Texas baseball looking to respond from meltdown vs. Cal State Fullerton

Texas baseball and head coach David Pierce suffered a tough loss to open up the first true road weekend series of the regular season on March 3. Texas fell short of the Cal State Fullerton Titans on the road at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, CA, by the narrow final score of 6-5 to open up this three-game weekend series.

At one point, the Longhorns held a comfortable 5-1 lead over the Titans after a four-run outburst in the top of the fourth inning. But it didn’t take long for Texas to lose the grip on its abrupt four-run lead.

Cal State Fullerton would respond with a four-run outburst of its own in the bottom half of the fourth inning. The trio of junior left-hander Lucas Gordon, junior right-hander DJ Burke, and sophomore left-hander David Shaw combined to give up five earned runs and eight hits in seven innings of work on the mound.

This was Gordon’s worst start of the season thus far, as he gave up three times the number of earned runs in just under four innings on the mound compared to nearly 11 innings of work in his prior two starts.

Texas’ bats also weren’t able to pick up the pitching staff late, as they weren’t able to put up a single run after that four-run outburst in the top of the fourth.

Zane Morehouse looking to lead Texas baseball to a strong response in Game 2 vs. Cal State Fullerton

That resulted in Texas’ second loss in a row in the late innings. Texas has also now lost three in a row dating back to the series finale at home last weekend against the Indiana Hoosiers.

The good news is that the Longhorns have a shot to get back on the right track and still take the series against Cal State Fullerton by pulling even on March 4. Texas will send out redshirt junior right-hander Zane Morehouse for his third start of the season as the Longhorns look for a bounce-back win in Game 2.

Morehouse boasts a record of 1-0 with a 4.00 earned run average from his first two starts of the season. He notched his first win of the 2023 campaign last weekend with a quality start against Indiana, allowing just one earned in five innings on the mound.

It would be huge for the Longhorns to get a quality start out of Morehouse to get a much-needed win over Cal State Fullerton on March 4.

Texas carries a record of 3-6 (0-0 Big 12) into Game 2 of the weekend series against Cal State Fullerton on March 4. Morehouse and the Longhorns will begin Game 2 of the series against Cal State Fullerton at 8 p.m. CT, and it will be broadcast live on ESPN+.