Notebook: Texas Longhorns Drop Series to BYU

The Longhorns drop their first conference series of the season to the Cougars.

The Texas Longhorns (19-13, 7-5) entered their series against the BYU Cougars (13-14, 6-8) riding high on a three-game winning streak, with two of those wins coming in a hard-fought road conference series win over the Kansas State Wildcats.

They were looking to keep that momentum going, but found it halted abruptly with a disappointing loss in the series opener. After bouncing back with a win in game two, the series finale followed the same recipe as the opener with the Longhorns dropping both games 7-5 despite late inning rally attempts.

Now, here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns' disappointing series loss to the Cougars.

Texas players meet on the mound as the Longhorns play Houston Christian at UFCU Disch-Falk Field

Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA

Starting pitching struggles again

A team can often only go as far as their starting pitching will take them. If your front man can't give you any length, winning games becomes exponentially more difficult. Just ask the Longhorns after this weekend series against BYU with Lebarron Johnson Jr. and Max Grubbs not going deep into their respective games.

Johnson only lasted three innings while Grubbs lasted 2.1 innings, with the former giving up four runs and the latter giving up five. Simply put, that is not good enough. Especially for Johnson, who is billed as the staff ace but has been anything but for the Longhorns in his recent stretch of starts.

If the Longhorns wany chance of being in the race for the Big 12 down the final stretch, figuring out the issues in the rotation is the top of the list of issues to resolve.

Lack of clutch hitting

The story of this series for the Longhorns at the plate was their inability to bring in men during crucial situations. Game one saw Texas leave nine men on base, and so did game two. As for the finale, well, it was not any better of a look for the Longhorns. They left nine on base yet again, including a bases loaded situation in the third when already trailing 6-1.

Winning games where you leave so many men on base, from bases loaded to multiple innings with two men on, is not going to happen -- especially not in the Big 12. Power and racking up runs are far from an issue for the Longhorns, as evidenced by their proclivity for the long ball. However, they must be better at moving men around and scoring in series like this when the ball isn't leaving the yard.

Gut check time

Well, folks, there are just six conference series left in this season. Despite the series loss to BYU, the Longhorns still find themselves in a position to end the campaign on a high note and battle it out for the conference crown against teams lIke the Oklahoma Sooners and aforementioned Kansas State.

Doing so, though, will be much easier said than done. Through the first four conference series for Texas, it has won three of them. A 75 percent win rate in conference play is nothing to scoff at. Now the Longhorns need to bounce back next weekend against the Houston Cougars and keep themselves in the fight for a conference title.

What's next for Texas?

The Longhorns are back in action on Tuesday on the road as they kick off a home and home midweek series against the Texas State Bobcats at 6 p.m. CT.