No. 4 Texas Rides Late Inning Heroics Over UTSA: Longhorns Notebook

The No. 4 Texas Longhorns (36—10) will certainly be happy to be done with their midweek outings after Tuesday night's thriller against the UTSA Roadrunners (33—15). Fortunately for them, this one also went their way.

Midweeks at times have been an adventure for Texas this season, most notably coming in last week's 15-14 walk-off win over Sam Houston courtesy of Carson Tinney. Playing the role of hero once was not enough for the Longhorns star catcher, however.

Against the Roadrunners, it was another back-and-forth slugfest as Texas jumped out to a 4-0 lead and then had to come back from down 7-4 to tie it 7-7. Then in the eighth, trailing 8-7, Tinney worked his magic again for a go-ahead grand slam and secured an 11-8 victory over UTSA that snapped a three-game losing streak to the Roadrunners.

Three key takeaways from Texas’ win over the Roadrunners

Texas Longhorns catcher Carson Tinney and outfielder Aiden Robbins celebrate together at home plate. | University of Texas Athletics.

An offensive roller coaster

A common issue for the Longhorns this season, especially in the midweeks, has been the offense starting out slow and needing a few innings to get going. While it hasn’t hurt them too often, falling behind is not a recipe for success.

Fortunately for them in this one, that wasn’t the case. Coming out hot, they put up four runs in the first and jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. Then after seven unanswered from the Roadrunners, Texas orchestrated a three-run third to tie the game at 7-7.

After that, the bats went ice cold until the eighth inning. Then they roared right back to life, loading the bases with one out which led to a mammoth blast from Carson Tinney — a 483-foot, go-ahead grand slam to put Texas ahead 11-8 for good.

Max Grubbs’ woes continue

Prior to the start of the season, the Longhorns got three key veteran arms back in Ruger Riojas, Luke Harrison and Max Grubbs. The duo of Riojas and Harrison have been phenomenal as part of the starting rotation. However, the same cannot be said for Grubbs.

Last season he was a consistent option out of the bullpen and delivered a plethora of clutch performances. This season, though, he has regressed mightily. In his start against the Roadrunners, he allowed five runs with four being earned.

On the season, he now has a 5.52 ERA and while he flashed last season’s potential, he ultimately is giving the Longhorns less and less reasons to trust him in the postseason.

Brody Walls makes his case

Bullpen depth has undoubtedly been a sore point for the Longhorns this season. After the tandem of Brett Crossland and Sam Cozart, it has been a mixed bag of results at best in relief. What you see from the Texas bullpen has been unpredictable as a result.

Looking to add his name to the list of arms to trust in the postseason, Brody Walls delivered a stellar outing in relief. He took over for Ethan Walker and got out of a bases loaded jam with an inning ending double play in the fifth.

His appearance was highly encouraging, as he tossed 3.2 innings of one-run baseball and only allowed one hit while recording a career-high five strikeouts in the win. If he can continue to deliver outings like this, he'll be trusted as a key arm in high-leverage postseason spots.

What’s next for Texas?

The Longhorns are back in action on Friday evening to kick off their second to last SEC series of the season, hitting the road to face the Tennessee Volunteers.

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