Texas cruises to 6-1 victory over Lamar

On a cold and dreary day at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the Texas Longhorns came out hot. After jumping out to a three-run lead in the second inning, Texas never looked back as they powered their way to a 6-1 victory over Lamar on Wednesday in Austin.

The three-run inning was more than enough for the Longhorns today, as the Texas pitching staff and defense played well today — especially starter Kolby Kubichek and reliever Owen Meaney. Kubichek earned the start for the Horns and gave them three scoreless innings with three strikeouts en route to earning the win. In his relief, Meaney came on and threw three perfect innings while also recording three strikeouts of his own.

It was during these first six frames of action that Texas scored and built their lead. After a quiet first inning, Trey Faltine, Cam Williams, and Douglas Hodo III all walked to open the second. Following two strikeouts, Austin Todd slapped a two-out double to right center that cleared the bases and opened scoring, 3-0 in favor of Texas.

The Longhorns tacked on another run in the fourth inning, after Cam Williams singled and Douglas Hodo III drove him in with an RBI single up the middle. Later in the sixth inning, Texas would plate its final runs of the game again with three walks setting the stage for some scoring.

A Petrinsky single, followed by a Faltine walk and a Hodo III walk, brought Brenden Dixon to the plate, where he worked from an 0-2 count to walk, bringing Petrinsky home and pushing the Texas lead to 5-0. The Horns got their last run of the game on the next at bat, courtesy of a Murphy Stehly sacrifice fly RBI to right field.

Lamar pushed one run across in response in the seventh. Freshman pitcher Will Swope made his collegiate debut, but surrendered the run via a walk, single to move the runner, and sacrifice fly to bring him in. Texas later ran into trouble in this inning after Sam Walbridge, also a freshman making his debut, came in for relief of Swope, but failed to record an out, instead walking a batter to load the bases.

Pierce called on a true freshman yet again, but this time made sure to grab someone who wasn’t also making their debut. With the bases full, Andre Duplantier took the mound and promptly downed the next batter to escape the jam.

That would be Lamar’s last scoring chance — from there on, Duplantier took the eighth and Mason Bryant the ninth, as both pitchers threw scoreless innings to give the Longhorns the 6-1 win.

Texas now moves to 5-0 on the season, and 2-0 at home. The Longhorns will host their first weekend series of the season at home starting this upcoming Friday, welcoming Boise State, with first pitch at 7 p.m. Central.