Dillon Peters and Parker French combined for a dominant performance on Thursday night leading Texas to a 3-0 victory. The two juniors pitched five and four innings respectively while giving up a combined five hits and one walk while shutting out the Cowboys. Peters left with arm soreness after just five innings though the move was called strictly precautionary. We'll see.
Kacy Clemens continued to hit the ball well, going 2-3 with a pair of singles that plated the three Texas runs. The freshman is 8-19 over his last five games with 8 RBI and his first collegiate home run. Mark Payton added two hits for Texas bringing his consecutive games reached base streak to an insane 93 games and tying the Big 12 record along the way.
Payton and the Horns will play the winner of the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game today at 12:30 PM. A win would put Texas in Sunday's conference title game while a loss would force an elimination game at 7 PM.
Beating Texas Tech and Oklahoma State have been a big boost for Texas' faint chances at hosting. Texas comes in with a top 10 RPI and strength of schedule along with wins over two of its possible regional destinations (Houston and Rice). A win today would make the conference championship game a largely moot contest as Texas will have more or less accomplished all it could to sway Sunday's hosting announcement.
The Horns are 4-1 in their last 5 and starting to show some of the signs that made them so dangerous in April. Nathan Thornhill will look to keep things going today. First pitch is at 12:30 and this'll be your open thread.
Hook 'em!