No. 6 Texas edges past UC Santa Barbara, 6-4, win to Austin Regional

· Yahoo Sports

The No. 6 Texas Longhorns are staying at UFCU Disch-Falk Field for the Austin Super Regional next weekend after eliminating the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos on Sunday with a 6-4 victory with the help of a go-ahead, two-run home run by junior right fielder Aiden Robbins in the seventh and two key scores in the eighth.

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After falling behind 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Texas scored two runs in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings while overcoming some extremely shaky moments from a bullpen that faced its first postseason test and barely earned a passing grade.

Right-hander Kellan Montgomery was effective early for the Gauchos, utilizing his four-pitch mix to catch Robbins looking on the outside corner, retiring junior catcher Carson Tinney on a sharply-hit ball to third base, and working around a two-out single by freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. by inducing a line out to right field by redshirt senior second baseman Temo Becerra.

Throwing more than five pitches for the first time in three weeks, Texas senior right-hander Ruger Riojas struggled with his command early, leaving a one-out pitch up to UCSB center fielder Rowan Kelly, who hit a no-doubt solo shot to right-center for a 1-0 lead, the first deficit the Longhorns faced in this year’s regional.

Sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez cued a first-pitch single past the third baseman to lead off the second for the Horns. A chopper to the pitcher by junior designated hitter Ethan Mendoza advanced Rodriguez to second, but junior first baseman Ashton Larson popped out weakly to left field and junior third baseman Casey Borba grounded out to third.

Despite giving up a leadoff single, Riojas was more sharp in the second, getting ahead of the next batters to record two swinging strikeouts before getting some help from Tinney, who threw out the runner trying to steal second.

After the Horns were retired in order, Riojas had to deal with some traffic on the base paths thanks to a one-out single and a two-out walk, falling behind 2-0 against the next batter, but getting out of the inning on a line drive hit into right-center field tracked down by redshirt senior center fielder Dariyan Pendergrass.

Montgomery continued to find success against the hot Texas lineup, working the inside part of the inside corner at the knees to punch out Pack on a full count, fielded his position to retire Becerra on a bunt attempt, and struck out Rodriguez swinging on a nasty breaking ball, the ninth straight Longhorns batter retired by the right-hander.

In the bottom of the fourth, Riojas seemed to find some rhythm with a 1-2-3 aided by a nice play at third base by Borba on a hard-hit one-hopper.

Larson finally ended Montgomery’s streak of consecutive batters retired at 10 with a one-out single in the fifth. Struggling in the regional, Borba chased two pitches out of the zone to strike out, bringing up Pendergrass trying to turn the lineup over. The College of Charleston transfer tried and failed to get a bunt down on the 1-0 pitch, but swung away on the 1-1 offering and chopped it up the middle to the shortstop for a fielder’s choice.

Gaining further confidence, Riojas set UCSB down in order again in the fifth with two strikeouts before line-drive singles by Robbins and Tinney put some real pressure on Montgomery for the first time in the game. Robbins advanced on a deep fly ball by Pack and scored on a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez after Becerra loaded the bases by drawing a walk. Mendoza put the Horns ahead with a 2-0 single to the opposite field.

Santa Barbara responded in the bottom of the sixth after Riojas departed after five innings and 77 pitches, having allowed one run on three hits with six strikeouts and one walk. Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle turned to junior left-hander Haiden Leffew out of the bullpen, but the Wake Forest transfer wasn’t able to throw his premium breaking ball for strikes, walking the only two batters he faced before giving way to freshman right-hander Brett Crossland.

On a bunt attempt by the Gauchos, Crossland committed a throwing error compounded by a throwing error by Robbins that allowed two runs to score as UCSB reclaimed the lead, 3-2. Redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker came on to retire the only batter he faced on a groundout to Larson at first.

With a runner on third and one out, junior right-hander Thomas Burns entered the game. Playing in to try to keep the runner on third from scoring on a groundout, Becerra made a nice catch at second base extending for a hard-hit line drive. And then Burns ended the inning with a full-count strikeout.

After Borba singled up the middle to open the sixth inning, the Longhorns appeared to suffer a major setback when Pendergrass was called for interference on a bunt attempt when he was hit by the throw while inside the baseline, negating the game-tying score.

No matter — Robbins worked a 3-1 count and drove a fastball that caught too much of the plate to right-center for a two-run home run and the lead.

Able to get up and down, Burns went 1-2-3 in the seventh and Texas added two more runs in the eighth when Mendoza followed a leadoff single by Rodriguez with an RBI double that dotted the left-field line.

Mendoza stole third and scored on a wild pickoff attempt for a second insurance run.

Coming on for a two-inning save, freshman right-hander Sam Cozart dealt with immediate adversity, giving up an 0-2 single and a 2-0 double to put runners on second and third with no outs. The big freshman was able to record the first out of the eighth on an RBI groundout, but promptly gave up a single through the ride side that put runners on first and third.

In a big moment, UCSB inserted a pinch runner, who took off for second as Cozart toed the rubber. Alerted to the steal attempt by Tinney, Cozart stepped off, turned, and delivered a throw that was just accurate enough to retire to base runner on a good pick and swipe tag by Becerra.

Cozart stranded the runner on third by ending the inning on a soft flyout to left.

The ninth wasn’t any easier for the 6’6, 260-pounder who has made just about everything look easy during his first season on the Forty Acres — the Gauchos led off the ninth with consecutive singles, but Cozart got some help when UCSB right fielder Noah Karliner struck out swinging on a 3-2 fastball at his shoulders. On the verge of securing the save, Cozart induced a popout to first base before departing after hitting the next batter with his first pitch.

In a scenario that Schlossnagle prepared for in the SEC Tournament by using redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison out of the bullpen for the first time this season, the Friday starter came on to face red-hot Gauchos center fielder Rowan Kelly, who had homered twice on Sunday.

Harrison came up big, needing only two pitches to retire Kelly, who popped out to Rodriguez to end the Austin Regional.

Texas is paired with the Eugene Regional in which No. 11 seed Oregon is facing Oregon State in the final with the Beavers needing wins on Sunday and Monday to advance over the hosts.

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