For the second time in as many days, No. 16 Texas baseball (5-1, 0-0 SEC) and head coach Jim Schlossnagle rallied from an early-inning 1-0 deficit to defeat the Dartmouth Big Green (0-3, 0-0 Ivy League).
Ethan Mendoza's middle-inning solo shot delivers a win and series sweep for Texas baseball vs. Dartmouth
Schloss and the Longhorns earned their first series sweep of this regular season with three hard-fought wins this weekend against Dartmouth. Sophomore left-hander Kade Bing gave the Longhorns 4.1 quality innings on the mound starting vs. Dartmouth, allowing just one earned run and two hits while striking out two Big Green batters at the plate.
Dylan Volantis set down 13 out of the 14 Dartmouth batters he faced in 4.2 brilliant innings on the mound for the Longhorns in relief of Bing in the top of the fifth. The big 6-foot-6 freshman Volantis earned the first win of his collegiate career in just his second appearance out of the bullpen.
With some help from catcher Cole Chamberlain catching a Dartmouth base runner stealing second base, Volantis helped the Longhorns work out of a potentially tough situation in the top of the fifth after Bing hit a Big Green batter to start the half of the inning.
That stability on the mound with Volantis completely shutting down the Dartmouth bats was crucial to swinging the momentum in the Longhorns' favor.
In the bottom half of that same inning in the fifth, Ethan Mendoza hit the eventual game-winning home run down the right field line to give Texas its first lead of the game at 2-1.
Mendoza had a big day at the plate for the Longhorns, including the one RBI single in the bottom of the eighth that salted away the three-run victory for Texas to accomplish the series sweep at the Disch this afternoon.
This was a huge game for the true freshman Mendoza, who had the best outing with the bat of his early career to date at Texas. He registered a game-high two runs batted in, three hits, and two runs scored, including the game-winner in the bottom of the fifth.
Despite the multi-run win over the Big Green this afternoon to close out the series sweep, Texas left a lot of meat on the bone with 10 runners left on base, including seven base runners left in scoring position.
While this was the most convincing win on the scoreboard of this three-game series sweep for Texas over the Big Green this weekend, there is still plenty for Schloss and Co. to improve upon in the coming weeks early in the regular season schedule at the Disch.
The Longhorns play its fourth straight home game in Austin on Tuesday evening in a midweek matchup against the Incarnate Word Cardinals at the Disch.