Junior infielder Ethan Mendoza hits a homer during the first inning of Texas’ game against USCU at Disch-Falk Field Friday, March 7.
Texas baseball opened its final nonconference series of the season against the USC Upstate Spartans and won in style by turning the ballgame into a home run derby, lighting up the Austin night sky with balls out of the park.
The Longhorns continued their winning ways, extending their victory streak to 13 games with a 14-2 victory on Friday night against the Spartans. The Longhorns once again invoked the run rule in the fifth run-rule win of the season, winning in eight innings.
On the night, Texas’ bats started hot and never cooled down throughout the ballgame, ending the matchup with five home runs, all hit by different batters, which accounted for 10 of the Longhorns’ 14 runs of the night.
“I think we were capable of getting a few balls up in the air,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Some balls are hit harder than others, but I think we (took) advantage of the conditions tonight.”
The Longhorns went on a roll to start the ballgame, with three homers coming in the first three innings of the game. Junior infielder Ethan Mendoza started the night with a leadoff home run to get the party started.
The next two home runs came courtesy of junior infielder Casey Borba and redshirt senior infielder Temo Becerra. Borba rang in a solo shot in the second inning, while Becerra poured it on with a two-run home run in the third.
Keeping the longball going was junior outfielder Aiden Robbins, with a two-run shot in the fifth inning. With the score already out of reach, the Longhorns headed into the eighth inning with a commanding 8-2 lead. Freshman outfielder Anthony Pack Jr. placed the finishing touches on the ballgame.
The freshman stepped onto the plate with the bases loaded. On the very first pitch of the at-bat, he promptly unloaded the bases, crushing a pitch to right center field for a grand slam to place the exclamation point.
“(It) felt amazing,” Pack said. “I was floating around the bases. (I’ve) never hit a walk-off grand slam in my life before. To do it in front of the Texas crowd, always behind us, it felt great.”
The Longhorns once again received another solid outing from senior pitcher Ruger Riojas, as the righty dictated all six of his innings, giving up four hits, a single earned run and 12 strikeouts — a new career high.
“Last week was certainly this A-plus game, and you’re not going to have that every time,” Schlossnagle said. “So I thought Ruger was awesome, and I thought he needed to be.”
The lone earned run came after Spartan senior infielder Gage Griggs got a hold of a pitch for a solo home run. For Riojas, the homer was the third earned run he has given up this season and the first home run that’s been hit off of him.
The double-digit punch-out outing for Riojas was the third-straight start in which he recorded double-digit strikeouts, and for the second-straight outing, he rewrote his career-high after recording 11 last Friday. The 12 strikeouts on Friday took the senior’s season tally to 42.
The Longhorns return to the field for the second game of the series against the Spartans on Saturday at 2 p.m.