The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Oklahoma
Baseball preview: Oklahoma
05.15.2019 | Baseball
The Longhorns face a must-win weekend at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
TEXAS (26-25, 6-14) vs. OKLAHOMA (31-20, 9-12)
May 16-18, 2019
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Thursday, 6:30 p.m.; Friday, 6:30 p.m.; Saturday 2:30 p.m. CT
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: Texas leads, 150-60-2
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
THURSDAY–Texas So. RHP Bryce Elder (2-3, 2.81) vs. Oklahoma Jr. RHP Nathan Wiles (7-3, 3.81)
FRIDAY–Texas Jr. RHP Blair Henley (6-3, 3.36) vs. Oklahoma So. LHP Levi Prater (6-4, 2.93)
SATURDAY–Texas Fr. RHP Ty Madden (4-1, 3.26) vs. Oklahoma TBA
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP—Texas and Oklahoma square off in the regular-season finale at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, with the series getting underway Thursday. The Longhorns enter the weekend in need of wins to secure a place in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. A sweep of the Sooners would guarantee the Longhorns a place in next week's conference tournament. Oklahoma is led by one of the top pitching staffs in the Big 12, with a 3.68 ERA and 444 strikeouts.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—The Longhorns got back to winning ways with a 9-0 shutout of Incarnate Word Tuesday. Texas has been through a rough patch, dropping 10 of the last 12 games, including five ninth-inning losses. The Longhorns get to close the regular season at home, where they have played decidedly better and own a 20-9 overall record. Freshman Eric Kennedy leads the way offensively, batting .310 with eight doubles, three triples and two home runs. Kennedy's 38 runs scored and nine stolen bases are the second most on the team.
FINISH WITH A BANG—In his seven previous seasons as a head coach, David Pierce has never lost the final series of the regular season. Pierce's teams have swept their final regular season opponent on three occasions, including last season's Big 12 Championship clinching sweep of TCU. Pierce holds a combined 17-4 record during the final weekend of the regular season.
NAIL-BITERS—The Longhorns have spent the majority of the season playing close games, including several that have been decided on the final at-bat. Texas has played a total of 25 games decided by two runs or less, with a 12-13 record in those games. The Longhorns have won three games in walk-off fashion and have been on the wrong end of five walk-offs.
FIRST TERM—Outfielder Eric Kennedy has had a big first season on the Forty Acres, leading Texas in hitting as a freshman. Kennedy leads the way with a .310 batting average and 54 hits, and is also tops in slugging with eight doubles, three triples and two homers. He has shown his speed in a variety of ways with hustling doubles and triples but also with infield hits. Kennedy has an astounding seven bunt singles and 18 total infield hits this season. In the outfield, Kennedy is tied for the team lead with four assists. Fellow freshman Lance Ford has also had a big debut season, starting 37 games at second base and batting .258 with 26 runs scored. Ford's first two career homers came as part of a six-RBI game to lead Texas to a 10-2 win over West Virginia.
THE DECISION MAKER—Junior starting pitcher Blair Henley has managed to factor in the decision in nine of his 12 starts this season and more often than not he has picked up the win with a 6-3 record. Henley started the season slow, before tossing five-consecutive quality stats and he has pitched six-plus innings in nine of his starts. The Longhorns have backed Henley well all season, averaging 6.3 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 3.7 runs in his starts.
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 18-22 in his absence. In the 40 games this season without both Hamilton and Petrinsky, Texas has batted .246 and fielded .967
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 47 games with 41 starts. With the extra workload, McCann's offensive numbers have dipped this season and he is batting just .214.
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 132.1 innings pitched and 22 starts, while the underclassmen as a whole have logged 319 innings out of the team's 444.2 total innings pitched.
GROWING PAINS—The Longhorns' young pitching staff has been known to be wild this season, with 235 walks and 56 wild pitches. However, opponents are only batting .239 against Texas pitching this season. The Longhorns have had 15 games in which they struck out 10 or more batters. On the other side, Texas pitching has walked nine or more in eight games and there have been 16 games that saw Longhorn pitchers throw multiple wild pitches.
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), Eric Kennedy (Player, March 25) and Bryce Elder (Pitcher, April 29).
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 sixth in the country, and first in the Big 12, in total attendance (166,121) and average attendance (5,933) this season.
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.
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.
