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The 19-1 victory by the No. 6 Texas Longhorns over the Holy Cross Crusaders on Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field positioned head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s team to take control of the Austin Regional with a win on Saturday.
And that matchup will feature a midweek rematch after Tarleton State upset UC Santa Barbara 11-5 on Friday evening as the calculated risk by Gauchos head coach Andrew Checketts to hold back superstar pitcher Jackson Flora for a potential Saturday game against the Longhorns backfired when the Texans made another plans.
Considering the quality of the UCSB pitching staff, the decision by Checketts made sense even though Tarleton took a 3-1 lead with a two-run home run that chased starter Calvin Proskey in the fourth inning and extended it to 5-1 with a two-run double in the fifth inning against reliever Cole Tryba, who entered the postseason tied for the team lead with four saves.
Tryba ultimately gave up four runs in 4.1 innings before a solo home run and an error by the Gauchos second baseman in the ninth inning resulted in three unearned runs scored by the Texans to seal the game.
From a pitching standpoint, Tarleton State head coach Todd Whitten enters Saturday having used his third starter against UC Santa Barbara, allowing him to use big freshman right-hander Matthew McCullough (5-2, 471 ERA) or big junior right-hander Ethan Wendel (6-3, 564 ERA) against Texas.
Right-hander Anthony Treto did throw 62 pitches over 3.1 innings against UCSB to tie for the team lead with eight saves, so he may be limited on Saturday, but right-hander Tai Phetluangsy (2-1, 3.41 ERA), who also has eight saves, is completely fresh for Whitten.
Texas will throw star sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis (8-1, 2.00 ERA) in his first postseason start as the Longhorns try to avenge their 6-1 midweek loss to the Texans in March. In that game, five Tarleton pitchers combined to allow two hits to Texas as the Horns were unable to capitalize on drawing nine walks because they struck out 12 times, including three-strikeout performances by juniors Aiden Robbins and Casey Borba. In 3.0 innings against Texas, Treto didn’t allow a hit while striking out five and working around three walks. Phetluangsy pitched the ninth, giving up a two-out walk and single before retiring junior Ethan Mendoza to close out the win.
First pitch on Saturday is at 6 p.m. Central at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
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