Ivan Melendez blasts Texas baseball to win over South Carolina

After facing a postponement in their first game of this weekend series on the road in Columbia against the South Carolina Gamecocks out of the SEC East, head coach David Pierce and No. 1 ranked Texas baseball got underway on the afternoon of March 12. Texas also came out fast against the Gamecocks in this key road weekend series.

Pierce and the Longhorns saw their bats come alive right from the get-go in this game. It was redshirt junior first baseman Ivan Melendez knocking one out of the park in the top of the first inning that gave Texas the early 2-0 lead.

And with the standout left-hander Pete Hansen on the mound in this game for the Longhorns, it looked like this 2-0 lead could be all this team needed to likely beat South Carolina. But the Gamecocks would hand Hansen his worst outing of the season so far. South Carolina actually took the lead in the bottom of the first inning, scoring three runs.

But that would be the only lead the Gamecocks saw in this game, as the offensive explosion continued in the early innings in favor of Texas. Another two runs for the Longhorns in the top of the second inning saw them take the lead back from South Carolina.

There would be one more occasion where South Carolina would at least tie this one up. One run from the Gamecocks in the bottom of the fourth would tie the game up at four each.

Texas would then take the lead for good in the top of the fifth inning, largely thanks to a two-run home run from redshirt sophomore shortstop Trey Faltine. The two-run homer from Faltine in the fifth inning was his fourth on the season so far. It also was one of his two runs and hits on the day.

Texas baseball beats South Carolina 9-5 behind the productive bats of Ivan Melendez and Trey Faltine

Moreover, Texas would be able to extend their lead even further in the eighth inning thanks to the second home run on the day from Melendez. A two-run home run from Melendez would bring home to six on the season so far. This was also the second multi-home run game of the season for Melendez.

In total, Melendez and Faltine would contribute all three home runs for the Longhorns on the day, four of the nine runs scored, and six of the nine runs batted in. It was huge for Texas to get this level of production from the duo of Melendez and Faltine with the bats to let Hansen walk away with the win, despite giving up a season-high five earned runs.

Hansen also dramatically improved his performance on the mound for the Longhorns after giving up three earned in the first inning. He still went six innings deep in this game, giving up just two earned runs in the last five he was on the mound for.

As a team, Texas came up with 14 hits and no errors on the day, leading them to score nine runs to top the Gamecocks by four. Meanwhile, South Carolina came up with 11 hits and two costly errors on the day, leading to this Texas win by the final score of 9-5.

Following this four-run win over South Carolina on March 12, Texas is sitting on a record of 13-2 (0-0 Big 12). This win over South Carolina also prevents Texas from sitting on a two-game losing streak for the first time this season.

Next up for Melendez and the Longhorns is a doubleheader against the Gamecocks in Columba on March 13, with the first pitch of the first leg of these games set for 12:30 p.m. CT.