The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Texas A&M
No. 12 Baseball preview: No. 9 Texas A&M
04.01.2019 | Baseball
Longhorns and Aggies to meet in front of sold-out crowd.
No. 12 TEXAS (20-11) vs. No. 9 TEXAS A&M (23-6-1)
April 2, 2019
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT
TV: FS1
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: Texas leads, 244-126-5
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
TUESDAY—Texas Fr. RHP Owen Meaney (0-0, 0.93) vs. Texas A&M So. LHP Dustin Saenz (1-0, 2.84)
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP—Texas continues its four-game home stand with a top-25 midweek matchup against Texas A&M at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. This is the fourth-consecutive season that the teams have met in a midweek contest. The Longhorns and Aggies split a pair of games last season, with A&M winning 6-5 April 10 in College Station and Texas winning 8-3 in Austin on June 2.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas completed its second sweep of the season, with three wins over Xavier last weekend. The Longhorns got a walk-off hit from Duke Ellis in the 12th inning of Friday's series opener and Tate Shaw finished the series sweep with a walk-off double on Sunday. The Longhorns pitching staff has been the strength so far, with a 3.64 ERA and 260 strikeouts in 272 innings pitched. Opponents are batting just .227 against Texas pitchers.
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE—Just over halfway through the season, the Longhorns have not yet produced big numbers at the plate. But what they have done is show incredible patience, with the seventh-most walks in the NCAA this season (169). Duke Ellis has been one of the nation's best at taking a free pass, ranking fourth in the country with 33 walks in 31 games played.
YOUNG GUNS—Head Coach David Pierce's 2019 pitching staff is likely the youngest he has ever head, featuring seven freshmen (one redshirt) and five sophomores (one redshirt). All 12 of the underclassmen pitchers have been called upon several times this season and seven of Texas' nine pitchers to have started a game are underclassmen. The true freshmen have accounted for 86 innings pitched and 13 starts, while the underclassmen as a whole have logged 202 1/3 innings out of the team's 272 total innings pitched.
EFFECTIVELY WILD—The young pitching staff has had ups and downs, and leads the Big 12 with 260 strikeouts but also has the most walks (138) and wild pitches (42). The Longhorns have had two games in which they struck out 14 batters. On the other side, Texas pitching walked 10 against UTSA and there have been three games that saw Longhorn pitchers throw four wild pitches.
WILDLY EFFECTIVE—The Longhorns' weekend rotation is anchored by two pitchers who have arguably been the most consistent arms on the staff. Bryce Elder has been outstanding, with a 1.70 ERA and a team-high 44 strikeouts in 42 1/3 innings pitched. Blair Henley started slow but with his last five starts, has lowered his ERA to 3.40. He is second on the team with 33 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings pitched and opponents are batting just .240 against him. Freshman Coy Cobb was lights out in his last start, pitching seven innings and allowing just one earned run with eight strikeouts.
MARCH MADNESS—Throughout the month of March the Longhorns tested themselves against some of the best teams in the country, playing 15 games against nationally ranked teams. The Longhorns swept LSU, won the series over Texas Tech, dropped series on the road at Stanford and TCU and split a pair of midweek games against Arkansas. Texas finished the month of March with a 13-8 record that included eight wins over ranked teams.
NEXT UP—Texas heads back on the road and back into Big 12 Conference play with a series at Baylor. The Longhorns and Bears get the series started Friday at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.
RANKED—Texas remains in the national rankings heading into the eighth week of the season. The Longhorns' rankings are: D1Baseball (#12), Baseball America (#8), NCBWA (#13), USA Today Coaches Poll (#17) and Collegiate Baseball (#26).
WEEKLY AWARD WINNERS—Five Texas players have received weekly awards from the Big 12 Conference this season, including a pair of multiple-time honorees – Bryce Elder (Pitcher, Feb. 18), Coy Cobb (Newcomer, Feb. 25), Austin Todd (Player, March 4), Eric Kennedy (Newcomer, March 4), Masen Hibbeler (Player, March 18), Bryce Elder (Pitcher, March 25) and Eric Kennedy (Player, March 25).
PRESEASON ALL BIG 12—The Longhorns' top returning hitters, OF Duke Ellis and DH Zach Zubia, were named to the Preseason All-Big 12 team. Following the 2018 season – each of their first on the Forty Acres – both Ellis and Zubia were selected as All-Big 12 First Team members.
PRESEASON POLL—In the Big 12 preseason coaches' poll, Texas was selected to finish fourth behind preseason favorite Texas Tech (61), Baylor (58) and TCU (48). Last season, five of the nine Big 12 teams made the NCAA postseason.
DRAFTED—Texas saw five players selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft: INF Kody Clemens (Tigers, 3rd round, No. 79), RHP Nolan Kingham (Braves, 12th round, No. 354), RHP Chase Shugart (Red Sox, 12th round, No. 370), LHP Josh Sawyer (Cubs, 16th round, No. 488) and INF Andy McGuire (Blue Jays, 28th round, No. 836).
PIERCE TO THE POSTSEASON—Head Coach David Pierce has reached the NCAA postseason in each of his seven seasons as a head coach at Texas, Tulane, and Sam Houston State. Last season marked the skipper's first trip to the College World Series as a head coach. Pierce advanced to the College World Series four times as an assistant coach at Rice, including winning the 2003 National Championship.
PRO PARKS—Texas plays a pair of regular season games in professional ballparks this season. The Longhorns played Incarnate Word at Nelson Wolff Stadium, home of the Triple-A San Antonio Missions, on March 26. Texas plays at Whataburger Field, home of the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on April 30. Also for the 19th time, the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship will be played in Oklahoma City. The Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Oklahoma City Dodgers, plays host to the event.
WATCH 'EM—All but one Texas home game will be broadcast on Longhorn Network this season. The team of Lowell Galindo, Keith Moreland, and Greg Swindell will return to the booth to call the action.
HEAR 'EM—In partnership with IMG-College, Texas games will be broadcast on the Austin Radio Network, primarily on 104.9 The Horn and AM 1260. Craig Way handles primary play-by-play duties alongside Roger Wallace and Quan Cosby.
