The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Southern
Baseball preview: No. 14 Baseball at the NCAA Austin Regional
05.31.2018 | Baseball
Texas (37-20) at the 2018 NCAA Austin Regional
June 1-4, 2018
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Friday @ 8 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 The Horn, AM 1260
No. of NCAA Regional Appearances (last): 58 (2017)
All-time Regional Record: 103-39
Complete Game Notes
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY—Texas Southern RHP Peyton Schneider (4-6, 5.43) vs. Texas RHP Chase Shugart (4-3, 4.73)
GAME NOTES
THE REGIONAL—Texas Baseball enters the Austin Regional as the No. 1 seed…the Longhorns are hosting a regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field for the first time since 2011…this regional marks the Longhorns' 59th all-time…in 2017, Texas traveled to Long Beach State and went up 2-0 with wins over UCLA and LBSU before dropping two to the Dirtbags to end their run…Texas has not participated in a Super Regional since the 2014 season, which is also the last year the Longhorns reached the College World Series in Omaha…the 2018 NCAA regional is also the seventh of David Pierce's seven-year career as head coach but it marks his first as the host institution.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas is coming off an 0-2 performance at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship but the Longhorns won the Big 12 regular season crown after sweeping TCU the previous weekend…Texas opened the season with a 9-9 record but have gone 28-11 since…the Big 12 title is the first for the Longhorns since the 2011 season…overall, Texas has claimed 78 conference championships, eight in the Big 12…the Longhorns and Tigers met earlier this year in Sugar Land, with Texas coming away with a 10-2 win…Texas and Texas A&M also met this year in College Station, with the Aggies winning 6-5…Texas and Indiana have never previously met.
THE COMEBACK KIDS—Texas has recorded 17 come-from-behind wins this season, including comebacks in five of their last 10 ballgames…the Horns trailed 3-0 after the first inning on May 18 vs. TCU and walked off the game after Duke Ellis beat out an infield single with two outs in the ninth and Kody Clemens followed with his 18th homer…in both wins over Texas Tech, the Longhorns had to rebound from a deficit…on May 1 vs. Texas State, the Longhorns trailed, 10-6, entering the 9th against Texas State when Masen Hibbeler and Duke Ellis led off with walks, Kody Clemens singled, and Zach Zubia walked to set up Hamilton's ninth inning heroics, a walk-off slam…at the time, it was the Horns' second walk-off homer of the season (Austin Todd on Feb 17 vs. Louisiana) and first walk-off grand slam since Preston Clark's against Army in the 2009 NCAA Regional.
FIRST-TEAMER—Kody Clemens was named the first-team second baseman on both the Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball All-America teams on Thursday morning…Clemens became the first Longhorns position player to earn first-team honors since Kyle Russell did so in 2007…Clemens is also the first Texas player of any position to earn first-team distinction since RHP Corey Knebel and RHP Taylor Jungmann were honored in 2011.
THE DUKE—Sophomore OF Duke Ellis had a 16-game hitting streak up until last game, though he reached base twice on a walk and a HBP…despite the 0-for-2 effort, he is currently in the midst of a 21-game on-base streak…since that streak began, he has raised his average from .255 to .304… in Big 12 action, the transfer finished 2nd in the conference with a .390 batting average (WVU Kyle Gray, .391) and first in on-base (.484)…he's also successfully stolen 13-of-15 bases so far this season, his first season on the Forty Acres after transferring from Panola JC.
HAMMY TIME—Sophomore shortstop David Hamilton has also elevated his offense…he is currently riding a career-high 10-game hitting streak in which he's raised his average over 30 points to .307…the San Marcos native has 37 walks to just 34 strikeouts on the year while swiping a team-high 28 bases in 35 attempts…his 28 bags are the most since Drew Stubbs stole that many in 2004…Hamilton leads the team with 10 bunt singles and five triples…in addition to his offense, the Longhorns' 2017 Spike Owen Defensive Player of the Year continues to play exceptional defense at shortstop, making just nine errors while helping turn 63 double plays…he was the only shortstop named on either the All-Big 12 first- or second-teams.
DEEEEFENSE—The Texas defense fielded at a .981 clip over 24 Big 12 Conference games, with position players making just 12 of the team's 18 errors…the Longhorns' .977 fielding percentage across all games is good for tops among Big 12 teams…as a team, Texas has also turned 63 double plays on the year, which ranks fourth in all of Division I…all four of Texas' infielders have committed fewer than 10 errors apiece: 1B Jake McKenzie (1), 2B Kody Clemens (4), SS David Hamilton (9), 3B Ryan Reynolds (7).
ZUUUBOMB—Twice this season, Zach Zubia hit a two-run homer to help clinch a Big 12 Conference road series…he first did it at Oklahoma and also did it in the Sunday rubber match against Texas Tech…the redshirt-freshman has upped his season average to .288 on the year and was named the All-Big 12 first-team designated hitter and named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team…Zubia and Clemens are the first pair of Longhorns teammates with at least 10 homers apiece since Cameron Rupp, Kevin Keyes, and Kevin Lusson all had double-digit dingers in 2010.
THE BACKEND—David Pierce has utilized a veteran trio to solidify the back end of the bullen…RH Andy McGuire, who was named to the All-Big 12 second team and who had not played baseball in each of the last two seasons, has led the Longhorns with seven saves…in front of McGuire is fifth-year LH Josh Sawyer, who also missed most of the past two seasons with injury including all of 2017…redshirt-junior and All-Big 12 Honorable Mention reliever Parker Joe Robinson, who had 10 career appearances before the 2018 season, has a miniscule 1.40 ERA in 17 appearances this year and has navigated inherited runners masterfully…the three relievers, all redshirt-juniors, totaled 49 appearances together before this season and have combined for 67 so far in 2018.
MORE ON MCGUIRE—In his first start since April 22, 2014, McGuire had a breakout game on March 30 a tK-State…the redshirt-junior went deep for his first career home run in his first at-bat…he'd add two more hits in the game and finished with 3 RBI…on March 31, he added another 3-RBI game that included a bases-loaded double to pull Texas to within one…he also moved from RF to the mound with two outs in the 8th and tossed 1.1 perfect innings for the save…he now has seven saves on the year.
THE MIND OF MCKENZIE—Senior RHP/UTIL player Jake McKenzie, who walked on at Texas as a freshman and has become the starting first baseman this year, was named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District team, becoming the first Longhorn to earn that distinction since John Curtiss in 2014…on April 17, he played all nine positions in Texas' seven-inning win over UTRGV on April 17…he started the game at catcher, the only position he had not previously played while at Texas, before moving through the infield and outfield…he then got the final two outs of the game on the hill…McKenzie was recognized on SportsCenter and on ESPN's "Get Up!" program in the "My Favorite Player of All-Time (Right This Second)" segment for accomplishing a feat that only five major league players have…earlier this year, McKenzie, a petroleum engineering major, was awarded the Marvin Wright Student Athlete Award from the Cockrell School of Engineering and the Big 12's Dr. Gerald Lage Academic Achievement Award…the Longhorns' inaugural Sean Braswell Academic MVP in 2017 graduated on May 18 with a 3.95 GPA in petroleum engineering.
JUCO BOYS—The Longhorns looked to the juco ranks to fill voids in 2018…Duke Ellis (Panola JC), Masen Hibbeler, (Odessa College) and DJ Petrinsky (Hill College) are everyday players, with Ellis manning RF, Hibbeler manning LF, and Petrinsky handling the everyday catching duties…Hibbeler, despite never playing the OF before this year, leads the Longhorns with three outfield assists…he's also spent time at second base, shortstop, and first base this season.
GO DJ, THAT'S MY DJ—After the first five attempted stolen bases against him were successful this season, junior catcher DJ Petrinsky has caught 23-of-49 since, good for 42.6% caught stealing overall on the season…he also picked up the first career stolen base of his own on May 24.
WEEKDAY WINNERS—Over the past two years, the Horns went 23-5 in midweek games (non-weekend series matchups)…all five losses came away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field…in 2017, Texas went 12-2 with losses at Texas State and against Louisiana in Sugar Land…in 2018, Texas went 11-3 against midweek opponents with two losses on the road against Arkansas and one on the road at Texas A&M.
RISING LONGHORNS—Texas currently finds itself ranked in all major Division I polls, including D1Baseball (14), Baseball America (14), Perfect Game (13), Collegiate Baseball (12), NCBWA (18), and USA Today (16)…the Horns finished the regular season with an RPI of 22 and a strength of schedule of 21.
