The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

No. 2 Baseball survives with 3-2 win over West Virginia
05.29.2021 | Baseball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – No. 2 Texas Baseball survived with a 3-2 win over West Virginia in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship on Friday at Bricktown Ballpark.
The Longhorns (42-14) will play Oklahoma State on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. and need to beat the Cowboys twice to advance to Sunday's championship game.
Pete Hansen struck out a career high nine batters in 6.2 innings pitched. He allowed just two runs on six hits and no free passes and improved to 8-1 on the season.
Tanner Witt pitched the final 2.1 innings with four strikeouts to record his fourth save of the season.
Texas took advantage of a flurry of free passes in the bottom of the third to take a 1-0 lead. Trey Faltine and Silas Ardoin each walked before Eric Kennedy was hit by a pitch to load the bases. A wild pitch then allowed Faltine to scamper home for the first run of the game.
The Longhorns were robbed of more runs in the fourth when Mike Antico drove a ball to right field that was caught at the wall with a leaping grab by WVU's Austin Davis.
West Virginia then came back to jump in front in the fifth with two runs on four hits off of Hansen.
Texas battled back in the bottom of the sixth to retake the lead, 3-2. Faltine was involved yet again, hitting a single to left field to put two runners on with one out. Ardoin then delivered a two-run double down the right field line to put the Horns in front for good.
Ardoin finished 1-for-2 with two RBI and two walks, while Faltine went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and one walk.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hansen, Pete (8-1)
L: Jeffrey, Madison (2-2)
S: Witt, Tanner (4)
Batting:
2B: Byorick, Hudson 1 ; Barry, Braden 1
RBI: McCormick, Matt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Davis, Austin 1 ; Barry, Braden 1
SB: Davis, Austin 1 ; Abernathy, Ben 2

Batting:
2B: Ardoin, Silas 1
RBI: Ardoin, Silas 2
SH: Hodo III, Douglas 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hodo III, Douglas 1 ; Faltine, Trey 2
SB: Antico, Mike 1
CS: Daly, Mitchell 1
HBP: Kennedy, Eric 1