Luke Harrison Bounces Back — But Texas Bats Leave Him Hanging

A week ago, Luke Harrison walked off the mound in College Station having recorded just two outs and allowed eight runs. It was the shortest and toughest outing of his season. Texas never recovered, falling 11-4 to the Aggies after surrendering such a massive deficit in the opening inning.

Sunday offered a chance at redemption. And for six innings, Harrison looked like himself again.

The left-hander delivered one of his strongest outings of the year, striking out a career-high 10 batters while working through constant traffic on the bases. He escaped multiple jams, including two bases-loaded situations, and kept Texas within striking distance all afternoon.

But it wasn’t enough.

Despite Harrison’s bounce-back performance, No. 4 Texas fell short, as the Longhorns’ offense never found its footing in a 2-1 loss to Alabama, denying the Longhorns a second conference sweep of the season.

Harrison responds in a big way

Texas Longhorns pitcher Luke Harrison stares into the box before throwing a pitch. | University of Texas Athletics

Harrison opened the game with two quick strikeouts and never let up, piling up swings and misses against an Alabama lineup that had already been overwhelmed by Texas pitching all weekend.

By the sixth inning, Harrison had reached double-digit strikeouts for the first time in his career. Despite Alabama putting runners on base in nearly every inning, Harrison kept working out of trouble. It was exactly the type of game that he excels in.

The only runs he allowed came on a Jason Torres RBI single in the second inning and a run scored on a double-play groundout in the seventh.

Unlike last weekend, there was no unraveling. Harrison stayed composed and gave Texas every opportunity to win.

The problem was, he had almost no margin for error.

Texas’ offense, which had exploded for 16 hits on Friday and done just enough in Saturday’s win, went quiet. The Longhorns managed just four hits — one of their lowest totals of the season — and had limited success with runners in scoring position.

Texas loaded the bases in the first inning and came up empty. Later, scattered baserunners never turned into runs. By the time the Longhorns finally broke through in the ninth, it was too late.

Texas had nothing to show against Alabama starter Myles Upchurch, who only allowed one hit. The right-hander may have not thrown very many strikeouts — just four K’s on the day — but he generated plenty of soft contact to prevent Texas from consistently reaching on base. Texas hadn’t had a hit escape the infield until Anthony Pack Jr.’s ninth-inning double.

Reliever Ashton Crowther was just as effective, allowing three hits over the final 3 2/3 innings and shutting down any chance of a late rally.

Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney — the top two hitters in the order — combined to go 0-for-7 after going 9-for-14 with four extra-base hits over the first two games of the series.

It’s a familiar script in baseball — strong pitching paired with silent bats — but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

For Harrison, though, Sunday still marked an important step forward.

After last week’s outing ballooned his ERA from 2.72 to 4.33, his response was always going to matter, regardless of the result.

Luckily for him, he did very, very well, looking every bit like the steady presence Texas has relied on all season. Unluckily for him, the bats delivered zero support.

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