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Revenge is a dish best served hot in the postseason with a painted-sky dessert.
That’s what the No. 6 Texas Longhorns delivered on Saturday in the Austin Regional, avenging a 6-1 loss to the Tarleton State Texans with a dominant 16-2 victory at UFCU Disch-Falk Field keyed by back-to-back-to-back home runs in a five-run second inning that blew the game open.
With the win, Texas advanced to Sunday’s regional final in the wake of UC Santa Barbara’s 15-1 win over Holy Cross in the early elimination game.
Texas threatened early when junior right fielder Aiden Robbins worked a full-count walk to start the game and junior catcher Carson Tinney was hit by the first pitch from Tarleton State right-hander Ethan Wendel. The 6’9, 240-pound McMurry transfer battled back to retire freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. in a seven-pitch at bat before redshirt senior second baseman Temo Becerra delivered the first hit of the game, an RBI single shot through the right side for his 200th career hit.
With a chance to extend the lead, the Horns weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunity when sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez chased a full-count pitch out of the zone and junior third baseman Casey Borba did the same on an 0-2 offering, stranding two runners.
Tarleton State appeared to lead off the bottom of the first against sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis with a double, but on review, the left hand of the runner came off the bag before his left foot made contact for an out. The big play at second helped Volantis face the minimum after Robbins made a nice running catch in the right-center gap.
When Wendel issued a leadoff walk and fell behind 2-0 against junior designated hitter Ethan Mendoza, the bullpen got active for the Texans, but Mendoza flew out to deep center field. Redshirt senior center fielder Dariyan Pendergrass put runners on first and second by hitting a 2-2 pitch through the left side. And then the Horns blew the game open with back-to-back home runs from Robbins, Tinney, and Pack, with Tinney clearing the monster in dead center and Pack hitting his fourth home run in fifth postseason at bats for a 6-0 lead.
The 0-1 hanging slider turned around by Robbins went 443 feet at 110 miles per hour off the bat.
Tinney caught a sinker without much sink on a 426-foot blast at with an exit velocity of 112 mph, setting a program record with his fifth home run over the batter’s eye this season.
After Volantis struck out two in the bottom of the second, Mendoza added a one-out solo homer in the third, a line drive to the opposite field with a 103-mph exit velocity.
Texas added a cheap run in the fourth on a walk, failed pickoff attempt, and throwing error by the Tarleton catcher for an unearned score, maintaining the pressure with seven consecutive walks to score five runs without a hit before leaving the bases loaded.
In the sixth, the Horns added three more runs when Tinney led off with a double and scored after a groundout and a wild pitch. When Becerra drew a four-pitch walk and Rodriguez doubled down the right-field line, a sacrifice fly by Borba and a single by junior first baseman Ashton Larson gave Texas a 15-0 lead.
Junior right-hander Hudson Hamilton came out of the bullpen for Volantis with runner on first and one out, Hamilton allowed the inherited runner to score after a single and a two-run double before stranding two runners on a groundout to second base. Volantis finished his dominant performance with seven strikeouts over 6.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits as Texas set a single-season program record with 619 strikeouts.
A solo home run by Rodriguez on an eight-pitch at bat to lead off the eighth extended the lead to 16-2.
Texas plays to advance to the super regionals at 5 p.m. Central against the winner of the UC Santa Barbara-Tarleton State matchup at noon Central.
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