Big XII Baseball Report

[Coal Harbour]

As of 3.14.16 with Oklahoma State still to play a make-up game on Monday.

Texas (7-9)

Has played the toughest schedule by a wide margin to this point playing series vs. Stanford, Cal & UCLA.  Might as well join the Pac 12.  UT in good position as this club will be battle tested going into conference play and with A&M and a weekend series vs. Tulane (11-5) upcoming, it doesn't get any easier.  UT still has the best weekend SP rotation in the Big XII.

TCU (12-3)

Best team in the conference with the best player, Luken Baker, 2-0, 0.84 ERA, 21.1 IP, 20 K; .340, 2HR, 17 RBI, as the Frogs took 2 of 3 from USC over the weekend.  If TCU doesn't make it to a Super Regional, the Frogs will be disappointed.  Hitting .340 as a team!

Texas Tech (9-6)

Well, this past weekend was going to show everyone if the Red Raiders were for real, but weather resulted in only a split with Cal, 1-1, as games 3 and 4 washed out.  Mixed as 1-2 vs. Cal St Fullerton, but beat Houston and ULL in Shriners Classic in Houston.

Oklahoma State (9-6)

2-0 vs. Abilene Christian with a make-up game scheduled for Monday.  Schedule a bit light and only series vs. a contender, at North Carolina, was swept.  Jury still out on the Pokes.

Kansas State (10-5)

2-1 vs. Milwaukee this past weekend.  Impossible for a school to play a worst non-conference schedule.  

West Virginia (9-4)

2-1 vs. Old Dominion over the weekend.  Would say the 9-4 mark is misleading, but swept UNLV earlier, which was better than the Horns did vs. the Rebels.

Oklahoma (6-9-1)

Lost 2 of 3 to Long Beach State as the Sooners are off to a terrible start.  Star SP Alec Hansen is 0-3, 6.00 ERA thanks to 12 BB, 2 HBP, 2 WP through 15 IP.  Freshman CF Steele Walker, Prosper, is a player to watch for the future.

Baylor (7-9)

1-3 in the Baylor Baseball Battle in Waco vs. NM St and San Diego.  This is a bad Bears team with very few position players who can impact a game.  Going to be a long year in Waco.

Kansas (6-7)

3-0 in their own tourney vs. N Dakota, St. Louis & Purdue, which Jayhawks needed badly.  Doubt students even know baseball season has started yet.

Other State Schools of note:

Houston (8-6)

2-1 at Alabama over the weekend as Tide was playing good baseball entering the weekend.  Horns play UH in Sugarland in April as Cougars clearly the favorite in the American Conference.  This is not the team UT wants to see regionally if Horns play in a regional.

Rice (8-7)

2-1 vs. East Carolina as the Pirates were ranked #19, in large part due to their series win vs. Virginia.  Makes me think Virginia is vastly overrated!  Rice is offensively challenged, but does have enough pitching to more than likely challenge for its 21st straight conference title in Conference USA.  Thats right, Rice started this streak with the 1995 SWC championship and has won its conference every single year since.  The old man can coach a little bit I do believe.

Dallas Baptist (11-4)

3-1 vs. Valpo over the weekend, but get the sense this isn't the best version of this team.  Has played an awful schedule.

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

Texas is a .500 team at best. Augie is done.

 

[Bear19]

Thanks for the info Coal.

I disagree with your assessment that UT is in a good position.

 

[Coal Harbour]

Thanks for the info Coal.

I disagree with your assessment that UT is in a good position.

"In good position" based on the Big XII conference.  I like the fact that UT has played the non-conference schedule that it has.  UT could have scheduled 3 game series with Lamar, UTSA & Sam Houston St instead of Stanford, Cal & UCLA and Horns would be ranked in the top 15 with a record close to 12-4 or 11-5, but that wouldn't have exposed their weaknesses.

Bear, I used to be you, frustrated as I grew up penciling in 45 wins a year.  Unfortunately, its just not reality anymore and if Augie and this coaching staff was replaced, not sure what the results would be.  Maybe a few less restaurant reviews on the LHN .

 

[Bear19]

Coal

Totally agree. I prefer the tougher schedule. But if we were playing nothing but creampuffs and were ranked in the top 15 we would be well over ranked.

 

[streettopeschel]

"In good position" based on the Big XII conference. I like the fact that UT has played the non-conference schedule that it has. UT could have scheduled 3 game series with Lamar, UTSA & Sam Houston St instead of Stanford, Cal & UCLA and Horns would be ranked in the top 15 with a record close to 12-4 or 11-5, but that wouldn't have exposed their weaknesses.

Bear, I used to be you, frustrated as I grew up penciling in 45 wins a year. Unfortunately, its just not reality anymore and .

Tell that to Vanderbilt.

 

[joeywa]

Coal, I like your take.

 

[Aaron Carrara]

Solid post.

 

[Danny Hale]

until the approach changes offensively Texas baseball will struggle. I`m not talking about the bunting aspect either. the Texas hitters just seem to guess wrong often on what pitch will be thrown which really bothers me when hitter has 2 strikes. the pitching could put Horns in top 3 of big12 but defense and scoring are major concern

 

[joeywa]

until the approach changes offensively Texas baseball will struggle. I`m not talking about the bunting aspect either. the Texas hitters just seem to guess wrong often on what pitch will be thrown which really bothers me when hitter has 2 strikes. the pitching could put Horns in top 3 of big12 but defense and scoring are major concern

I'm going to take exception with you on this.

Texas tallied 30 hits, including 3 HRs and 7 doubles.

The team batting average for the UCLA series was 0.291; Slugging Percentage of 0.447

Those are not numbers of a team that's struggling at the plate.  Texas hitters were mashing the ball this weekend.

Hitting is not the problem.  Approach is not the problem.

Texas not only wins the series over UCLA, it sweeps it if the team doesn't commit bonehead mistakes and has merely serviceable middle/late relief in games 2 & 3.  The two areas we were supposed to be strong in, we failed miserably.  The problem is, when you look at the box scores from the SA/SU games, we committed only one error in each game.  We committed probably 6 mental errors in those two games combined.  Those don't go down in the scorebook.