No. 15 Texas Looks To Bounce Back Against Texas State
HOUSTON -- It was not the ideal start to the weekend in Houston for the No. 15 Texas Longhorns (7-2), as they were completely overwhelmed in their 6-3 loss to the No. 3 LSU Tigers (9-1).
A combination of a shaky outing from starter Lebarron Johnson Jr., the bats outside of Peyton Powell going ice cold and the Tigers simply being the better team doomed the Longhorns from the beginning.
Now, they look ahead to Saturday afternoon for a chance to start a new winning streak against the Texas State Bobcats (6-3). The Bobcats had better luck on Friday as they won their opening game in extra innings with a walk-off home run against the Houston Cougars.
How to watch/listen:
Saturday at 3 p.m. CT
Watch:
- All Astros' social media platforms
Listen: Longhorn Radio Network
Texas State by the numbers:
Record: 6-3
Runs scored: 95
Runs allowed: 41
Team Avg.: .314
Team Avg. allowed: .226
Team ERA: 4.09
Texas State wins this game if...
It can keep the Longhorns' bats on ice, much like LSU did. While the 6-3 score from Texas' opening game against the Tigers looks close on paper, it was a night full of offensive futility. Three of the seven hits came from Peyton Powell, and any fight shown by the lineup came far too late.
Oh, and excluding Powell? An absurd 20 combined strikeouts throughout the rest of the order. If the Bobcats can replicate that success and keep the Longhorns' bats down, then they have a great chance of leaving Saturday afternoon with a marquee win.
Texas wins this game if...
It can do the exact opposite of what we just said Texas State needs to do to win. No, that isn't groundbreaking information but sometimes the simple things are the solutions that lead to the most success. Simply put, Texas' offensive production on Friday against the Tigers was putrid.
Any semblance of that happening again on Saturday will almost certainly result in the same result. The Longhorns have shown they have the capability to put up runs in bunches, now they just need to get the entire lineup clicking on all cylinders if they want to win.
