One of the more useful tools for blogging about Texas baseball has been TexasSports.com's preview posted a day or two before every game. It gives pitching matchups, fun & interesting stats about Texas players, and other important news and notes for the game ahead such as TV, radio and gametracker links. For example, last year's preview of the Texas-Kansas series (chosen at random) gave a bullet on Texas pitching's dominance, a bullet on the bullpen, a bullet on Corey Knebel and a bullet on Erich Weiss. It pretty much summed up Texas baseball in 2011 at that point in time.
Today's preview says the following:
• Corey Knebel is moving up the Longhorns career list for saves. He is currently one of only four Texas players to amass more than 20 saves. With 21, Knebel still has a long way to go to match the record of 41 that Huston Street set between 2002-04, but he is currently closing in on No. 3 Austin Wood (23 - 2006-09) and J. Brent Cox (24 - 2003-05).
• In last Tuesday’s 7-5 loss to UT Arlington, Austin Dicharry made just his seventh start since his freshman campaign in 2009 and only his second start since 2010. As a rookie, Dicharry was an integral part of the Longhorns’ run to the College World Series championship series. He pitched in 26 games, including five starts, posting an 8-2 record and one save with 59 strikeouts (28 walks) and a 2.28 ERA in 59.1 innings. That season he went 7-0 with a 0.68 ERA and 40 strikeouts (11 walks) over 39.2 innings in 15 appearances at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Yep, pretty much sums up the positives for Texas baseball in 2012. The good news is that Texas won't face pitching as tough as they faced last weekend all season. More good news is that Texas hitters have been actually getting on base at a fairly reasonable pace, especially considering how appalling the hitting has been. Also, the season is only seven games old, so there's lots of time to turn things around. And that's all the good news.
Said turnaround begins tonight against Houston Baptist at 6 PM. Austin Dicharry will be on the mound for Texas again, looking to continue his comeback. Tune in to the LHN tonight or join here for your open thread.
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
Tuesday, February 28, 2012 - 6 p.m. Central
Texas: RHP Austin Dicharry (0-1, 8.10 ERA)
HBU: RHP Dalton Schafer (0-0, 3.38 ERA)