Texas blasts Fairfield 12-2, advances to Super Regional

Like they had in the three previous contents, the No. 2 national seed Texas Longhorns cruised past the Fairfield Stags 12-2 on Sunday at UFCU Disch Falk Field to close out the Austin Regional of the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Austin Super Regional.

After taking four first-inning walks to take a 1-0 lead, the Longhorns hung four in the second inning and five in the third to open the flood gates and never looked back. Fairfield’s struggles in both the field and from the mound plagued them in that run — including five walks, three batters hit by pitches, two throwing errors and a wild pitch — giving Texas a 10-0 run after three frames.

Third baseman Cam Williams had a two-run single in the top of the second and right fielder Douglas Hodo III cleared the cases with a three-run triple in the top of the third inning.

The Horns finished the game with nine hits, 11 walks, six hit by pitches, although the bottom of the order did struggle to put the ball in play, as Hodo, shortstop Trey Faltine, and catcher Silas Ardoin combined for eight of the team’s 10 strikeouts.

Fairfield put two on the board in the bottom of the third, but that was all the damage they managed on a career night from left-hander Pete Hansen, who was dominant otherwise.

The left-handed pitcher showed great command all night giving up just six hits and striking out a career-high 13 batters, all without walking a single batter in his 6.2 innings of service. He left the game to a much-deserved standing ovation, leaving Lucas Gordon, Cole Quintanilla and Aaron Nixon to finish the game.

After outscoring opponents 33-5 in the regional, Texas now waits to find out who they will play in the Super Regional round, the winner of South Florida and South Alabama in the Gainesville Regional. The two teams will resume play on Monday with the Jaguars leading 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth. A win for South Alabama would force another game between the two programs still standing in Gainesville.