The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 19 Baseball preview: at Baylor
04.13.2023 | Baseball
The Longhorns head back on the road for a Big 12 series against the Bears.
#19 TEXAS at BAYLOR
April 14-16, 2023
Where: Baylor Ballpark
Time: Friday at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday at 2 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: Baylor.StatBroadcast.com
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
FRIDAY–Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (3-0, 2.17) vs. Baylor RHP Blake Helton (0-3, 7.61)
SATURDAY–Texas RHP Charlie Hurley (3-0, 2.43) vs. Baylor RHP Mason Marriott (1-5, 7.97)
SUNDAY–Texas TBA vs. Baylor RHP Will Rigney (3-1, 3.31)
THE MATCHUP—The Longhorns head back on the road for a Big 12 series against Baylor. Last season, Texas swept Baylor at UFCU Disch-Falk Field and outscored the Bears 46-9. In the Longhorns' last trip to Waco in 2021 they won the series 2-1. Baylor's last series win over Texas came in 2017 in Waco. Texas assistant coach Steve Rodriguez spent the previous seven seasons as head coach at Baylor.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas won its second Big 12 series of the season, taking two-of-three over Kansas State last weekend before splitting a midweek series with Texas State. The Texas pitching staff, has been the team's strength through the first 35 games and has a 3.45 ERA, holding opposing hitters to a .231 batting average with 332 strikeouts. The Longhorns' 3.45 ERA leads the Big 12 and ranks 10th nationally.
DOWNTOWN PORTER BROWN—Porter Brown picked up the March 27 Big 12 Player of the Week award after helping the Longhorns sweep Texas Tech. For the week, Brown batted .615 and provided the game-winning runs in two of the three games. On Friday night, he provided a go-ahead two-run homer and on Saturday he led off the ninth with a double and scored on a wild pitch to end the game. The redshirt junior leads the Longhorns with 31 RBI, is tied for the team lead with seven homers and tied for second with 10 doubles.
POW!—Peyton Powell had a great month of March, starting all 19 games and picking up at least one hit in 16-of-19, with multiple hits in 11 of them. For the season, Powell leads the Longhorns with a .345 batting average and has 10 doubles, seven homers, 25 RBI and 26 runs scored. His versatility has also been beneficial, as he has played first base, third base and catcher 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 169-44 (.793) record at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, including a 20-4 mark this season. Since the stadium opened in 1975, Texas has gone 1600-404-3 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. With the exception of the 2021 season because of limited capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas has led the Big 12 in attendance for 15-consecutive seasons. This season the Longhorns are averaging 6,663 fans per game, the sixth-highest average attendance in the country.
HOME SWEET HOME—Texas holds a 20-4 record this season at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. In the 24 home games, the Longhorns are hitting .302 and fielding .983, while the pitching staff has a 3.38 ERA. In the 11 games played away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field, Texas holds a 4-7 record and is batting .229 with a .968 fielding percentage. Of the Longhorns' 28 errors as a team this season, 13 of them have come in the 11 games away from home.
NARROW MARGINS—The Longhorns have played several close games this season with 21 games decided by three runs or less. In those games decided by three runs or less, Texas has a 12-9 record. Texas has a pair of walk-off wins this season at UFCU Disch-Falk Field but have also been on the wrong end of a walk-off three times. Nine of the Longhorns' 11 losses have been by three runs or less and six of the defeats have been by one run.
THE HOMESTAND—Texas took full advantage of its longest homestand in more than 20 years, going 14-0 and outscoring opponents 131-56. The full homestand spanned a three-week stretch starting on March 7 and concluding with the opening Big 12 series against Texas Tech March 24-26. This was the longest Texas homestand in more than 20 years and the longest since the Longhorns hosted 13-straight games at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in 2011. The last time Texas had a longer homestand was in 2001, when Texas played 21-straight home games from February 6 to March 13. This was the program's eighth homestand of at least 10 games since 2001.
GOIN' STREAKIN'—Texas put together a 16-game winning streak from March 7 to March 31, tied for the 16th-longest winning streak in program history. During the winning streak, Texas outscored opponents 141 to 61 and batted .326 with 34 doubles and 27 home runs. The pitching staff had a 3.31 ERA and held opponents to a .226 batting average. The last 16-game winning streak came in 2021 and was also ended by Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME—As part of the Longhorns' 16-game winning streak, Texas took down a pair of in-state rivals with a sweep of Texas Tech and a win over Texas A&M in College Station. The sweep of the Red Raiders was the first since 2007 and just the fourth clean sweep of Tech in the last 30 years. The win in College Station was the first since 2011 and snapped a four-game losing streak at Olsen Field.
G-WAGON—Catcher Garret Guillemette has batted in the cleanup spot for Texas most of the season and has been productive, batting .282 with 27 RBI and 24 runs scored. He's also caught the majority of the games with 22 starts behind the plate. Through the first 21 games of the year Guillemette still had not hit a homer but now has six over the last 14 games, including the walk-off blast to complete the sweep against Texas Tech.
EK—Eric Kennedy holds the team lead with 19 extra-base hits, including team-highs with 11 doubles and seven home runs. The fifth-year outfielder is batting .317 with 24 RBI and 29 runs scored. In addition to his power display, he also leads the team with 13 infield hits and six bunt singles this season.
INFIELD HIT MACHINE—Throughout his career on the Forty Acres, Eric Kennedy has used his speed as a means to get on base. With 13 infield singles (six bunt) this season, Kennedy now has 71 career infield singles (37 bunts). In 2021, Kennedy had a career-best 27 infield singles (16 bunts).
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—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 all 36 home games.
