Sometimes the best decision a coach can make is to get out of the way.
So when freshman right-hander Sam Cozart told pitching coach Max Weiner that he was going to “die on that hill for this team” in the decisive series finale, Weiner afforded Cozart his trust.
As the No. 4 Texas Longhorns battled through a difficult Sunday matchup against the Vanderbilt Commodores at Hawkins Field, Cozart paid off Weiner’s belief by securing his sixth victory of the season with a three-inning effort that saw the burly
6’6, 260-pounder work around allowing the game-tying run in the eighth inning to secure the 4-3 win in the 10th.
Cozart issued a two-out, full-count walk in the eighth before giving up a double that erased the one-run margin created by Texas in the top of the frame and ultimately worked around four hits, another walk, a balk, and a hit by pitch to gut out the series win for the Longhorns on the road, ensuring that head Jim Schlossnagle’s team remained undefeated in games in which the North Carolina product has appeared.
That included a dramatic 10th inning during which Cozart allowed a one-out single, hit the next batter, and then put the runners on second and third with his balk.
But after creating that jam, Cozart slammed the door shut with a three-pitch strikeout and a four-pitch strikeout to secure the second road conference win for the Horns in the last four weeks, a significant achievement in the SEC.
For a second straight game and a large stretch of the series, the bats for Texas largely remained silent, managing just five hits in the game. Three of those hits came during a consecutive stretch in the fourth inning when the Horns tied the game at 2-2 with a double down the left-field line by freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr., an RBI double into the right-center gap by sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez, and an RBI single up the middle by junior second baseman Ethan Mendoza.
The go-ahead run for Texas came in the eighth when the Longhorns did enough to take the lead, but couldn’t blow the game open. After junior center fielder Aiden Robbins led off with a single up the middle, three wild pitches by the Commodores forced head coach Tim Corbin to load the bases with one out.
Mendoza came through with a sacrifice fly to secure the 3-2 advantage, but sophomore Callum Early stranded two runners with a fielder’s choice to end the frame.
Taking the lead against in the 10th required a patient approach by the Horns, who continued to struggle to get base hits. Junior catcher Carson Tinney was hit by a 2-2 pitch to open the inning, then advanced to second on a wild pitch before Pack drew a walk. When Rodriguez and Mendoza were unable to come up with a clutch base hit to imperil the inning, Early was hit by a 1-0 pitch and redshirt senior third baseman Temo Becerra drew a four-pitch walk to drive in the game-winning run.
Texas returns to UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday for the season’s penultimate midweek matchup against UTSA at 6:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
