“I was like, 'Dang it, man!'” Schlossnagle said after the Longhorns’ comeback triumph over the Sooners, while recalling his thoughts while watching a likely grand slam get knocked down short of the Yeti Yard’s mesh wall in left field. “This is an awesome ball game, but it might not be our night.”
Texas (22-4, 6-2 SEC) only had one hit when the dust settled on the seventh inning — a two-out single up the middle of the diamond by Adrian Rodriguez in the first inning — after Oklahoma (19-7, 4-4) entered the frame with a 3-0 lead. While Luke Harrison’s workmanlike seven-inning performance on the mound (five hits, three earned runs and two walks allowed and one hit batter with six strikeouts) and timely defensive plays kept the Longhorns in the game, they were dealing with an offensive hangover after Thursday’s 14-run, 17-hit onslaught en route to a run-rule romp.
“In the game of baseball, normally, you get 17 hits and you're probably going to get two the next day,” Schlossnagle said. “That's what it was looking like there throughout the course of the game, but our guys stayed with it.”
Schlossnagle credited Harrison for minimizing the damage whenever the Sooners looked poised to put crooked numbers on the scoreboard with runners on base. Thankfully, the aforementioned defensive highlights — Tinney wiping out third baseman Camden Johnson’s attempt to steal third in the first, Temo Becerra nailing Johnson with a throw home after fielding a ground ball hit to him in the third and Andrew Ermis ending the top of the 10th by catching center fielder Jason Walk trying to steal second base, completing a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play after Sam Cozart fanned left fielder Trey Gambill — got Texas out of a few nerve-racking jams.
“He gave us length in the game,” Schlossnagle said of Harrison, who combined with Cozart (three strikeouts with just one baserunner allowed in three innings) to limit Oklahoma to a 1-for-10 night with two outs and with runners in scoring position while limiting the Sooners to a 2-for-12 effort with runners on base. On the heels of Ruger Riojas scattering six hits and striking out eight in a seven-inning complete game on Thursday, Harrison's extended outing and Cozart only throwing 30 pitches means Schlossnagle and Max Weiner have everyone in the bullpen available for Saturday's series finale (4 p.m., SEC Network).
“For us to play 17 innings of baseball or so in two days and we've only used three pitchers, that's good for us."
Tagged for 10 runs in two SEC starts, lefty starter Cameron Johnson struck out eight in a solid five-inning outing for the Sooners. The Longhorns only pushed two runs across the plate through eight innings, with 12 walks issued by Skip Johnson’s pitching staff accounting for the bulk of the offense Texas generated.
“We had him on the ropes a few times,” Schlossnagle said of Johnson, who induced two inning-ending double plays on a night when he dialed up his fastball on 81 of his 95 pitches. “He made enough pitches and he throws enough strikes and then enough pitches that are close to the strikes and he throws so hard that he gets you to chase the ball out of the strike zone.”
Although the Longhorns struck out 11 times, the walks helped the offense break through. A bases-loaded, pinch-hit walk drawn by Josh Livingston got Texas into the scoring column in the eighth.
The Longhorns’ patience finally paid off in the ninth inning, with Ethan Mendoza’s leadoff base knock scooting all the way to the wall in center field for a triple, allowing Tinney to come through with a game-tying RBI single (a rocket back up the middle too hot or reliever Jackson Cleveland to handle).
Six of the seven Texas hits on Friday came in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings, including Becerra’s leadoff single to right and Ashton Larson’s game-winning, opposite-field RBI single, which landed just inside the left-field line to clinch a series victory.
Taking the series from the Sooners with wins that followed two different scripts has positioned the Longhorns atop the SEC standings, with a chance to stay there should they complete the series sweep on Saturday. Similar to going on the road and winning a three-game conference series with then-No. 5 Auburn after a humbling midweek home loss to Tarleton State, Texas put Tuesday’s late-inning collapse in a 9-7 road loss to Houston firmly in the rearview mirror before notching a series win over a formidable conference foe.
“We've only lost four games, but, as you guys know, three of them have just been brutal, tough,” Schlossnagle said after the Longhorns' first win of the season when trailing after eight innings. “To have one that kind of goes our way in a close one like that is big time.”
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