The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
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Kansas
No. 22 Baseball preview: Kansas
05.18.2022 | Baseball
The Longhorns close out the regular season against Kansas at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
TEXAS (36-17, 11-10) vs. KANSAS (20-32, 4-17)
May 19-21, 2022
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Thursday at 6:30 p.m.; Friday at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: Texas leads, 55-29
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
THURSDAY–Texas LHP Pete Hansen (8-1, 3.08) vs. Kansas LHP Daniel Hegarty (6-5, 4.43)
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (5-1, 2.66) vs. Kansas RHP Cole Larsen (1-8, 8.26)
SATURDAY–Texas TBA vs. Kansas RHP Ryan Vanderhei (5-6, 6.56)
THE MATCHUPS—Texas hosts Kansas in the final series of the regular season ahead of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship. The Jayhawks make their first trip to UFCU Disch-Falk Field since the 2018 season when the Longhorns swept the series. Last season, Texas swept the series over Kansas in Lawrence.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—The Longhorns head into the final series of the regular season after a 9-2 midweek win over Sam Houston. Texas leads the Big 12 with a .319 team batting average and a program record 98 homers, while the pitching staff is first in the league with a 4.20 ERA. The Longhorns are also the league's top fielding team with a .986 fielding percentage.
BOMB SQUAD—Texas has broken the program record for most home runs in a season, smashing 98 bombs in 53 games this season. The home run total leads the Big 12 and ranks eighth nationally. Last season Texas hit 68 homers in 67 games, the fourth-most by a Longhorn team. Texas has 27 multiple-homer games, including 10 three-homer games, five four-homer games and three five-homer games.
HOME SWEET HOME—Texas has gone 21-7 this season at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Through the first 53 games of the season, Texas has played a total of 28 games at home and 25 games away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns close out the regular season with four-straight home games before heading to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship. In home games, Texas has a team batting average of .334 and a .989 fielding percentage. The Longhorns have also averaged 6,791 fans in attendance at home this season, the fifth-highest average attendance in the country.
TITANIC—Ivan Melendez leads the country with a .421 batting average and 26 home runs this season, the second-most ever hit by a Texas player in a single season. Melendez now has 39 career home runs, which is the third-most in a career at Texas. Melendez also ranks in the top-5 nationally with 179 total bases (1st), a .942 slugging percentage (1st), 80 RBI (2nd) and a .537 on-base percentage (4th). With three regular season games left Melendez is on pace for the Big 12 Triple Crown.
MURPH DOG—Murphy Stehly has had an outstanding season at the plate, batting .380, ranking 10th in the nation with 81 total hits and 17th with 146 total bases. Stehly also has 18 doubles, one triple and 15 homers. He has a hit in 45 of his 52 games played and has 24 games with multiple hits, including just the sixth three-homer game in Texas Baseball history. He had a 20-game hitting streak earlier this season, which is tied for the fourth-longest in program 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 33 games he has raised his batting average up to .366. Messinger has hit nine home runs this season, after having just six in his four years at Kansas. He has also been great defensively at third base with only two errors in 132 defensive chances this season.
BACK-TO-BACK JACKS—Texas has hit back-to-back home runs on eight different occasions this season. The power-hitting duo of Ivan Melendez and Murphy Stehly have gone back-to-back four times. The Longhorns have also hit three-straight homers in a game this season, on May 1 against Oklahoma State.
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 142-40 (.780) record at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, including an 20-7 mark this season. Since the stadium opened in 1975, Texas has gone 1573-400-3 at home for a .797 winning percentage. The fan base has also done a great job of making the Disch a difficult place to play. Through the first 27 home games this season Texas is averaging 6,808 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.
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 .986 fielding percentage. This season, Faltine leads the league with 154 assists and Daly is second with 153. Last season Faltine led the Big 12 with 203 assists, while Daly was second with 178.
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.
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 with 13 games away from home.
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.
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