Texas baseball looks to sweep Alabama behind Tanner Witt

As they look to sweep the Alabama Crimson Tide in this three-game weekend series, head coach David Pierce and No. 1 ranked Texas baseball are on a quest to do something special to start this season. Texas is looking to start out a season 8-0 while sweeping at least one major conference foe for the first time since the 2009 season.

Pierce and the Longhorns did start out the 2020 season undefeated through their first eight games of the season. But none of those first few series of the 2020 campaign featured a major conference foe that they swept. That 2020 season also came to an end early in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, Texas comes into this series finale with Alabama sporting a record of 7-0 (0-0 Big 12). Texas clinched the series win over Alabama after they downed the Crimson Tide in the second game of the series on Feb. 26 by the final score of 2-0.

Alabama still has yet to score a run on Texas thanks to a dominant effort from this pitching staff. On Feb. 26, it was redshirt senior right-hander Tristan Stevens that continued the shutout streak on the mound for the Longhorns.

No. 1 Texas baseball can sweep Alabama behind SP Tanner Witt

You have to go all the way back to the fifth inning of the matchup between Texas and the Texas A&M Corpus-Christi Islanders on Feb. 23 to find the last time this pitching staff gave up a run.

Texas is looking to keep this undefeated streak going on Feb. 27 against the Crimson Tide with sophomore right-hander Tanner Witt getting the call as the starter. This is the second start of the season for the towering 6-foot-5 Witt. In his first start of the season, Witt gave the Longhorns five innings on the mound, allowing just one run, five hits, two walks, and five strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide are giving the start to left-hander Grayson Hitt. The sophomore gave Alabama four shutout innings on the mound in his first start of the season, which resulted in a win over the Xavier Musketeers.

It will be interesting to see if the Longhorns can get the bats going in this game. Texas still has yet to reach a double-digit number of hits through the first two games of the series. Through two games, Texas has just nine hits and three runs.

First pitch between Texas and Alabama is set for 1 p.m. CT at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. Once this three-game weekend series with Alabama wraps up, Texas is set to face Sam Houston State next on the road on March 1.