Texas Baseball: Top-seed Horns dominate Southern in Regionals

In their first meeting of the postseason, No. 2 ranked Texas baseball and head coach David Pierce cleaned the clock of the four-seed Southern Jaguars at home on June 4. Texas is the top seed, which means they are hosting this Regional in Austin. It has become a usual occurrence for Texas to host a Regional on the diamond.

Changing the narrative from how Texas rounded out the Big 12 Tournament last week was a main goal at hand for Pierce. Texas was knocked out by the four-seed Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 Tournament a couple of games before they could’ve reached the final round.

The chance to turn the corner for Piece and the Longhorns arrived in the first game of the Austin Regional on the afternoon of June 4. It was the first game in what promises to be an exciting weekend full of action on the diamond at the Disch.

Texas baseball controls the meeting with Southern through and through

In the Austin Regional, the Longhorns got going from the first pitch and never looked back. The Longhorns took a 7-0 lead by the end of the third inning. And Texas got six of those seven runs in the first two innings of the game.

Texas got well-rounded performances from the first pitch of this game. It was largely Zach Zubia and Mitchell Daly that got the Longhorns bats going. Granted, they had five of the 11 runs batted in, so they were just part of the Longhorns bats that made a dent in the Southern pitching staff.

Zubia had three hits in four at-bats, good for two RBI. Although, Zubia was left on base all three times by the Longhorns lineup.

Meanwhile, Daly had one hit and one walk in what counted for three at-bats. That wound up netting him three RBI, and two strikeouts.

On the mound, redshirt junior right-hander Tristan Stevens dominated the Jaguars. Texas got seven shutout innings from Stevens, in which he gave up four hits and had six strikeouts. With the win over Southern, Stevens moved his record on the season to a solid 10-3.

Palmer Wenzel and Jared Southard rounded out this game for the Longhorns on the mound, with two innings pitched where they didn’t allow a single run or a single hit. The only flaw in their showing in the last two innings of the game was one walk allowed by Southard.

As a team, the Longhorns finished up this game with 14 hits, two errors, and 11 runs. They got their last four runs of the game in the seventh and eighth innings. It was a thoroughly dominant performance for Texas in their first game of the Austin Regional.

Next up for the Longhorns in the Austin Regional is a meeting with either Fairfield or Arizona State on June 5 at the Disch. The first-round game between Fairfield and Arizona State is currently in progress as of the night of June 4.