The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
1-0-1
San Diego
0-1
No. 16 Baseball rallies for Opening Day win
02.16.2024 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 16 Texas Baseball scored five runs in the sixth inning to rally for a 7-3 win over San Diego on Opening Day at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns played in front of the largest Opening Day crowd in program history and the eighth-largest announced attendance at UFCU Disch-Falk Field with 7,935 fans in attendance on Friday night.
Jalin Flores blasted a go-ahead grand slam as part of the big five-run sixth inning. The sophomore shortstop went 2-for-5 at the plate.
Lebarron Johnson Jr. got the Opening Day start and pitched five innings, allowing two runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out six batters in his five innings of work.
The Longhorns used four relievers to close out the ballgame, with Max Grubbs pitching the sixth and recording the win. Grant Fontenot, Gage Boehm and David Shaw each pitched scoreless innings to finish off the win.
Jared Thomas went 2-for-3 with one RBI, one run scored and two walks, while Peyton Powell went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple and a run scored. Freshman Nik Sanders made his first career start and went 1-for-3 with an RBI single and fellow first-year player Will Gasparino started and recorded his first hit.
San Diego grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on three hits and a walk. The three singles were the first hits of the game for either team.
The Longhorns got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with Sanders lining his first career hit to right field to drive in Porter Brown to cut the score to 2-1.
The Toreros got the run back in the top of the sixth inning with a pair of singles off of Grubbs to take a 3-1 lead.
Texas put together a five-run bottom of the sixth to take the first lead of the season, 6-3. Thomas drove in the first run of the inning with an RBI single to drive in Max Belyeu. Powell walked to load the bases with two outs and Flores launched the game-winning grand slam into the brand new Yeti Yard in left-center field.
The Longhorns tacked on an insurance run in the eighth inning, with Powell lining an RBI triple to right field to drive in Kimble Schuessler.
Texas and San Diego will square off in the second game of the series on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Grubbs, Max (1-0)
L: SCHRIER, Alex (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: COSTELLO, Jack 2 ; SMITH, Austin 1
Base Running:
RUNS: DECRISCIO, Justin 1 ; GUREVITCH, Jack 1 ; ARMAS, Ariel 1
SB: ALLEN, Dustin 1 ; COSTELLO, Jack 1
CS: PERAZA, Angelo 1
HBP: COSTELLO, Jack 1
PO: SMITH, Austin 1
Batting:
3B: Powell, Peyton 1
HR: Flores, Jalin 1
RBI: Thomas, Jared 1 ; Powell, Peyton 1 ; Flores, Jalin 4 ; Sanders, Nik 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Thomas, Jared 1 ; Powell, Peyton 1 ; Flores, Jalin 1 ; Brown, Porter 1 ; Belyeu, Max 1 ; Schuessler, Kimble 1 ; Gasparino, Will 1
