The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
West Virginia
Baseball preview: No. 17 West Virginia
04.25.2019 | Baseball
Longhorns face pivotal weekend at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
TEXAS (24-19, 5-9) vs. WEST VIRGINIA (24-14, 8-7)
April 26-28, 2019
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Friday at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2:30 p.m.; Sunday at 12 p.m. CT
Video: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: West Virginia leads, 11-7
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
FRIDAY—Texas So. RHP Bryce Elder (2-3, 3.05) vs. West Virginia Jr. RHP Alek Manoah(6-2, 1.81)
SATURDAY—Texas Jr. RHP Blair Henley (6-2, 3.81) vs. West Virginia So. LHP Jackson Wolf (2-2, 3.61)
SUNDAY—Texas TBA vs. West Virginia Jr. RHP Kade Strowd (4-4, 4.13)
GAME NOTES
FRIDAY CANNED FOOD DRIVE
Join Texas Baseball and Texas Athletics in their mission to collect 1,500 pounds of non-perishable food items for the central Texas community. Every five pounds of food donated can provide the equivalent of four meals for central Texans in need. Help us make a difference in our community by bringing donations to the home plate entrance at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday night. Fans who donate will receive a coupon for a FREE Whataburger while supplies last.
THE MATCHUP—Texas hosts West Virginia for a three-game Big 12 Conference series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Last season, the Mountaineers won the series, two games to one, in Morgantown, W.V. and they lead the all-time series 11-7. The last time West Virginia came to Austin, the Longhorns won the series to end the 2017 regular season. WVU is 11-4 in its last 15 games, while Texas is 7-8 during the same stretch.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—The Longhorns are in the midst of their longest losing streak of the season following back-to-back walk-off losses. Texas is just 4-8 in April and during the month the Longhorns have batted just .251 while the pitching staff has a 5.97 ERA. The team's leading hitter, Eric Kennedy returned to the lineup after missing six starts with an injury. Kennedy is batting .286 with 40 hits and 31 runs scored.
THE DECISION MAKER—Junior starting pitcher Blair Henley has managed to factor in the decision in eight of his 10 starts this season and more often than not he has picked up the win with a 6-2 record. Henley started the season slow, before tossing five-consecutive quality stats and he has pitched six-plus innings in eight of his starts. The Longhorns have backed Henley well all season, averaging 6.8 runs in the games that Henley has started. On the flip side Bryce Elder has not had the same luck, holding a 2-3 record and Texas averages just four runs in his starts.
VIRTUOUS—The Longhorns have not produced big numbers at the plate this season, but what they have done is show incredible patience with the 16th-most walks in the NCAA (223). Duke Ellis has been one of the nation's best at taking a free pass, ranking 10th in the country with 41 walks in 43 games played.
TAKING ITS TOLL—Texas entered the season knowing that it would be without shortstop David Hamilton, but just a few weeks into the season the Longhorns also found themselves without catcher DJ Petrinsky. Both Hamilton and Petrinsky were expected to anchor key defensive positions and bat in the top half of the order this season. Texas went 8-3 early in the season with Petrinsky in the lineup and the Longhorns have gone 16-16 in his absence. In the 32 games this season without both Hamilton and Petrinsky, Texas has batted .246 and fielded .966.
GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL—Michael McCann is filling a role he's never had in his career, serving as the team's everyday starting catcher due to the injury to DJ Petrinsky. The redshirt senior came into the season having made just 49 career starts spread over his first four seasons with the program. This year McCann has played in 40 games with 35 starts. With the extra workload, McCann's offensive numbers have dipped this season and he is batting just .222
YOUNG'UNS—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 110 2/3 innings pitched and 18 starts, while the underclassmen as a whole have logged 270 2/3 innings out of the team's 376 total innings pitched.
NEXT UP—Texas hits the road for the next four, starting with a trip to Whataburger Field in Corpus Christi to play Texas A&M-CC on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m.
GROWING PAINS—The Longhorns' young pitching staff has been known to be wild this season, with 200 walks and 53 wild pitches. However, opponents are only batting .238 against Texas pitching this season. The Longhorns have had 13 games in which they struck out 10 or more batters. On the other side, Texas pitching has walked nine or more in seven games and there have been 15 games that saw Longhorn pitchers throw multiple wild pitches.
PACKING THE HOUSE—This season Texas has set and re-set attendance records at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Longhorn fans showed up in droves to see Texas host Texas A&M on April 2, establishing a new regular season record crowd of 7,952. The April 2 crowd topped the previous regular season record of 7,879, set earlier in the season against Texas Tech (3/16). The total attendances for the three-game series against LSU (22,434) and Texas Tech (22,729) are also program records. Texas ranks fifth in the country, and first in the Big 12, in total attendance (149,195) and fifth nationally in average attendance (5,968) this season.
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).
MARCH MADNESS—Back in 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.
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.
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).
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.
