Texas Baseball: Misfortune in the lights ends season in supers

In the most unfortunate of ways, head coach David Pierce and Texas baseball saw their season come to an end in the final inning of the Stanford Super Regional against the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal. Stanford wound up getting a walk-off hit from Drew Bowser on a ball that got lost in the lights in center field in the bottom of the ninth inning to get the win by a score of 7-6.

A wild bottom half of the ninth inning saw a Stanford batter coast to a double because he thought hitting a walk-off to left field was just the first of a couple of plays you won’t often see in a college baseball game, let alone in the same half inning.

Texas did have to fight back multiple times in this game. The Longhorns erased two separate three-run leads for the Cardinal. The first time Texas erased a Stanford lead was in the top of the fourth inning, which saw Jack O’Dowd clear the bases for a three-run double.

And then, the Longhorns responded to a 6-3 deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning with a couple of key hits from Peyton Powell and Dylan Campbell.

David Pierce and Texas baseball end 2023 season in Stanford Super Regional

Texas also got some clutch work on the mound throughout much of this game from Zane Morehouse and ace Lucas Gordon. Morehouse was clutch in relief of Tanner Witt in this game, pitching six innings on the mound while allowing three earned runs and six hits.

Gordon also had just the one earned run on the night, which came on that unfortunate play where the ball got lost in the lights in the bottom of the ninth. Otherwise, it was a really solid performance for Gordon in nearly two innings on the mound.

All in all, this was an impressive season for Pierce and the Longhorns. After a slow start to the season for the Longhorns in the first couple of weeks in February, Pierce’s squad responded in a big way.

Texas wound up claiming a share of the Big 12 regular season title with the West Virginia Mountaineers and Oklahoma State Cowboys. Pierce’s squad was also a bad bounce in Game 3 of the Stanford Super Regional away from making it to their third consecutive College World Series.

That’s not to mention the awesome showing the Longhorns had in the Coral Gables Regional a couple of weekends ago, where it swept through the competition unscathed in three games, including two wins over the No. 9 Miami Hurricanes.

Texas surpassed preseason expectations in a big way in 2023. After starting out last season as the No. 1 ranked team in the country, Texas was doubted this year coming into the 2023 campaign unranked.

Pierce and the Longhorns proved the doubters wrong, showing out as one of the best teams in the Big 12 and competing against some of the best in the country in the postseason.

Texas finished up the 2023 season with a record of 42-22 (15-9 Big 12) following the heartbreaking one-run loss to Stanford on June 12. This was the third straight 40-win season for Pierce and the Longhorns.