The opening weekend of 2022 could not have gone any better for No. 1 Texas.
The Longhorns dominated the Rice Owls 14-2 on Sunday to complete the three-game sweep. Texas outscored Rice by a total of 36-3 on the series.
Tanner Witt picked up the win in his first career start. Witt battled through some traffic most of the day but limited the Owls to just one run over five innings. He struck out his fourth Owl of the day with two runners on to keep the Texas lead at 2-1 in the fourth.
Take a seat.@wittnesstwitty strands a pair with his 4th K of the ballgame! Texas up, 2-1.#HookEm pic.twitter.com/Am7346CmAA
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) February 20, 2022
The Texas offense exploded after Witt’s big strikeout. Trey Faltine led off the bottom half of the fourth with a laser over the left field wall. Four batters later Ivan Melendez sent a three-run bomb over the monster to extend Texas’ lead to 9-1.
🚢🚢🚢
THE HISPANIC TITANIC DESTROYED A BASEBALL.
His 3-run nuke makes it 6-1!#HookEm pic.twitter.com/W9yOK8ibtK
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) February 20, 2022
The “Hispanic Titanic” would add another three-run homer two innings later as the Horns cruised to a 14-2 victory.
Key stats:
- SP Tanner Witt: 5.0 IP, five strikeouts and one earned run allowed.
- 1B Ivan Melendez: 2-4, six RBI and two home runs
- LF Eric Kennedy: 2-3, four runs scored
- SS Trey Faltine: 1-4, home run and two RBI
Up next for Texas is a road trip to Texas A&M Corpus-Christi for two mid-week games against the Islanders.