No. 19 Texas Beats TCU 5-3 to Advance to the Big 12 Tournament Semifinals
If you are a fan of the Texas Longhorns the first two games of the Big 12 Tournament will have you in high spirits. The Longhorns entered the tournament knowing a strong showing and a string of wins could push them into contention for hosting a regional, and that is exactly what they have received. Another dominant outing from Texas' starting pitcher helped the Longhorns in this one, as they took down TCU on Thursday.
No. 5 Texas 5 No. 1 TCU 3
Lucas Gordon saw what Pete Hansen did on Wednesday morning and went out and had himself a dominant outing as well against TCU. The lefty stifled the TCU lineup throughout his outing, keeping Horned Frog batters off balance.
Gordon would only allow two hits across 7 2/3 innings while only allowing two runs, one of which was unearned. Gordon's outing was exactly what Texas needed as they look to make a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament and push to be a top-16 national seed and regional host in the NCAA Tournament.
Offensively, the Longhorns came out of the gates red hot as Murphy Stehly would launch a three-run home run in the top of the first to give Texas the early 3-0 lead. That would be all the offense the Longhorns could muster until the eighth inning, as TCU's Marcelo Perez would recover and proceed to shut down the Texas lineup for the rest of his outing.
TCU would cut the lead to 3-2 on a Brayden Taylor sacrifice fly, which plated Nunez from third. That one-run lead would not last long, however, as Texas would plate two runs in the top of the eighth on a balk from Luke Savage that scored Hodo. Texas also got across on a two-out RBI single that scored Kennedy, extending the Texas lead back to 5-2.
Tristan Stevens, who relieved Gordon in the eighth, closed out the ninth as well, only allowing a two-out solo home run to Gray Rodgers before securing the 5-3 Texas victory and their place in the semifinals.
What's next for Texas?
With their victory over TCU, the Longhorns have earned a day off and will not play again until Saturday morning, where they will play the winner of the elimination game between TCU and Oklahoma State.
The Longhorns have made a strong case to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament but they will look to keep winning to boost their resume come selection Monday.
You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98
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