In front of the largest crowd to ever watch the burnt orange and white at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the No. 6 Texas Longhorns delivered an impressive performance, thrashing the No. 11 Oregon Ducks 11-3 to open the Austin Super Regional behind 10 strikeouts from sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis and five RBI supplied by sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez.
Oregon out-hit Texas nine to eight, but the Horns were patient at the plate and delivered timely execution, drawing eight walks, getting hit by
three pitches, and driving in three runs on sacrifice flies, adding home runs by junior third baseman Casey Borba and junior designated hitter Ethan Mendoza.
Clutch pitching mattered, too, as Volantis battled persistent command issues, but combined with three other Texas pitchers to strand 17 base runners as Oregon went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-20 (.100) with runners on base. Two Ducks — right fielder Angel Laya and catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus — each stranded six runners.
After Volantis retired the Ducks in the first with a strikeout to strand runners on first and third, walks drawn by junior right fielder Aiden Robbins and freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. set the Horns up to strike, and Rodriguez took advantage with two outs and two on when he lashed a 2-1 cutter into the left-center gap. With the Oregon outfielders playing shallow, the hit got to the fence and Pack scored from first to make it 2-0.
In the second, an opposite-field approach by Oregon designated hitter Junior Lauaki produced a bloop double down the field, but Lauaki was too aggressive trying to take third on a chopper to Volantis and got caught in the run down. Another softly-hit ball challenged Pack and Rodriguez with the Texas left fielder getting a good jump to make the catch and avoid a collision.
With one out in the bottom of the inning, Longhorns junior third baseman Casey Borba extended the lead to 3-0 with a 395-foot blast to right-center on a 97-mph fastball, a rare opposite-field shot for the pull-heavy slugger who took focused work in batting practice to that direction on Thursday.
A walk issued to redshirt senior center fielder Dariyan Pendergrass also came back to haunt the Ducks when Pendergrass stole second and third, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Robbins.
Up 4-0, Volantis dealt with a massive jam in the third, giving up an 0-2 single to lead off the inning before briefly losing his command, issuing one-out and two-out walks, then falling behind 3-1 with the bases loaded before beating Brayden Jaska swinging on a fastball and the type of big-time curveball expected from Volantis. The Texas ace left the bases juiced by inducing an inning-ending groundout to second.
Through the first three innings, Volantis held Oregon scoreless despite issuing three walks and throwing three wild pitches by stranding six runners. The Californian dealt with more traffic in the fourth after allowing a leadoff single up the middle by Lauaki and a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third with no outs.
But Volantis’ curveball got him out of two more at bats, his fourth and strikeouts with a runner in scoring position, and a groundout to first to end the inning sparked a rare explosion of emotion from the lanky lefty.
One-out and two-out walks drawn by the Horns put runners on first and second for Robbins in the fourth, who worked a full-count walk to bring up junior catcher Carson Tinney. For the big at bat, the Ducks brought in seldom-used lefty Jonah Barkoff for his sixth appearance this season. After throwing a first-pitch strike to Tinney, Barkoff’s balk sent Borba home from third, but a 3-2 breaking ball in the dirt was enough to get Tinney to offer and end the inning.
After retiring the first two batters in the fifth, Volantis looked like he was finally at cruising speed before consecutive singles increased the stress again before another big-time curveball stranded two more runners by retiring Lauaki for the first time.
With Oregon out-hitting Texas 7-3 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Longhorns put one-out hits together with Becerra doubling to right center and Rodriguez singling to left center to make it 6-0.
Texas scored another run after Mendoza was hit by a pitch, junior first baseman Ashton Larson drew a walk, and Pendergrass was hit by a pitch to force in Rodriguez.
At 96 pitches, Volantis came out for the sixth, but his command faltered again by allowing a leadoff double down the right-field line, a full-count walk, and spiking a first-pitch curveball off the foot of the next batter. For a final time, Volantis recovered, striking out Laya with three swings before departing to a standing ovation as junior right-hander Thomas Burns came on in relief.
Burns got three swings and misses for the second out, but couldn’t find the zone on back-to-back walks on some pitches wildly out of the zone, ending his outing in favor of redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison in his second consecutive relief appearance. Despite getting squeezed on a 2-2 curveball, Harrison left no doubt with a swing and a miss on a cutter to strand three and leave the Horns with a 7-2 lead.
A single by Pack and a walk by Becerra put runners on first and second for Rodriguez in the sixth before both advanced on a wild pitch. Rodriguez made the Ducks pay after Pack was nearly picked off on a pitch out, hitting a sacrifice fly to center. And then Mendoza caught a hanging breaker up and over the plate, launching it 438 feet to left center for his 10th home run of the season.
Harrison went 1-2-3 in the seventh to end his effective outing as freshman right-hander Brody Walls came for the eighth and worked around a solo home run.
In the ninth, Texas added a run on a sacrifice fly by Rodriguez, whose execution at the plate followed a single by Pack and a double by Becerra.
The Longhorns can advance to the College World Series on Sunday with first pitch at 8 p.m. Central on ESPN with senior right-hander Ruger Riojas (5-2, 3.86 ERA) expected to take the mound against Ducks right-hander Will Sanford (9-2, 3.46 ERA).
