Longhorn Offense Goes Cold as Texas Drops Series to South Carolina

Coming off a midweek series split with Texas State, the Longhorns entered the weekend against South Carolina looking to regain some momentum and get back on track. That would not be the case however as Texas would drop two-of-three games against South Carolina as questions surrounding the team begin to arise.

Game 1: Texas 9 South Carolina 5

Following the postponement of Friday's game to Sunday, Saturday became the de facto game one of the three-game series. Pete Hansen, Texas' typical Friday starter, took the mound on Saturday and delivered yet another solid outing. Despite giving up a season-high five runs, Hansen pitched six innings and struck out six, while the bullpen provided three shutout innings. Offensively, the Longhorns were led by Ivan Melendez and Trey Faltine. Melendez launched two two-home runs while Faltine contributed a two-run home run of his own in the fifth.

Pete Hansen

Ivan Melendez

Trey Faltine and Doug Hodo

Game 2: Texas 2 South Carolina 4

This was the first game of a Sunday doubleheader and did not produce as many offensive fireworks as the game on Saturday. Tristan Stevens took the mound for Texas and managed to go 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs, two earned. It was a slow day at the plate for Texas as the only Longhorn runs came off an Eric Kennedy solo home run in the first inning and a Silas Ardoin bases-loaded walk in the fifth. Texas left eight men on base in the seven-inning loss, as the offense failed on multiple occasions to produce clutch hits.

Game 3: Texas 4 South Carolina 9

Things went from ugly in game two to downright hideous in game three as the wheels completely fell off for Texas. Lucas Gordon made his second Sunday start in the place of Tanner Witt and he was shaky from the get-go. Gordon only lasted 3 1/3 innings, allowing three runs with four strikeouts and four walks. He showed flashes of shutdown material but ultimately got himself into one too many jams to get out of. It did not get much better as the Texas bullpen allowed six more runs over the rest of the game. Once again in the series finale, the Longhorn offense was anemic, unable to produce much outside of another Melendez mammoth home run, his seventh of the season. Texas produced a mini-rally in the top of the ninth, adding three runs to make the score appear semi-respectable, but it was far too little, far too late.

Doug Hodo

Tristan Stevens

Lucas Gordon

What's next for Texas

The Longhorns finish up a long road stint with a game against the College of Charleston on Tuesday and Citadel on Wednesday before returning home for a weekend series against Incarnate Ward. After a dominant start to the 2022 season, it was a shaky week for Texas that they will aim to forget, hoping they can correct the mistakes before the start of conference play against Texas Tech.

You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98

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