No. 2 Texas' Offense Nonexistent in Tarleton State Loss: Longhorns Notebook

Everyone knows that college baseball is arguably the most unpredictable sport at the collegiate level. Just ask the No. 2 Texas Longhorns (18-2), as they were handed their second loss of the season on Tuesday evening against the Tarleton State Texans (13-7).

This comes fresh on the heels of an impressive start to conference play, in which the Longhorns bounced back from a rough series opening loss with two dominant wins over the Ole Miss Rebels. And they appeared on their way to another big win following Carson Tinney's solo blast in the first.

That would be all the offense they mustered, though, as they could not overcome a fourth inning bullpen meltdown which plated four runs for the Texans. They'd add two more and secure a massive 6-1 win in Austin, taking care of business against a Texas team that had looked unbeatable at times so far.

Texas Longhorns baseball — The Texas Longhorns line up for the national anthem prior to the first pitch. | University of Texas Athletic

Three key takeaways from the Longhorns’ loss to the Texans

Bullpen meltdown strikes again

Twice this season the Longhorns bullpen has looked less than elite – a shaky ninth inning against the USC Upstate Spartans and the collapse in the ninth in the loss to the Ole Miss Rebels. You can add another instance to that list, unfortunately.

After Hudson Hamilton gave Texas three shutout innings, Kade Bing entered in the fourth. He would fail to record a single out, as would Cal Higgins behind him. While Max Grubbs came in and eventually got out of the inning, the Texans plated four runs in the fourth on the back of another bullpen collapse.

Overall, the bullpen has been solid so far. However, if these issues keep popping up, it could come back to haunt the Longhorns in conference play.

Bats go ice cold

Ask anyone and they’ll tell you how fickle of a sport baseball is. One day you’re absolutely raking and the next you can’t buy a hit. That was the case for the Longhorns, as their offense suddenly was nonexistent in their loss to the Texans.

In their previous eight games they had plated at least 10 runs in seven of them. However, the Tarleton State staff limited them to only one run on two hits - a solo blast from Carson Tinney, the second hitter of the game and a two out single from Josh Livingston in the ninth. On the flip side,they struck out 12 times.

Bad games happen. You can’t score 10 runs in every contest, no matter how good you are. Now, the Longhorns need to bounce back and erase this game from their memory.

Flush it and move on

Losing games sucks, no matter how you slice it. Those losses sting even worse when they’re in a midweek game that, on paper, you should have won. But hey, baseball exists to mess with you and sometimes a bad performance happens.

What matters is how you respond. And for the Longhorns there is absolutely no time to dwell on this one. Allowing this loss to linger as they head into a hostile environment this weekend in conference play would spell disaster.

What’s next for Texas?

The Longhorns will be back in action on Friday evening, as they hit the road to kick off a highly anticipated SEC series against the No. 5 Auburn Tigers 6 p.m. CT.

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