Longhorns Baseball: Texas-sized upset over No 6 Arkansas

The Texas Longhorns pulled off the upset of number six ranked Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday evening.

After falling to the number 11 ranked Louisiana State Tigers on Friday night, Texas was back at Minute Maid Park to take on an old Southwest Conference foe in the number six ranked Arkansas Razorbacks. Ty Madden took the mound looking to get back on the winning side in the second game of the Shriner’s Hospital for Children College Baseball Classic.

Madden was able to keep the Razorbacks at bay through the first four innings of scoreless baseball. The Longhorns offense went to work after being grounded in the final three innings of their loss to LSU. Zach Zubia started the scoring parade over the early innings with a single that drove in leadoff hitter Austin Todd. Cam Williams drove in the second run on a double play ball that brought Eric Kennedy home.

The offense would explode in the second inning against starter Patrick Wicklander who gave up six runs, four earned in one plus innings pitched. He would be pulled before recording an out in the inning. Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly to bring the score to 5-0 Texas, when Zubia came back to the plate.

The Longhorns finished a six-run second when Cam Williams scored on a throwing error by Arkansas. Madden would go to work with a 8-0 lead, Texas would need ever bit of those eight runs as the number six team in the nation would make a late inning push. Madden pitched six innings throwing 100 pitches. He finished with seven strikeouts, giving up three earned runs. Quality start from the Longhorns number two starter.

Cole Quintanilla lasted just 0.1 innings after giving up two runs allowing Arkansas to get within three runs of Texas after holding a commanding 8-0 lead. Pete Hansen came into the game and shut it down over the next 1.2 to get the game to the ninth. Hansen struck out two batters and allowed just one hit.

It was up to freshman pitcher Andre Duplantier II to close it out in the final inning for Texas to pull off the upset. Duplantier gave up two runs on a Matt Goodheart double that brought the Razorbacks within one, and the tying runner standing at second. The freshman rose to the challenge and got the final outs when Duplantier struck out Casey Opitz and Casey Martin to close the door.

Texas improved to 10-1 on the season. Zubia led all hitters with three RBIs while batting 3-4. The Longhorns look to close out the weekend against another former conference rival in the Missouri Tigers.