Coming off loss to Texas St., UT changes rotation for series vs. Houston
Beaten 7-3 Wednesday night by Texas State, Texas won't have long to dwell on the defeat.
Texas (20-14, 7-5 Big 12) will hit the road for a three-game series at Houston starting Friday. The Longhorns are in a four-team tie for third place in the conference standings, a game behind West Virginia and Oklahoma. Houston (16-16, 4-11) is stuck alone in the Big 12 basement.
But the Longhorns have dropped the opening game of their last four series, including last week against BYU, which is in 11th place. Texas lost that one 7-5. So UT coach David Pierce will shake up the pitching rotation for Houston; Max Grubbs will be the starter Friday, Ace Whitehead will remain in his Saturday slot, and Pierce has not yet said who'll pitch Sunday.
"At the end of the day, we've got to pitch better, and we have to have some timely hitting," Pierce said.
So far, Texas has opened every series with Lebarron Johnson Jr. on the mound, and Johnson also started in a March 1 marquee matchup against LSU. But he has struggled all season, with a 1-3 record and a 5.26 ERA over his teamhigh 391⁄3 innings.
Johnson was used in relief Tuesday; he allowed four hits and a run over two innings.
"One of the reasons why we threw him yesterday is just to get him back out there, build some confidence, pounding the strike zone and building off of that," Pierce said. "That's just where we are right now."
As for Wednesday's game, Texas was doomed by Texas State's six-run outburst in the fourth inning. The Bobcats scored on a bases-loaded walk, a tworun single and a three-run homer during an inning that featured four hits, three walks and two UT pitching changes. Texas was unable to pull any closer than four runs the rest of the game.
Pierce has traditionally not been a coach who likes to hold team meetings after wins or losses. But the Longhorns quickly retreated to the locker room after Wednesday night's final out was recorded. Pierce eventually emerged to speak with reporters, and said: "We've just got to play better. It starts with me."
Texas State won two of its three games against Texas. UT hadn't dropped a season series to the Bobcats since 2001.
The Bobcats wrapped up their win in three hours and 20 minutes. But the teams had already played an additional 19 minutes of baseball Wednesday.
To open the evening at Disch-Falk, Texas and Texas State completed the ninth inning of a game that had started in San Marcos on Tuesday but had been suspended by inclement weather. With Tuesday thunderstorms in the forecast, Pierce and Texas State coach Steven Trout had agreed beforehand to finish that game in Austin a day later if there was a postponement.
Leading 9-1, Texas was limited to an infield single in the top of the ninth inning. Infielder-turned-reliever Cade O'Hara, who had pitched the eighth inning Tuesday, allowed two base runners in the bottom half of Wednesday's ninth, but a game-ending strikeout prevented the Bobcats from scoring.