Horns have gaps to fill to make run at Omaha
AUSTIN — Every so often, a freakish accident strikes down an athlete.
It’s almost always something innocuous. A slip in the shower, a spill down the stairs, a workout gone awry. For Texas shortstop David Hamilton, it was a motorized scooters.
The 2018 All-Big 12 second-teamer struck a pothole and ruptured his Achilles tendon while darting around on one of those seemingly omnipresent machines and will miss the 2019 season. It was an unexpected blow delivered just weeks before Texas was set to open its season.
The Longhorns will have to forge ahead and try to build on last season’s Big 12 regular-season title and College World Series appearance without Hamilton and a slew of departed seniors — among them second baseman Kody Clemens.
Freshman Bryce Reagan will replace Hamilton at shortstop. Senior Masen Hibbeler is expected to start the season at second and freshman Lance Ford should see some time there, too, as coach David Pierce shifts the versatile senior around.
The rest of the lineup will be a mishmash of new and familiar faces. It’s a versatile and athletic top-to-bottom filled with speed and some legitimate power bats.
“Duke Ellis has been really good at the top of the lineup,” Pierce said Thursday. “We’ve inserted Eric Kennedy, Nick Kennedy’s little brother, in the two hole playing left field. He can absolutely fly. So those two at the top, if they can create some on-base percentage they can really create some problems for a pitching and defensive team.”
Opening on the road
Texas, ranked 23rd in the D1Baseball.com Top 25, opens its season Friday on the road at Louisiana-Lafayette. It began 2018 by taking two of three against the Ragin’ Cajuns at home.
“We get to come out every day knowing the target is on our back, knowing that we have to prove what we want to do, and that’s make it to Omaha,” redshirt sophomore designated hitter Zach Zubia said.
Zubia is among those being counted on to make up for the loss of Clemens. The 6-4, 240-pound Richmond native last season slashed 275/.407/.495 with 11 home runs, 14 doubles and 45 RBIs.
Outfielder Austin Todd struggled through am injury-plagued sophomore season, but Pierce believes he could emerge as the one of the best and most consistent bats in the lineup.
“If you recall a year ago he started 2018 in our three hole and hit a walkoff against Lafayette in game two,” Pierce said of Todd. “We have him back and he’s considered one of our better hitters. So there’s an addition that we didn’t have all of last year.”
Pierce named sophomore righthander Bryce Elder the opening-day starter after a strong offseason showing by the former long reliever. Elder last year recorded a 6-1 record with one save in 352⁄3 innings pitched and finished with a 5.55 ERA and 31 strikeouts to 18 walks.
Junior righthander Blair Henley and freshman righthander Coy Cobb will start game two and three, respectively.
“He’s earned that right to be the Friday night starter,” Pierce said of Elder. “He’s got a little redneck in him. He’s a great kid. He’s a great student. He’s a very, very good competitor. He’s just a very smart pitcher that can mix in four pitches.”
Depth of pitching staff
Pierce doesn’t expect any of his starters to go beyond 75 pitches this early in the season unless they’re breezing through some painless innings. He wants to use as many arms as feasible over the next month of non-conference games so he has a good idea of where the pitching staff stands.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that are going to pitch just because early in the year we’re not going to get close to 100 pitches,” Pierce said. “We’re going to utilize as many guys as possible in the right situations. We have so many different guys that we want to get a good look at them as we’re trying to win games.”
Even with a fresh-faced roster sapped by losing five players to the 2018 MLB draft, plus Hamilton’s season-ending injury, the expectation for Texas is to again compete for a Big 12 title and a CWS berth.
“When we got here, the expectations were a little different,” Pierce said. “And as we move into year three, having had some success, to me it’s back like it used to be where you better embrace the expectations because if you don’t you’re going to get slapped, you’re going to get popped.”