For just the second time this season, the No. 4 Texas Longhorns have lost a series by dropping Saturday’s contest to the Tennessee Volunteers in Knoxville, 14-9.
For the second straight game, the starting pitching was sharp for the Horns as redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison took the mound in place of senior right-hander Ruger Riojas, who is expected to start on Sunday after dealing with soreness, although there is nothing structurally wrong, Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said following
the loss.
In a concerning trend, Harrison struggled early for the third time in his last five starts in allowing a run in every inning in which he pitched. The powerful Tennessee lineup hit four home runs against the 6’2, 220-pounder, including an unearned two-run home run in the fourth that chased Harrising from the game after giving up six runs, four earned on six hits with two walks.
The bullpen struggled, too — redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker was the only reliever who didn’t give up a run, and Walker only faced one batter. Another error hurt freshman right-hander Brett Crossland, who allowed three runs, two earned, in an inning, freshman right-hander Brody Walls gave up two runs on a home run in his inning of work, and freshman right-hander Michael Winter continued to struggle as the Volunteers connected on another home run, scoring three runs against Winter in two innings.
The offense improved from its poor performance on Friday, led by redshirt senior third baseman Temo Becerra, who hit his first home run since March in going 3-for-4 with five RBI. Freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. added three hits as the two players combined for seven of the 10 hits by the Longhorns.
Texas tries to avoid the series sweep on Sunday at 11 a.m. Central on ESPN2.
