Texas baseball looking to rebound from another big collapse

Following one of the worst losses in Big 12 play thus far, head coach David Pierce and No. 7 ranked Texas baseball need a rebound performance against the Kansas State Wildcats on the road in Manhattan on the night of April 15. Texas just experienced one of their biggest meltdown losses not just of the Big 12 slate so far, but through the entire season to date, on April 14 in this series opener against Kansas State.

What made matters worse for Pierce and the Longhorns in this regard is the fact that Kansas State came into this series as the bottom team in the Big 12 standings. This holiday weekend series really looked like a great opportunity for the Longhorns to get their first three-game sweep of any team in Big 12 play thus far.

But those hopes went from lively to dashed in the matter of roughly just an hour on April 14.

Texas once held a commanding 5-1 lead behind a solid effort from the standout redshirt sophomore left-hander Pete Hansen on the mound heading into the bottom of the sixth innings. Things were looking good for Pierce’s team at that point in the game.

Then, the game really started to fall apart for the Longhorns from the bottom of the sixth inning on. Kansas State scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth and a whopping five in the bottom of the seventh to eventually take a three-run lead that they would hold onto through the end of the game.

David Pierce and Texas baseball need a rebound win over Kansas State behind Tristan Stevens on April 15

That gave the Wildcats the win in this series opener by the final score of 8-5.

Now, Texas needs to rebound following a pretty embarrassing outing in the second game in this holiday weekend series against Kansas State. And Texas has a starting pitcher on the mound in this one that needs a bounce-back performance himself.

Redshirt senior right-hander Tristan Stevens is coming off losses in three straight starts, two of which he allowed at least five earned runs in each appearance. Considering the fact that Stevens is one of the most talented starting pitchers not just on this staff, but in the entire Big 12, this looks like a solid bounce-back opportunity for the super senior.

Stevens was solid in his only career start against Kansas State, which came last season. He got the win over the Wildcats last season in seven innings of work on the mound, where he allowed just one earned run.

Moreover, if Stevens can give the Longhorns a quality start on April 15, they should be in line to get a much-needed win over Kansas State. That would also put this team in a position to take the series in what is stacking up to be a bigger game than originally anticipated for April 16.

Following their 8-5 loss to Kansas State on April 14, Texas is now sporting a record of 25-11 (5-5 Big 12). The first pitch time between Texas and Kansas State on April 15 is set for 6 p.m. CT at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan.