AUSTIN (KXAN) — Powered by a sweep in its first-ever series in the Southeastern Conference, Texas moved up three spots to No. 8 in the latest D1Baseball.com Top 25 poll Monday.
The Longhorns claimed two wins Sunday against Mississippi State in a doubleheader, 5-3 and 4-1, to run their winning streak to 17 games. The only blemish on the Longhorns’ record so far is a 4-3 10-inning loss to No. 16 Louisville in the season opener at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Texas won the first game of the series 8-7 on Friday, but bad weather forced the teams to shift to a Sunday doubleheader. Severe thunderstorms passed through the Starkville, Mississippi, area Saturday. Due to the doubleheader, the games were shortened to seven innings.
Texas (17-1, 3-0 SEC) takes on UTSA on Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field ahead of a weekend showdown with No. 2 Louisiana State.
Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle wants Longhorn fans to get ready for what’s bound to be a wild 3-game series.
“It’s time to experience an SEC weekend at home,” he said. “But first we’re going to play an awesome UTSA team, one of the best hitting and offensive teams in the country Tuesday night, so we’re going to have our hands full.”
Longhorns 5, Bulldogs 3 (7 innings)
Great players deliver when their teams need them the most, and Longhorns outfielder Max Belyeu has turned himself into one.
Belyeu crushed a 2-run home run in the top of the ninth to give Texas a 5-3 lead which they hung on to for the victory. He deposited a hanging curve ball by Bulldogs reliever Nate Williams in the right-field bleachers 413 feet from home plate. That was his only hit of the series, but it came at the right time.
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“It was a huge moment because that pitcher is really good,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s had like 17 punchouts and one walk. It was a pitch you don’t see much anymore, a true overhand breaking ball and he made one bad pitch on the day.”
The jolt on offense carried over to the defensive side, and left fielder Tommy Farmer IV made perhaps the best play of the season thus far. With no outs and a runner on first, Mississippi State’s Bryce Chance ripped a Dylan Volantis offering toward the left field corner. Farmer laid out with a full-extension dive to grab the fly ball just before it hit the grass for the first out of the inning.
“That saved the day. That changed the whole inning,” Schlossnagle said. “The defense we’ve been playing is a better brand of defense than we have in the last couple of weeks.”
The Longhorns took a 3-1 lead after the second inning behind a pair of doubles from Easton Winfield and Kimble Scheussler. Winfield drove in two and then Scheussler brought him home with another two-bagger.
Ruger Riojas earned his fourth win with two innings of relief following starter Luke Harrison. Riojas allowed one run on two hits with a strikeout before Volantis closed it out for his third save. Harrison pitched four innings, allowing two runs on two hits with five strikeouts, but he had some control issues with four walks and a hit batsman that led to Mississippi State’s first run.
The Bulldogs outhit the Longhorns 6-5.
Longhorns 4, Bulldogs 1 (7 innings)
Jason Flores and Max Grubbs teamed up to limit the Bulldogs to one run on four hits, and the Longhorns tacked on insurance runs late to claim the sweep.
Ethan Mendoza extended the Texas lead to 3-1 with an RBI single in the top of the seventh and Jalin Flores drew a bases-loaded walk to another tally. Casey Borba gave the Longhorns the lead with an RBI single in the fourth.
Catcher Rylan Galvan hit a solo home run in the second inning for Texas’ first run of the game.
Galvan and Scheussler each had two hits to help the Longhorns outhit the Bulldogs 7-4.
