The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
UCLA
Baseball preview: at Long Beach Regional
06.01.2017 | Baseball
No. 2 seed Texas will take on No. 3 seed UCLA on Friday at 4 p.m. PT.
TEXAS BASEBALL (37-22) @ LONG BEACH REGIONAL
June 2-4, 2017
Game one: Texas vs. UCLA; 4 p.m. PT
Where: Long Beach, Calif. (Blair Field)
TV: ESPN 2
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM—Craig Way (Play-by-Play), Roger Wallace (Analyst)
Live stats: http://www.ncaa.com/game/baseball/d1/2017/06/02/ucla-texas
Opponents: No. 1 Long Beach State; No. 3 UCLA; No. 4 San Diego State
All-time record vs. Long Beach State: Texas leads 6-4 overall and 3-1 in postseason play
All-time record vs. UCLA: Texas leads 7-4 overall and trails 0-1 in postseason play
All-time record vs. San Diego State: Texas leads 6-0 overall and have never met in postseason play
BIG 12 TOURNEY—The Longhorns finished second to the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 Conference Championship tournament…Texas defeated OU, KU, and TCU before falling to OSU in the final…Kacy Clemens was named All-Tournament team first basemen and David Hamilton was the All-Tournament team shortstop…Clemens was 9-for-22 with two homers and six RBI in the tournament while Hamilton added six hits and three doubles…Patrick Mathis also hit two homers for the Horns, Michael Cantu went 5-for-10 with a bomb and Zane Gurwitz finished 6-for-11…RHP Nolan Kingham pitched a complete game and earned his ninth win vs. KU.
ALL-BIG 12—Starting pitchers Morgan Cooper and Nolan Kingham picked up All-Big 12 First Team honors…1B Kacy Clemens was named to the second team while six Longhorns—Bret Boswell, Kyle Johnston, Travis Jones, Ryan Reynolds, Beau Ridgeway and Austin Todd—were awarded honorable mention…Todd and SS David Hamilton were both named to the All-Freshman team.
HOW WE GOT HERE—Texas finished the regular season with an RPI of 16…according to Warren Nolan, the Longhorns also ranked No. 3 in the country in strength of schedule and finished with 15 wins over Top 50 RPI schools…the Horns won six of their final nine games, including three wins in the conference tournament…Texas has series wins over UCONN, UCLA, K-State, OU, New Orleans, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia.
VS. LBSU—The Longhorns hold a 6-4 all-time record over the Dirtbags…the two teams last met in February 2007 in Long Beach…the Dirtbags took that series, 2 games to 1.
VS. UCLA—Earlier this season, the Longhorns swept a three-game series vs. the Bruins in Austin…Texas put up 20 runs in the three-game set, winning 5-4 on Friday, 5-2 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday…Friday's matchup of RHP Nolan Kingham vs. RHP Griffin Canning will be a repeat of the Friday night game in Austin in March.
VS. SDSU—Texas holds a 6-0 all-time record against the Aztecs…the teams last met in February 2005, a three-game sweep for UT in San Diego.
ONE-RUN WOES—With a 6-5 loss in the conference chamionship game, the Horns have now lost 15 one-run games, with nine of those one-run losses coming vs. Big 12 opponents.
DEEEEFENSE—Texas is fielding at a .983 clip, good for second-best in the nation and best in the Big 12…the Horns have also turned 64 double plays, the third-most in the country.
TEAM ERA—The Longhorns pitching staff has compiled a 3.20 team ERA, good for ninth-best in the nation and best in the Big 12…the Longhorns have also registered seven shutouts on the season, tied for eighth-most in the country.
SENIOR STANDOUT—Senior 1B Kacy Clemens has been a stalwart at first base for the Longhorns so far this season…he leads the Longhorns in nearly every offensive category: batting average (.319), OBP (.428), SLG (.549), hits (65) home runs (11), RBI (48), runs scored (47), and walks (38)…he's also stolen 10 bases this season while fielding .991.
COOPER HONORS—RHP Morgan Cooper was named one of 25 semifinalists for USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award…he was also named one 21 semifinalists for the College Baseball Foundation's Pitcher of the Year award and one of 25 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy…Cooper has 103 strikeouts on the year, becoming the first Longhorn with at least 100 Ks since Taylor Jungmann and Cole Green in 2011…on Thursday, he was named a Collegiate Baseball third-team All-American.
STOPPER—Sophomore RHP Beau Ridgeway was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Award Midseason Watch List…he has 11 saves on the year, becoming the first Longhorn since Corey Knebel in 2011 to record double-digit saves.
INJURY BUG—The Longhorns were without the defense of CF Zane Gurwitz and RF Patrick Mathis for one month each while they recovered from a hamstring and a lower leg injury, respectively…both sustained injury on March 14…Gurwitz had also missed part of spring practice and the Longhorns first four games of the year while nursing that same tweaked hamstring…2B Joe Baker underwent a right shoulder arthroscopy in March and will miss the remainder of the season.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES—Zane Gurwitz has also turned it on as of late, compiling a .338 average since April 1…he went 6-for-11 in the Big 12 Conference tournament before tweaking his other hamstring and seeing limited action…Kacy Clemens has also hit 7 homers, batted .322 and driven in 32 since March 22.
#MOREOFTHOSE—Ten different Longhorns have gone deep this season giving Texas 48 total homers, after hitting just 34 last year…Kacy Clemens leads the team with 11 homers, including a senior day grand slam, and two homers in the Big 12 tournament…Patrick Mathis has 7 homers despite missing a month…Michael Cantu has 6 on the year after hitting just one in his previous two seasons…Kody Clemens, Bret Boswell and Ryan Reynolds each have five.
SNEAKY WHEELS CLUB—Michael McCann and Kacy Clemens have both added stolen bases to their respective resumes…combined, they're a 14-for-15 on the basepaths, 10 for Kacy and four for McCann…neither had recorded a stolen base before this season.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE—As a team, Texas has amassed 292 walks…Kacy Clemens leads the team with 38, while Travis Jones and Bret Boswell have 34 apiece.
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…Pierce's first win with the program came on February 18 over Rice in game one of the DH…he 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.
HEAR 'EM—In partnership with IMG-College, Texas games will be broadcast on the Austin Radio Network, on 104.9 The Horn and AM 1260.
