Texas Baseball: Red-Hot Longhorns Look to Go 9-0
The Longhorns close their six-game homestand against Sam Houston State. The SHSU Bearkats will play their first midweek game of the season after last week's match-up with Rice was postponed. Sam Houston is 5-1 with its only loss coming by one run in extra innings. The two teams will meet for the eighth-consecutive season and Texas holds a 6-3 advantage during that stretch.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas Baseball is 8-0 to open the season and out to its best start since 2009. The 2009 team won its first 11 games and ended the year as the national runner-up with a 50-16-1 record. A big part of the Longhorns' early season success has been starting pitching. The Texas starters have compiled a 1.42 ERA with 46 strikeouts and a .177 batting average against. The defense has also shown improvement, compiling a .977 fielding percentage after last season only fielding .966.
NEXT UP—The Longhorns head back to Houston for the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park. Texas plays No. 11 LSU on Friday at 7 p.m., No. 6 Arkansas on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Missouri on Sunday at 3 p.m.
TULO—Longhorns' Head Coach made a splash during the offseason, with the hiring of 13-year Major League Baseball shortstop and five-time All-Star as an assistant coach. Tulowitzki, who was also a two-time All-American at Long Beach State, will coach the infielders and work with the hitters, alongside . With the hire of Tulowitzki, assistant coach assumes the role of pitching coach, a role he last held as an assistant at Florida International University from 2008-11. Texas also added Longhorn Legend and two-time MLB All-Star to the staff as a student assistant.
THE FRESHMEN—Ten Longhorn freshmen have made their debuts through the first two weeks of the season, including three who have played nearly every game. has a hit in seven-of-eight games and has six runs scored and five RBI. and have each made multiple relief outings and are yet to allow a run. In addition to the freshmen, the Longhorns' three junior college transfers made their debut – INF , INF and RHP .
VETERAN OUTFIELD—, and were Texas' most consistent performers a season ago, starting nearly every game together in the outfield and accounting for a large portion of the offensive production. The trio entered the season as the Longhorn's top three returning hitters and so far this season they are producing at an even higher level. Ellis leads the team with a .400 batting average and seven runs scored and Todd has a .324 average with seven RBI and five runs scored. Kennedy has had a slower start at the plate, but did drive in the game-winning run against Boise State with a solo homer on Feb. 22.
ZU-BI-AAAAA—After serving mostly as the designated hitter in his first two seasons on the Forty Acres, earned the starting spot at first base in 2020. The redshirt junior's defense has been stellar. On Sunday against Boise State, Zubia accounted for 18 putouts, the most by a Texas player since 2015 when Tres Barrera had 20 against Oklahoma State. Zubia is also delivering at the plate, leading Texas with 11 RBI. He has driven in at least one run in six of the eight games and currently has a three-game hitting streak.
HONORING A LEGEND—Longhorn Legend will have his jersey number retired during the 2020 season. A three-time All-American and the 2002 College World Series Most Outstanding Player, Street becomes the seventh former Texas Baseball star to have his jersey retired. One of the greatest closers in college baseball history, Street holds the Texas record with 41 career saves and ranks 13th in NCAA Division I history in career saves. His 1.31 career ERA ranks second all-time at Texas and his .172 opponents' batting average is the third-best in Longhorn history In his three-year career at Texas, Street made 105 appearances and pitched 178.1 innings. He struck out 177 batters and posted an 18-3 record to go along with his 41 saves.
PACKING THE HOUSE—Last season Texas set and re-set attendance records at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Longhorn fans showed up in droves to see Texas host Texas A&M on April 2, 2019, establishing a new regular season record crowd of 7,952. The April 2 crowd topped the previous regular season record of 7,879, set earlier in the season against Texas Tech (3/16/19). The total attendances for the three-game series against LSU (22,434) and Texas Tech (22,729) were also program records. Texas ranked sixth in the country, and first in the Big 12, in total attendance (175,768) and average attendance (5,493) last season. The Longhorns have led the Big 12 in attendance for 14-consecutive seasons.
HEAR 'EM—In partnership with Learfield IMG College, Texas games will be broadcast on the Austin Radio Network, primarily on 104.9 The Horn and AM 1260. Craig Way handles primary play-by-play duties alongside Roger Wallace and Quan Cosby.
WATCH 'EM—All but one Texas home game will be broadcast on Longhorn Network this season. The team of Lowell Galindo, Keith Moreland, and Greg Swindell will return to the booth to call the action.
TEXAS (8-0, 0-0) vs. SAM HOUSTON STATE (5-1, 0-0)
February 25, 2020
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field
Time: Tuesday at 7 p.m.
TV: Longhorn Network
Radio: 104.9 FM The Horn/1260 AM
Live stats: https://texassports.com/sidearmstats/baseball
All-time series: Texas leads, 78-19
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP
TUESDAY–Texas Fr. LHP (0-0, 0.00) vs. Sam Houston Jr. LHP Jack Rogers (0-0, 0.00)