The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
TCU
Baseball preview: at TCU
04.27.2023 | Baseball
The Longhorns and Horned Frogs will play Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Fort Worth.
TEXAS at TCU
April 29-May 1, 2023
Where: Lupton Stadium
Time: Saturday at 6 p.m.; Sunday at 3 p.m.; Monday at 1 p.m.
TV: ESPNU/Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://gofrogs.com/sidearmstats/baseball/summary
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
SATURDAY–Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (4-0, 1.84) vs. TCU RHP Kole Klecker (7-3, 3.93)
SUNDAY–Texas TBA vs. TCU Louis Rodriguez (1-0, 5.13)
MONDAY–Texas RHP Tanner Witt (0-0, 0.00) vs. TCU TBA
THE MATCHUP—The Longhorns turn their attention back to Big 12 Conference play with a weekend series at TCU. Last season, the Longhorns went 3-1 against the Horned Frogs with a series win in Austin and win in the Big 12 Tournament. Texas won its last series in Fort Worth, 2-1, in 2021.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas looks to bounce back from being swept for the first time this season. The Longhorns are batting .289 as a team with 53 homers, while the pitching staff leads the Big 12 and ranks 13th nationally with a 3.80 ERA. The Texas pitching staff is ranked first in the Big 12 and 13th nationally with 7.65 hits allowed per nine innings but ranks sixth in the league with 4.68 walks allowed per nine innings.
DOWNTOWN PORTER BROWN—Porter Brown makes his return to Fort Worth after playing for TCU from 2019-22. Brown has had a productive season after transferring to Texas and is second on the team with a .340 batting average and shares the team lead with eight home runs. 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. In parts of four seasons at TCU, Brown batted .286 with 20 doubles, nine home runs, 63 RBI and 83 runs scored. He also stole 25 bases during his time at TCU.
DC ON FIRE—Dylan Campbell has caught fire and comes into the weekend riding a 20-game hitting streak. The streak is tied for the fifth-longest ever by a Texas player and is just the seventh hitting streak of 20 games or more in program history. During the streak, Campbell is hitting .423 with six doubles, two triples, three homers, 16 RBI and 24 runs scored.
HOME SWEET HOME—Texas holds a 22-7 record this season at the friendly confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. In the 29 home games, the Longhorns are hitting .309 and fielding .982, while the pitching staff has a 3.50 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' 29 errors as a team this season, 14 of them have come in the 14 games away from home.
NARROW MARGINS—The Longhorns have played several close games this season with 27 games decided by three runs or less. In those games decided by three runs or less, Texas has a 14-13 record and the Longhorns hold a 4-8 record in one-run ballgames. 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. Thirteen of the Longhorns' 15 losses have been by three runs or less and eight of the defeats have been by one run.
POW!—Peyton Powell is the Longhorns' leading hitter with a .343 batting average, 14 doubles, seven homers and 33 RBI. 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.
G-WAGON—Catcher Garret Guillemette has batted in the cleanup spot for Texas most of the season and has been productive, batting .329 with a team-high 40 RBI and 32 runs scored. He's also caught the majority of the games with 27 starts behind the plate. Through the first 21 games of the year Guillemette still had not hit a homer but now has seven over the last 22 games, including a walk-off blast to complete the sweep against Texas Tech.
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 171-47 (.784) record at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, including a 22-7 mark this season. Since the stadium opened in 1975, Texas has gone 1602-407-3 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. 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 6,728 fans per game, the sixth-highest average attendance in the country.
MIDWEEK WINS—In seven seasons under head coach David Pierce, the Longhorns have had success in midweek games. Since 2017, Texas has gone 71-19 (.789) in midweek games including an 11-2 record this season.
EK—Eric Kennedy holds the team lead with 22 extra-base hits, including 13 doubles and a team-high eight home runs. The fifth-year outfielder is batting .319 with 27 RBI and 39 runs scored. In addition to his power display, he also leads the team with 19 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 19 infield singles (10 bunt) this season, Kennedy now has 77 career infield singles (41 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.
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.
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.
