Texas baseball falls to Indiana in finale, still wins series

Seeking its fourth consecutive win, head coach David Pierce and Texas baseball were rolling heading into the series finale against the Indiana Hoosiers out of the Big Ten on Feb. 26. Texas hosted Indiana for the finale of this three-game weekend series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin.

Texas already took this series against Indiana, winning the first two games on Feb. 24 and 25.

In the finale on Feb. 26, the Longhorns would ultimately be doomed with a letdown in the top of the sixth inning and a lack of run support after about the third inning. Starting pitcher Travis Sthele was solid in this one until the top of the sixth, allowing three earned runs before getting pulled from the game.

Sthele finished up with 5.2 innings of work on the mound, allowing three earned runs and five hits while striking out six batters. Heston Tole would then allow the final earned run of the game for the Longhorns without getting a single Indiana batter out during his brief time on the mound.

In the middle of the sixth, the Longhorns were facing a 4-2 deficit. That would wind up being too much for the bats to overcome as that would be the final score of this game.

Travis Sthele and Texas baseball falls to Indiana on Feb. 26

While he didn’t have a poor performance on the mound by most considerations, Sthele still couldn’t live up to the stellar outings the last three Texas starters had earlier in the week. Texas got quality starters from Lebarron Johnson Jr., Lucas Gordon, and Zane Morehouse in its three games prior to the two-run loss to the Hoosiers on Feb. 26.

With the bats, Porter Brown and Dylan Campbell led the way. Brown continued his solid series for the Longhorns with a home run for the second game in this series. The TCU grad transfer wound up knocking in a whopping half-dozen runs in this three-game weekend series against Indiana.

Campbell also knocked a run in on Feb. 26 but went hitless in four at-bats on the afternoon.

In the end, Texas produced six hits, two errors, and just one walk on the day. Getting runners on base in the latter half of this game wound up being the biggest offensive issue for the Longhorns.

And while Texas did nab two wins against Indiana in the last three days, it didn’t come by way of the ball popping off the bats. Texas averaged just under four runs scored per game this weekend after amassing a dozen in a dominant win over the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Feb. 21.

Next up for Brown and the Longhorns early in the regular season slate is a huge midweek showdown against the No. 1 ranked LSU Tigers at the Disch in Austin on Feb. 28. This will be one of the biggest games of the entire regular season at the Disch.

The loss to Indiana on Feb. 26 moves Texas’ record on the season to 3-4 (0-0 Big 12). Texas does have some momentum, though, having won three of its last four heading into the matchup against LSU in a couple of days.