Baseball Takes on Texas Southern

Taking care of business against Texas Southern would be nice. According to Boyd's World, the Horns need to go 5-1 over their last 6 to be a top 8 RPI. Considering Austin's a bigger draw than Manhattan and Texas is likely to finish with a higher RPI than KSU (who will probably end up somewhere in the high teens or low 20s), we still like Texas' chances of getting a national seed even though the Wildcats swept Texas (we aren't arguing that it's fair; just that it's reasonable given the selection system). 

If Texas beats Aggy 2 of 3 this weekend, then KSU (currently 12-7-1) must go 5-1 down the stretch to top the Horns (who would be 17-9-1). That's certainly doable for KSU, but not an easy feat to accomplish. Losing a game to OSU this weekend may spell doom for K-State in the long run as a loss wouldn't have hurt them and a win would've enabled them to win the conference with a 4-2 finish (still assuming Texas beats a pretty good Aggy squad 2 of 3, which certainly is no guarantee). If Texas sweeps then KSU must finish 6-0, and if Aggy takes 2 of 3 the odds of Texas winning the conference likely go bye-bye. But first, Texas vs. Texas Southern. 

Texas Sports has your preview, but when a SWAC team with a losing record comes to visit there is only one acceptable result. GoBR pointed out in the comments the other day that, with Jungmann in the Sunday starter role, Brandon Workman is likely to get the start tonight with a chip on his shoulder. Which is bad news for Texas Southern. You can watch it live for free at Texas Sports.

[UPDATE] Five solid innings from Stayton Thomas and a variety of mistakes and miscues by Texas Southern help the Longhorns take a 7-3 victory at UFCUDFF. Thomas was efficient until the sixth inning, when he ran out of gas and was eventually charged for the three runs scored in the frame. However, the Texas offense did enough to get the game from being close by scoring three runs in the third and fourth innings. No word on why Brandon Workman didn't pitch, as expected.