The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Abilene Christian
No. 14 Baseball preview: Abilene Christian
04.18.2023 | Baseball
The Longhorns return to UFCU Disch-Falk Field for a five-game homestand.
#14 TEXAS vs. ABILENE CHRISTIAN
April 19, 2023
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
WEDNESDAY–Texas RHP Kobe Minchey (1-0, 0.00) vs. ACU RHP Blake Anderson (4-2, 5.60)
THE MATCHUP—The Longhorns open up a five-game homestand, starting against Abilene Christian on Wednesday. Texas holds a 4-0 record all-time against ACU. The teams meet for the first time since 2021, when the Longhorns swept a three-game series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The first ever meeting between the teams came in the final game of the shortened 2020 season.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas won its first road series of the season, winning two games over Baylor in Waco. The Longhorns are currently sitting first place in the Big 12 with an 8-4 record. Texas has 26 overall wins, which are the most in the league and the Longhorns' .684 winning percentage is second only behind West Virginia at 25-11 (.694). The Longhorns are batting .283 as a team with 47 homers, while the pitching staff leads the Big 12 and ranks 14th nationally with a 3.76 ERA.
DOWNTOWN PORTER BROWN—Porter Brown has been productive for the Longhorns after transferring from TCU. He leads the team with 34 RBI and is tied for second on the team with 11 doubles and seven homers. He picked up the March 27 Big 12 Player of the Week award after helping the Longhorns sweep Texas Tech. That 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.
POW!—Peyton Powell leads the Longhorns in hitting with a .341 batting average and is tied for second on the team with seven homers. Powell had a breakout 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. 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 14 games played away from UFCU Disch-Falk Field, Texas holds a 6-8 record and is batting .251 with a .973 fielding percentage. Of the Longhorns' 28 errors as a team this season, 14 of them have come in the 14 games away from home.
MIDWEEK WINS—In seven seasons under head coach David Pierce, the Longhorns have had success in midweek games. Since 2017, Texas has gone 69-19 (.784) in midweek games including a 9-2 record this season.
NARROW MARGINS—The Longhorns have played several close games this season with 24 games decided by three runs or less. In those games decided by three runs or less, Texas has a 14-10 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 four times. Ten of the Longhorns' 12 losses have been by three runs or less and seven of the defeats have been by one run.
G-WAGON—Catcher Garret Guillemette has batted in the cleanup spot for Texas most of the season and has been productive, batting .297 with 33 RBI and 27 runs scored. He's also caught the majority of the games with 24 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 17 games, including the walk-off blast to complete the sweep against Texas Tech.
EK—Eric Kennedy holds the team lead with 21 extra-base hits, including team-highs with 12 doubles and eight home runs. The fifth-year outfielder is batting .333 with 26 RBI and 34 runs scored. In addition to his power display, he also leads the team with 18 infield hits and nine 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 18 infield singles (nine bunt) this season, Kennedy now has 76 career infield singles (40 bunts). In 2021, Kennedy had a career-best 27 infield singles (16 bunts).
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.
TraDISCHions—Texas will honor its history throughout the 2023 season as part of the Saturday TraDISCHion series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. For the second-consecutive season the Longhorns are celebrating past greats every Saturday, and this week will be the jersey retirement of Taylor Jungmann (2009-11). This season Texas has already honored OF Dustin Majewski (2002-03), OF Drew Stubbs (2004-06), Adrian Alaniz (2005-07), RHP Kirk Dressendorfer (1988-90) and David Denny (1982-85).
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.
