Brown, Longhorn Pitchers Quell Mountaineer Impact
Out of the gate, the Texas Longhorns were poised for success. The Longhorns have been 23-8 when scoring first, and even No. 6 West Virginia fell prey to the atmosphere at UFCU Disch-Falk Field tonight.
It became clear early on in this ballgame that the Texas bats were hot - more specifically, the bat of one Porter Brown. The Longhorn outfielder tied the UT program record for home runs in a single game with a rip-roaring trio that eventually tallied eight RBIs.
WVU's pitching staff, lead by tonight's midweek-turned-weekend starter, Carson Estridge, couldn't keep up. The freshman RHP lasted 1.2 innings while allowing five hits, five runs, and striking out four. He battled back as the Longhorns knocked together small-ball single after small-ball single.
When fellow freshman Maxx Yehl replaced Estridge in the second inning, the Texas offensive hit around him as well. Brown scored two of his three homers off the lefty, and by the fourth inning, the Longhorns lead by an unmountable 8-0.
Brown topped off his around-the-world home run night with a final shot over the left field fence in the sixth, now an 11-0 lead. That tied the series finale against Oklahoma State for the most runs the Mountaineers had allowed in conference play this season... but the Longhorns weren't quite done.
While the Longhorn bats knocked the Mountaineer defense around, the Longhorn pitching quelled any hope for Mountaineer base path action. Texas lefty starter Lucas Gordon showed his dominance with 7 IP, eight Ks, and 95 pitches; Gordon shut the Mountaineers down in 1-2-3 fashion in two innings and proved his worth with only four hits allowed.
The eighth inning saw the Mountaineers finally get a bit of a run together, after Gordon exited the game in favor of Chase Lummus. The lefty allowed JJ Wetherholt to continue his now-55-game, consecutive on-base streak with a single. Two batters later, Landon Wallace knocked a double to the warning track that sent Wetherholt home for West Virginia's first score. The scoreboard read 11-1, but the Longhorns had one final run to tack on: a solo homer in the home half of the eighth off the bat of Dylan Campbell. The Mountaineers trailed 12-1 heading into the ninth inning, the largest lead the team had allowed all of conference play.
WVU narrowed the lead to 12-2 in the top of the ninth inning, off an Evan Smith RBI single that scored Wetherholt, but the damage was done.
WVU's Estridge earned the loss (3-1), while Texas' Gordon earned his sixth, dominant win (6-1). The Longhorns showed just shy of their four-pitcher average (3), while the Mountaineers sent five to the mound; the Mountaineer pitching staff allowed 12 runs on as many hits, four home runs, and punched nine batters out through a combined 162 pitches.
The Mountaineers (39-14, 15-7) remain in the race for the regular season conference title, and will resume play with the Texas Longhorns (36-18, 13-9) tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. EST on Longhorn Network.
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