Texas Baseball Clinches Series With 4-3 Win Over Cal State Fullerton
AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Baseball pitched a shutout over the final five innings and picked up a 4-3 win over Cal State Fullerton to clinch the series on Saturday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Pete Hansen, Tristan Stevens and Andre Duplantier II combined to keep the Titans off the board in the final five frames.
The Longhorns (12-3) got another big day at the plate from Murphy Stehly, who went 2-for-2 with a two-run double in the second inning. Austin Todd drove in the game-winning run and went 1-for-4 with one RBI and one walk. The Longhorn offense accounted for six infield hits in the game.
Cal State Fullerton took a 1-0 lead on a pair of hits in the second inning. Ty Madden managed to strike out the side around the two hits. Madden finished with his shortest outing of the season, pitching four innings and allowed three runs (one earned) with five strikeouts.
Texas got the run right back and more in the bottom of the second, scoring three runs on three hits to take a 3-1 lead. Trey Faltine started the inning with an infield single deep in the hole and Eric Kennedy followed with a perfectly placed bunt single. Silas Ardoin was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Peyton Powell drove in the first run with an RBI groundout.
Stehly drove in the go-ahead runs with a double down the left field line that scored Kennedy and Ardoin.
The Titans tied the game up with two unearned runs off of Madden in the top of the fourth. A leadoff error started the inning before a two-out single drove in the game-tying runs.
Texas retook the lead for good in the sixth after pinch-hitter Douglas Hodo III walked to start the inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Stehly. Todd drove in Hodo with a single to left field to make the score 4-3.
Pete Hansen came out of the bullpen in the fifth and pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win. He has now pitched 16 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to start his career. Stevens got the final out of the eighth, stranding a runner on base.
Duplantier pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to earn his third save of the season.
UP NEXT
Texas will go for its third series sweep of the season on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.