The No. 2 Texas Longhorns are heading into SEC play with an undefeated record in the team’s best start since 2005 after a 15-4 bludgeoning of the Texas State Bobcats at Bobcats Ballpark on Tuesday, led by two home runs and five RBI from junior first baseman Casey Borba.
Heating up after a slow start to the season, Borba has now hit four of his five home runs this season in the last four games, making it a 5-0 game with a three-run blast to center field in the third inning that left the Texas State
outfielders with nothing to do but watch it travel 477 feet at 108 miles per hour off Borba’s bat.
Borba added a solo home run on a spinning changeup up and out over the plate in the seventh inning that broke TrackMan, ultimately rolling into the middle of the softball field behind Bobcats Ballpark.
In the first inning, Borba had driven in the second run of the game for Texas by taking a bases-loaded walk to finish 2-for-3 with three runs scored, two hits, and a hit by pitch.
Texas added two more home runs in its 15-hit barrage, a two-run home run by freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. driven 409 feet out to left-center in the fourth inning and a line-drive shot by redshirt senior third baseman Temo Becerra in the ninth.
In the eighth, the Horns had already blown the game completely open with a four-run frame highlighted by an RBI double from sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez, a two-run single by senior right fielder Jayden Duplantier, and an RBI double by redshirt senior designated hitter Josh Livingston.
Six Texas players had multi-hit performances with clutch efforts from the team overall — the Longhorns were 6-for-14 with two outs (.429), 8-for-23 (.348) with runners on, and 7-for-17 (.412) with runners in scoring position.
Despite taking a 7-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, the outcome became less certain when freshman right-hander Sam Cozart gave up a three-run home run in the bottom of the frame, departing in the fifth after striking out four, allowing a walk, hitting a batter, and giving up three hits.
The lead seemed more tenuous than the score indicated because redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker issued two walks in 0.2 innings even though he was able to pick up his first win of the season, and senior right-hander Max Grubbs also walked two batters and gave up an RBI double in his 1.1 innings of action.
The loss of command by Grubbs forced his departure in the seventh in favor of graduate left-hander Cal Higgins, who entered the game with four walks in his 3.1 innings so far for Texas. But Higgins was able to dominate the zone, striking out four over 2.1 innings in an impressive performance.
In the wake of the biggest win by the Longhorns over the Bobcats since an 11-0 victory in Austin in 2008, Texas returns to UFCU Disch-Falk Field to open SEC play against Ole Miss this weekend.
