No. 19 Texas baseball returns to action against Houston

The No. 19 Texas Longhorns (28-15) host the Houston Cougars (25-15) on Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. Central, and you can watch the game on Longhorn Network or hear the game on 104.9 The Horn.

Tonight’s game features two teams coming off 4-1 weeks before heading off to conference play this weekend. Houston split a two-game midweek series with Sam Houston State, then swept Wichita State over the weekend. Both Sam Houston State and Wichita State have been ranked at some point this season, so going 4-1 shows this Houston team is coming into Austin playing good baseball capable of beating good teams.

Meanwhile, Texas had a week off from the Big 12 with a midweek win over UT-Rio Grande Valley, and a 2-1 series win over the visiting New Orleans Privateers. The Longhorns got great performances last week from Kody Clemens, who leads the Longhorns with a .356 batting average and leads the Big 12 with 13 home runs, and Zach Zubia, who hit a clutch, game-winning home run against New Orleans on Friday and pushed his batting average over .300 on the season over the weekend. Texas will look for another midweek win at home this year, where the Longhorns have compiled a perfect 5-0 record this year.

Players to Watch

Houston

• INF Jared Triolo leads the Cougars with a batting line of .364/.419/.481.
• INF Joe Davis (an Austin product) and INF Cooper Coldiron have each recorded 27 RBI for the Cougars.
• Houston’s starting pitcher for the game will be LHP Lael Lockhart, who has compiled a 1-0 record to go with a 2.70 ERA in nine appearances and two games started. He’s struggled with control this season (10 BB in 13.1 IP), so Texas should look to be patient with him and wait for their pitches.

Texas

• As I mentioned above, both Kody Clemens and Zach Zubia have been hot recently, and lead the Longhorns in most batting statistical categories. Clemens will be looking to build upon what has been an incredible, All-American type season.
• Zach Zubia had a streak of 41 games to reach base safely snap on Sunday, but the DH has still been nothing short of intimidating to opposing pitchers this season. Zubia has four home runs in just 14 games this month to go along with monthly averages of .360/.467/.700.
• Texas will call on RHP Tristan Stevens to make the start tonight. Stevens made his first appearance of the season last week against UTRGV, pitching two shutout innings against the Vaqueros. The freshman will look to build off his first appearance in the burnt orange and white last week with a solid showing tonight against a quality opponent.

Texas will face off against a good team in Houston tonight before heading off to Morgantown, WV for a weekend series with the Mountaineers. You can catch a post-game recap and analysis here on Burnt Orange Nation after the game. But until then, Hook ‘em.