Offensive Explosion Leads Texas Baseball to 5-1 Victory; Saturday Open Thread

So much for Augieball. Texas managed 12 hits on Friday night with every starter in the UT lineup producing at the plate. The Horns broke out for 3 runs in the 4th inning after singles from Taylor Stell and Erich Weiss were followed by a Mark Payton triple and a CJ Hinojosa single. The lack of bunting continued a trend for Texas as the Horns got the leadoff runner on base in the 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th innings without attempting to bunt the runner over each time.

Texas added a run in the 6th behind three consecutive singles to lead off the inning. Weston Hall singled to right with the bases loaded plating one run but an inexplicable baserunning gaffe caused Hall to get picked off first and Codey McElroy off second to end the inning. No excuse on that one, just awful.

Aside from the solid hitting and lack of bunting, the real story of the night was the ace-like pitching of Parker French. The sophomore gave up a run on a wild pitch but was otherwise in total control going 8 innings while giving up 5 hits. French struck out 3 and walked 2 in his outing. Corey Knebel came in for the 9th to close the books on another Texas win.

The Horns have a chance to get a much needed series win on Saturday at 2 PM. Dillon Peters will be on the mound looking to continue his strong play. More importantly, the Texas lineup returned to its opening day form and produced nicely at the plate. Texas' starting pitching is strong enough that mediocre offense will allow the Horns to compete in almost any game.

Join us here at 2 PM for first pitch. This'll be your open thread.

P.S. As noted in Friday night's open thread, Cohl Walla was kicked off the team for unspecified violations of team rules. That sucks. More information will come as it becomes available.