The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas Southern
No. 22 Baseball preview: Texas Southern
05.09.2022 | Baseball
The Longhorns begin a five-game homestand to close out the regular season.
TEXAS (34-17) vs. TEXAS SOUTHERN (24-20)
May 10, 2022
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 6:30 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, 12-0
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
TUESDAY–Texas LHP Luke Harrison (0-0, 3.08) vs. Texas Southern TBA
THE MATCHUPS—Texas begins a five-game homestand to close out the regular season with a Tuesday matchup against Texas Southern. The Longhorns and TSU Tigers have previously met 12 times, all in Austin. Last season, the Longhorns and Tigers played into the bottom of the fourth inning before weather intervened and the game was declared a no contest.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—The Longhorns won a series at West Virginia for the first time in program history. Prior to last weekend, Texas had a 2-7 record in Morgantown, W.Va. Texas leads the Big 12 with a .316 team batting average and a program record 94 homers, while the pitching staff is second in the league with a 4.28 ERA. The Longhorns are the league's top fielding team with a .985 fielding percentage.
BOMB SQUAD—Texas has broken the program record for most home runs in a season, smashing 94 bombs in 51 games this season. The home run total leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally. Last season Texas hit 68 homers in 67 games, the fourth-most by a Longhorn team. Texas has 25 multiple-homer games, including 10 three-homer games, five four-homer games and three five-homer games.
HOME SWEET HOME—Texas has gone 19-7 this season at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Through the first 48 games of the season, Texas has played a total of 26 games at home and 22 games away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Of the final eight regular season games, the Longhorns play five of them at home and just three on the road. In home games, Texas has a team batting average of .330 and a .988 fielding percentage. The Longhorns have also averaged 6,849 fans in attendance at home this season, the fifth-highest average attendance in the country.
TITANIC—Ivan Melendez leads the country with 25 home runs this season, the second-most ever hit by a Texas player in a single season. Melendez now has 38 career home runs, which is the third-most in a career at Texas. Melendez also ranks in the top-5 nationally in total bases (1st), slugging percentage (1st), RBI (2nd) and on-base percentage (4th). He also ranks fifth nationally with a .423 batting average, while his 77 hits rank seventh and his 43 walks rank 11th.
MURPH DOG—Murphy Stehly has had an outstanding season at the plate, batting .372, ranking seventh in the nation with 77 total hits and 10th with 138 total bases. Stehly also has 17 doubles, one triple and 14 homers. He has a hit in 43 of his 50 games played and has 23 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 31 games he has raised his batting average up to .350. Messinger has hit eight 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 129 defensive chances this season.
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 141-40 (.779) record at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, including an 19-7 mark this season. Since the stadium opened in 1975, Texas has gone 1572-400-3 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 26 home games this season Texas is averaging 6,849 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 .984 fielding percentage. This season, Daly and Faltine are currently tied for first in the league with 149 assists each. 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.
