singled to left-center and Todd hustled to score from first base to put the Longhorns ahead 3-0 in the first.
Trailing 3-0, TCU responded with a pair of unearned runs off freshman Blair Henley, but the right-hander remained unfazed, going six strong innings for the Longhorns.
With the lead trimmed to just one, catcher Michael Cantu hit a towering three-run blast to extend the Texas lead to 6-2 over the Horned Frogs. For Cantu, who finished with three hits on the day, it was his sixth long ball of the year after having just one in his career coming into the season.
The Longhorns tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning thanks to two bases-loaded walks to Kody Clemens and Travis Jones. TCU got an unearned run back in the bottom half of the inning, but Patrick Mathis responded with a solo homer in the ninth to regain the six-run lead. Mathis had also homered to lead off game one on Saturday.
Hamilton, Todd, Mathis, Cantu and Boswell each recorded multi-hit games for the Longhorns while Kacy Clemens and Reynolds added one apiece.
On the hill, Henley (4-4) did not allow an earned run while giving up just four hits and three walks and striking out three in the game. Behind Henley, Chase Shugart (3) tossed three innings of one-hit ball. He walked one and allowed one unearned run while striking out two to earn his third save of the season and first since March 14 vs. Texas A&M.
With the win, the Longhorns advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship game on Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. eighth-seeded Oklahoma State. The Longhorns will serve as the home team in the game.
