Texas baseball proving it’s the class of the Big 12 vs. Oklahoma State

The wins continued to pile up for head coach David Pierce and No. 21 ranked Texas baseball on the road on March 31 in Stillwater against the No. 17 Oklahoma State Cowboys and head coach Josh Holliday. Texas raked in its 16th straight win by topping Oklahoma State on March 31 by a narrow final score of 5-3.

Pierce and the Longhorns still own the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games, which dates back to March 7. It’s also worth noting that the last two wins for the Longhorns came on the road. And the first four wins in Big 12 play for Texas came over ranked opponents.

Following the two-run win over the Pokes on March 31, Texas is sporting a record of 20-7 (4-0 Big 12).

This is an incredible turnaround for Pierce and the Longhorns after starting the season 0-3 in the College Baseball Showdown during the opening weekend a couple of months ago. Texas was also 4-7 through the first 11 games of the regular season.

At this point of the season, Texas is the only undefeated team in Big 12 play (among teams that have played at least three conference games on the season). The West Virginia Mountaineers are off to a good start this season, but it has only won one game in conference play as the Big 12 slate got off to a late start in Morgantown.

So, how is Texas getting it done to put together the nation’s longest winning streak at the moment?

Lucas Gordon leading a massive turnaround for David Pierce and Texas baseball

Pitching has made a huge difference for Pierce and the Longhorns during this lengthy winning streak. Texas has a team earned run average this season hovering around 3.30, which is a massive improvement year-over-year.

The way that the standout 6-foot-1 and 190-pound junior left-hander Lucas Gordon performed in the win over Oklahoma State is a good example of the strides the Longhorns made on the mound so far this season compared to last year. Gordon did have some slip-ups late, but he did exactly what Texas needed out of him to get the win to open up this critical three-game weekend series in Stillwater.

Gordon went seven innings deep on the mound, giving up three earned runs and seven hits, while striking out four Pokes’ batters. With some of the early run support that Gordon was provided on the mound by the Texas bats, all he needed to do was have the standard quality start that he almost always gives this team.

In the win over the Pokes to kick off the weekend, Gordon was able to continue his streak of starts without letting up more than three earned runs to seven games. Gordon has yet to allow more than three earned runs in a single start so far this season.

I also have to credit a ton of credit to Pierce and this Longhorns staff for the way they’ve strategized the use of the rotation this season. Texas seems to be much more proactive with the way the bullpen is used this season compared to last year, evidenced by the fact that Zane Morehouse is having an All-Big 12 caliber campaign with four saves thus far.

Moreover, we have to give a lot of props to key players that have stepped up for the Longhorns with the bats of late such as grad transfers Garret Guillemette and Porter Brown. Guillemette absolutely blew the cover off the baseball on a big fly that nearly went 450 yards to deep center field in the win over Oklahoma State on March 31.

In the last six games, Guillemette now has a whopping four home runs and nine runs batted in. His bat is on fire in the last couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Brown just reeled in the Longhorns’ first Big 12 Player of the Week honors on the season after he helped lead Texas to two walk-off wins over the No. 14 Texas Tech Red Raiders at home last weekend. The spark that Brown’s bat has provided the middle of Texas’ lineup has proved to be invaluable so far this season amid the team’s huge offensive turnaround in the last 16 games.

There are multiple other players we could give shoutouts to for the way they’ve performed during this insane winning streak for the Longhorns. This is a total team effort to get the Longhorns atop the Big 12 standings and on the brink of the first top-15 ranking on the season if it can take this weekend’s series against the Pokes.

Texas can claim the series this weekend against Oklahoma State with a win at O’Brate Stadium in Stillwater on April 1. The first pitch between Texas and Oklahoma State on April 1 is set for 6 p.m. CT, and it will be broadcast live on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.