The No. 2 Texas Longhorns head into SEC play with an undefeated record in the team’s best start since 2005 after a 15-4 blowout of the Texas State Bobcats at Bobcats Ballpark on Tuesday, led by two home runs and five RBIs from junior first baseman Casey Borba.
Warming up after a slow start to the season, Borba has now hit four of his five home runs this season in the last four games, making it a 5-0 game with a three-run blast to center field in the third inning that left Texas State’s outfielders with nothing to do but watch it travel 477 feet at 108 miles per hour off Borba’s bat.
Borba added a solo home run on an up-and-out swinging changeup over the plate in the seventh inning that broke TrackMan, and eventually ground out to the middle of the softball field behind Bobcats Ballpark.
In the first inning, Borba had driven in the second run of the game for Texas by issuing a bases-loaded walk to go 2-for-3 with three runs scored, two hits and a hit by pitch.
Advertisement
Texas added two more home runs in its 15-hit barrage, a two-run homer by freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. driven 409 feet to left center in the fourth inning and a line drive by redshirt senior third baseman Temo Becerra in the ninth.
By the eighth, the Horns had already left the game wide open with a four-run frame highlighted by an RBI double from sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez, a two-run single from senior right fielder Jayden Duplantier and an RBI double from redshirt senior designated hitter Josh Livingston.
Six Texas players had multi-hit performances with clutch team efforts overall: the Longhorns were 6-for-14 with two outs (.429), 8-for-23 (.348) with runners on and 7-for-17 (.412) with runners in scoring position.
Advertisement
Despite taking a 7-0 lead at the bottom of the fourth inning, the outcome became less certain when rookie right-hander Sam Cozart gave up a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning, exiting in the fifth after striking out four, allowing a walk, hitting a batter and allowing three hits.
The lead seemed more tenuous than the scoreboard indicated because redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker walked two in 0.2 innings even though he was able to get his first win of the season, and senior right-hander Max Grubbs also walked two batters and allowed an RBI double in his 1.1 innings of action.
Grubbs’ loss of command forced his departure in the seventh inning in favor of left-handed pitcher Cal Higgins, who entered the game with four walks in his 3.1 innings so far for Texas. But Higgins was able to dominate the zone, striking out four in 2.1 innings in an impressive performance.
Coming off the Longhorns’ biggest win over the Bobcats since an 11-0 victory in Austin in 2008, Texas returns to UFCU Disch-Falk Field to open SEC play against Ole Miss this weekend.