The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
#23 TCU
No. 7 Baseball preview: No. 23 TCU
04.07.2022 | Baseball
The Longhorns will play their first home Big 12 games of the season.
#7 TEXAS (22-9, 3-3) vs. TCU (20-9, 6-3)
April 8-10, 2022
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Friday at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday at 5 p.m.; Sunday at 12 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network/ESPNU
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series with TCU: Texas leads, 230-75-2
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (5-0, 2.51) vs. TCU RHP Riley Cornelio (3-1, 3.10)
SATURDAY–Texas RHP Tristan Stevens (4-2, 3.16) vs. TCU RHP Marcelo Perez (2-1, 2.16)
SUNDAY–Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (2-1, 2.53) vs. TCU RHP Brett Walker (3-1, 4.89)
THE MATCHUPS—Texas will play its first home Big 12 games of the season, hosting TCU at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns won the series last season in Fort Worth, with Pete Hansen tossing seven shutout innings to clinch the series. In the last meeting in Austin in 2018, Texas swept the Horned Frogs to end the regular season.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas won its first Big 12 series of the season with a pair of wins over Oklahoma. In Sunday's rubber match, the Longhorns rallied from down 7-1 and scored 11 unanswered runs to pick up the 12-8 win. Texas scored six in the seventh to tie the game up 7-7 before scoring five more in the top of the ninth to clinch the series. The Longhorns offense leads the Big 12 with a .321 batting average and 50 home runs, while the pitching staff leads the league with a 3.60 ERA and five shutouts.
BOMB SQUAD—Through the first 30 games this season Texas has launched 50 home runs, the most in the Big 12 and the 10th most nationally. Last season Texas hit 68 homers in 67 games, the third most by a Longhorn team ever. Texas has 14 multiple-homer games, including six three-homer games and three four-homer games. Ivan Melendez is tied for second nationally with 13 homers, which matches his total from last season. Trey Faltine is tied for 26th in the country with his 10 bombs.
HOME SWEET HOME—Texas is in the midst of a five-game homestand at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field, where the Longhorns have an 11-2 record this season. Through the first 30 games of the season, Texas played a total of 18 games away from home and only 12 games at home. Of the final 25 regular season games, the Longhorns will play 18 of them at home and just seven on the road. According to the NCAA's Strength of Schedule rating, Texas has the 10th toughest schedule to this point.
TITANIC—Ivan Melendez has matched his home run total from last season with 13 bombs, upping his career total at Texas to 26. The 13 homers are currently tied for the second-most nationally. Melendez also ranks in the top-10 nationally in total bases (3rd), base on balls (4th), slugging percentage (7th) and RBI (7th). Melendez's first titanic blast of the season was a "Monster Shot," making him the first player to clear the batter's eye in center field three times. Last season Melendez burst onto the scene with 13 homers, a .319 batting average and .603 slugging percentage. He also had a stretch in the month of April in which he homered in six-consecutive games.
MURPH DOG—Murphy Stehly has been unstoppable this season, batting .456 and leading the nation with 57 total hits and 99 total bases. Stehly also has 13 doubles, one triple and nine homers. He has a hit in all but two games and has 19 games with multiple hits, including just the sixth three-homer game in Texas Baseball history. His versatility has also been on display, playing first base, second base, third base and right field throughout the season.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT—Texas struck gold last season with the addition of graduate transfer Mike Antico from St. John's. The outfielder became the first player in Big 12 history to hit 10 homers and steal 40 bases in a season. This season the Longhorns added grad transfer Skyler Messinger from Kansas and he has produced. The similarities have been striking, as both players had a slow start to their Texas careers. Through Antico's first 26 games last season, he was batting just .202 before going on to bat .273 and landing on the All-Big 12 second team. For Messinger, he was batting just .192 after his first 16 games but over his last 13 games he has raised his batting average up to .370. He has also been great defensively at third base with only one error in 75 defensive chances this season.
TWO-OUT HITTING—Texas has had a knack for scoring runs with two outs this season, driving in 41% of its RBI with two outs. The Longhorns have 96 total two-out RBI of their 236 runs driven in. Ivan Melendez not only leads the team with 42 RBI, but leads the team lead with 17 two-out RBI. Douglas Hodo III has 16, while Murphy Stehly has 12, Trey Faltine has 11 and Eric Kennedy and Mitchell Daly have 10. Conversely, the Texas pitching staff has been tough with two outs and held opponents to a .224 batting average with two outs.
MARCH MADNESS—Texas Baseball started the month of March with a tough stretch of 11 games in the first 16 days of the month. Making it even tougher, the majority of those games were away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field, with 10 of 11 on the road. The road was grueling and the Longhorns started the month with a 6-5 record. The back end of the March schedule was tough as well, starting Big 12 Conference play by dropping the series at Texas Tech before falling to Texas A&M for a midweek game. In all, Texas went 11-8 in the month of March 13 games away from home.
OWN THE DISCH—A large part of the Longhorns success under head coach David Pierce has come down to dominating at home. Since 2017 Texas has produced a 133-35 (.792) record at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, including an 11-2 mark this season. Since the stadium opened in 1975, Texas has gone 1564-395-3 at home for a .798 winning percentage. The fan base has also done a great job of making the Disch a difficult place to play. Through the first 13 home games this season Texas is averaging 6,884 fans in attendance, which would be a program record. With the exception of last season's limited capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas has led the Big 12 in attendance for 15-consecutive seasons.
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS—It's an old adage that played out well in Texas' journey to a record 37th College World Series appearance in 2021. The Longhorns 2.93 ERA led the NCAA by nearly a quarter of a run and the Big 12 Conference by more than a run. Texas' .980 fielding percentage also led the Big 12 and was the 10th-best percentage in the nation. This season, the Longhorns rank 24th nationally with a 3.60 ERA and are fourth fielding .985.
INFIELD HIT MACHINE—Throughout his career on the Forty Acres, Eric Kennedy has used his speed as a means to get on base. With four infield singles (three bunt) this season, Kennedy now has 55 career infield singles (31 bunts). Last season he had 27 infield singles, including 16 bunt hits.
FLASHING THE LEATHER—Trey Faltine and Mitchell Daly have formed an incredible middle infield duo, anchoring the top defense in the Big 12 with a .985 fielding percentage. This season, Daly leads the league with 93 assists and Faltine is second with 91. Last season Faltine led the Big 12 with 203 assists, while Daly was second with 178.
HEAR 'EM—In partnership with Learfield 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. This season fans will also hear analysis from Longhorn greats Keith Moreland, Ty Harrington and Nathan Thornhill throughout the season.
WATCH 'EM—Nearly all of Texas' home games will be broadcast on Longhorn Network this season. The team of Keith Moreland and Greg Swindell will return to the booth to call the action for 29 of the 31 games. Games 2 and 3 of the TCU series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field will both be televised on ESPNU.
