No. 2 Texas Sweeps Red River Series Against No. 8 Oklahoma: Longhorns Notebook

Life in the SEC is an absolute grind from week to week. As a result, protecting your home field and winning series in your own backyard is crucial. So far, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns (23-4, 7-2) are proving capable of doing exactly that.

First, they opened conference play with a series win over the No. 18 Ole Miss Rebels. Coming back home after a series win over the No. 5 Auburn Tigers, they secured their second home series win over the No. 8 Oklahoma Sooners (19-8, 4-5) with a walk-off win on Friday.

That magic carried into the finale on Saturday, too. Facing another 3-0 deficit, the Longhorns again pulled out the late inning magic and rallied to take down the Sooners -- this time on an walk-off single in the 10th to secure the 5-4 win.

Texas Longhorns third baseman Temo Becerra — Temo Becerra celebrates a home run against Coastal Carolina in the Bruce Bolt College Classic at Daikin Park. | University of Texas Athletics

Three key takeaways from the Longhorns’ sweep of the Sooners

Offense grinds it out

In their loss to the Houston Cougars, the offense plated seven runs but was largely not impactful as they managed just three hits and left 10 men on base in the loss. Fortunately for them, though, they turned things around quickly against Oklahoma.

The opener saw them bust out 14 runs on 17 hits, while they came to life late in the second game and finished with seven hits – the biggest being Ashton Larson’s walk-off single to secure the 4-3 victory and series win.

Oklahoma kept them fairly in check in the finale, allowing just five runs on eight hits. However, it was another magical evening for the Longhorns as the timely hits were clutch and none more than Casey Borba in the 10th, as he laced a walk-off single to secure the sweep.

Starting pitching shoves again

A major storyline coming into the series against the Sooners was Texas’ bullpen woes. Of their four losses, three of them saw the bullpen struggle to hold a lead in the late innings. However, the bullpen can’t struggle if they simply don’t come into the game.

Dealing in the opener, Ruger Riojas tossed a complete game shutout on the back of the offense’s explosion for 14 runs. Following that, Luke Harrison went seven innings himself, allowing only three and allowing Texas to only use Sam Cozart in relief.

Dylan Volantis was a bit off but still gutted out 5.2 innings of four-baseball in the finale, gutting out a solid outing despite not being his usual best self. If this rotation continues to put together weekends like this, this Texas team will be tough to beat in conference play.

Another SEC series, another series win

You can never take any conference series for granted in the SEC. Do so and the next thing you know, you look up to find yourself in the bottom half of the standings. Fortunately, that has not been a problem so far for Texas.

Through its first three series, it has won each one. For a team looking to repeat as conference champions, its start in SEC play certainly has it on the right track to achieving that impressive feat.

What’s next for Texas?

The Longhorns are back in action on Tuesday for another midweek game, as they remain at home and take on the Texas State Bobcats from UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

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