College baseball is certainly not for the weak of heart, as evidenced by the first two games between the No. 2 Texas Longhorns (19-3, 3-2) and the No. 5 Auburn Tigers (19-3, 4-1).
Friday night’s opener appeared to be heading for a Longhorns’ victory following a pair of runs in the top of the ninth, yet that would not be the case. Instead it was another heartbreaking loss, similar to the one suffered against the Ole Miss Rebels, with a bullpen meltdown leading to a walk-off, 4-3 loss.
It was on track to be a different story on Saturday, however. Auburn managed to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first before Luke Harrison got out of the jam. Then Texas struck first with two runs in the second and four more in the third, capped by a Jayden Duplantier three-run shot to make it 6-0.
Texas survived a late Auburn rally in Saturday’s win
Temo Becerra celebrates a home run against Coastal Carolina in the Bruce Bolt College Classic at Daikin Park. | University of Texas Athletics
That lead would eventually stretch to 7-2, with Harrison tossing 5.2 innings of two-run baseball. Far from an easy win, though, the bullpen again struggled mightily. They allowed four runs and came painfully close to another walk-off loss. However, Thomas Burns got out of his own jam and recorded a save to secure the series tying 7-6 win.
Now, the Longhorns will send sophomore phenom Dylan Volantis to the mound on Sunday afternoon. He shined in his first SEC start against the Rebels, tossing six innings of one-run baseball and racking up a career-high 11 strikeouts in the process.
Follow along as we provide live at-bat by at-bat updates, with the Longhorns looking to win the finale and the series against the Tigers on Sunday afternoon from Plainsman park.
How to watch/listen –
Sunday March 22 – 2 p.m. CT – SEC Network
The Longhorns’ starting lineup will be listed below –
Live updates will be available after first pitch
2B – Ethan Mendoza
C – Carson Tinney
CF – Aiden Robbins
SS – Adrian Rodriguez
3B – Temo Becerra
LF – Anthony Pack Jr.
1B – Casey Borba
DH – Ashton Larson
RF – Jayden Duplantier
P – Dylan Volantis
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