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Texas welcomed perennial non-conference opponent Stanford to the Disch this past weekend, and the results were encouraging on the whole. Coming into the series, the following thoughts were swimming around in no particular order:
- Stanford was young, particularly the pitching staff
- Stanford had some pop in their bats and could score runs in bunches
- The past two years, Texas' lackluster performances against the Cardinal have set the stage for lackluster seasons
- The Longhorns appeared in the previous three games to be hitting the ball much better than they have the last couple of seasons
- Texas really needed to win at least two games for the weekend to be at all successful.
A 3-1 week and the series win over Stanford was enough to propel Texas to #15 in Baseball America's ranking.
Huzzah!
Today at 4:30, Texas takes on UT Pan American at UFCUDFF on Longhorn Network. Texas then travels to Houston this weekend for the Houston College Classic. While there they'll take on #12 Rice, an undefeated Houston squad and Sam Houston State.
All told this week's opponents carry a 25-6 record. If Texas can go 3-1 this week, they'll be in great position going forward. Texas plays 13 of its next 14 games at home, all of which will be eminently winnable giving the Horns a chance to really build some momentum before hitting the meat of conference play.
But first, UTPA. The Broncs are 5-3 with a series split with Texas A&M Corpus Christi and having taken three of four from a split series with Northwestern State and Prairie View A&M. Senior right fielder Alex Howe hasn't been quite as good as Payton has been for Texas, but his .519 average, seven RBI and four stolen bases are all impressive nonetheless. Transfer Alex Henson will make his first start for UTPA.
Texas has three goals today:
1) Win
2) Get freshmen Tres Barrera and Andy McGuire hitting.
3) See what John Curtiss can do.
Curtiss sat out all of 2013 after having elbow surgery. Curtiss was very good as a freshman and midweek games should be a good place for him to get back in the saddle.
First pitch is at 4:30 and this is your open thread. Hook 'em!