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Texas Baseball squanders Morgan Cooper’s final home start

By James Caldwell

Aug 7, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of a baseball and glove prior to a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 7, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of a baseball and glove prior to a game between the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports /
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Texas Baseball squandered multiple opportunities to beat West Virginia on Saturday afternoon. This left Morgan Cooper with a loss in potentially his last home start for the Longhorns.

The final score was West Virginia 4, Texas 3 after the Horns were unable to put together rallies against the Mountaineers. The other big result is Texas dropped to 10-12 in the Big 12, guaranteeing a losing conference record.

As a team on Saturday afternoon, Texas fell into their bad habits that have plagued David Pierce’s team throughout the season.

The Longhorns collected seven hits and an eye-popping eight walks in the game. They routinely put men on base. But, they could not string together clutch hits like they did Friday night to win Game 1 in this series.

Texas never led in the game, as the game unfolded with West Virginia in control:

  • WVU up 1-0
  • Texas tied 1-1
  • WVU up 2-1, then 3-1
  • Texas closer at 3-2
  • WVU scored once in the top of the ninth to make it 4-2
  • Texas scored in the bottom of the ninth for the final score of 4-3

Texas scored single runs in the fifth, seventh, and ninth innings. But, there were so many opportunities to put up crooked numbers. [ Full Box Score ]

Texas Baseball RISP Struggles

The Longhorns left nine men on base during the game. Travis Jones, who has been terrific this season, went 0-5 with four of the nine men left on base.

It was as if the West Virginia pitching was so erratic and wild that the Longhorns could not settle on their hitting approach.

The Longhorns also wasted a golden opportunity in the first inning, setting the tone for the rest of the afternoon.

Texas started the game with consecutive walks, but Patrick Mathis was thrown out at third base trying to advance on the second walk to Kody Clemens. Jones then hit into a double play to end the inning. You rarely see a team get two walks to start an inning and only three batters come to the plate.

It’s just unfortunate Texas Baseball could not recover with some make-up hitting later in the game. That would have helped Texas ace Morgan Cooper.

Morgan Cooper loses final home game?

Morgan Cooper may have pitched his last home game for the Longhorns on Saturday. Cooper is a junior, but he graduated from the University of Texas on Friday and will likely be a top MLB Draft pick this year.

It was not the way Cooper wanted to leave Disch-Falk Field. Cooper was tied 1-1 through five innings. Then, the sixth inning happened.

  • Two outs recorded
  • WVU’s Braden Zarbnisky singled
  • Zarbnisky stole second, then moved to third on a wild pitch
  • WVU catcher Chase Illig singled with two outs to make it 2-1

Texas was unable to get Mo Coop off the hook in the bottom of the sixth despite two of their eight walks in the inning. Comparatively, the Mountaineers got a clutch hit in the top of the inning and Texas did not respond in the bottom half.

Now, after splitting the first two games, Texas has to win this series on Sunday. A win gets them a better spot in the Big 12 tournament next week. It would also secure an NCAA Tournament spot.

Next: Kacy Clemens Interview - 2017 UT Baseball, CWS, more!

Sunday will also be the final home game for seniors Kacy Clemens and Zane Gurwitz. The team leaders want to make sure they exit Disch-Falk the right way for Texas Baseball.

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