Tag: Eric Kennedy

Texas falls to No. 10 in the top 25 after series loss to Kansas State

Texas drops three spots in lastest D1Baseball top 25 rankings.

Texas dropped three spots to No. 10 in D1Baseball’s latest top 25 after a disappointing series loss to Kansas State.

Here is a full look at D1Baseball’s latest top 25:

  1. Tennessee
  2. Oregon State
  3. Oklahoma State
  4. Arkansas
  5. Miami
  6. Southern Miss
  7. Stanford
  8. Virginia Tech
  9. Texas Tech
  10. Texas
  11. Virginia
  12. Gonzaga
  13. UCLA
  14. Georgia
  15. Connecticut
  16. Louisville
  17. Texas State
  18. Notre Dame
  19. Auburn
  20. Oregon
  21. TCU
  22. LSU
  23. Dallas Baptist
  24. Maryland
  25. Georgia Southern

To add insult to injury, star slugger Ivan Melendez left Thursday’s game with a shoulder injury and never returned in the series. Texas needs both Melendez and Eric Kennedy back in a major way. The Wildcats shocked the Longhorns with an 8-5 comeback victory to open the series followed by a dominant 8-1 performance. Texas bounced back to salvage game three on Saturday.

The Horns are now 26-12 overall and 6-6 in Big 12 conference play.

Two midweek games against Air Force and a three-game set vs. Baylor present Texas a chance to get back on track in front of a home crowd this week.

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Ivan Melendez hits two massive home runs as Texas completes the sweep of Rice

Texas outscored Rice 36-3 over the weekend.

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.

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” 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.

WATCH: Texas’ Eric Kennedy hits clutch home run to erase Tennessee’s lead in College World Series

Texas left fielder Eric Kennedy had a monster three-run home run on Tuesday in the College World Series against Tennessee.

After falling behind two runs in the second inning of their elimination game against Tennessee in the College World Series, Texas’ left fielder Eric Kennedy snatched back the momentum for the Longhorns in a spectacular way hitting his fourth home run of the season. His three-run moonshot gave Texas their first lead over an opponent in Omaha.

Kennedy’s home run was the first sign of significant offense for Texas and it could not have come in a more timely manner. The Longhorns are currently 0-1 in Omaha, where a win keeps their season alive and a loss sends them packing back to Austin.

Just like the rest of the Longhorns starting nine, Kennedy had a rough game at the plate against Mississippi State’s Will Bednar, who had a brilliant performance that consisted of having the Longhorns looking foolish at the plate all game. Bednar had 15 strikeouts in six innings alone and Texas eventually struck out a total of 21 times.

Tune in to ESPNU to watch Texas and Tennessee fight to stay alive in the College World Series.

WATCH: Texas defeats South Florida on walk-off hit by Eric Kennedy

No. 2 Texas defeated South Florida, 4-3, in dramatic fashion on Saturday night in Game 1 of the NCAA Austin Super Regional.

No. 2 Texas defeated South Florida, 4-3, in dramatic fashion on Saturday night in Game 1 of the NCAA Austin Super Regional. Continue reading “WATCH: Texas defeats South Florida on walk-off hit by Eric Kennedy”

Five Texas baseball players who rank among the NCAA’s top 50

Five Texas Longhorn baseball players who rank nationally among statistical categories.

The Texas Longhorns baseball team is 30-8 on the season and continues to ride a 13-game winning streak. They’re currently ranked No. 3 nationally and sit atop the Big 12 with slight leads over Texas Tech and TCU.

The Longhorns look more and more like a squad who will be competing in Omaha for the NCAA College World Series. Just as impressive has been the play of many of their players. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a few of these Texas stars could be playing in the minor and major leagues in the coming years.

At the beginning of the season, all eyes were on pitcher Ty Madden and his elite strikeout numbers. More recently, the focus has shifted to Ivan Melendez, who had garnered attention after six consecutive games with a home run. Melendez eventually fell just short of tying the NCAA record at eight games.

Texas currently has five players among the top 50 in their respective statistical group, with a few others who are narrowly on the outside looking in. With 17 games left in the regular season, many of these numbers are likely to fluctuate.

Here are the five Texas players who rank among the the top 50 statistically via NCAA.com.

Ty Madden, Eric Kennedy gives Texas seventh-straight win

Ty Madden goes the distance in his first career complete game as the Texas Longhorns edge Boise State 2-1.

Boise State and the Texas Longhorns were back at the Disch, as they played their second game of the three-game series. It was all Ty Madden in this game. His fastball was working early and mixed in his breaking ball well. He gave up just two hits and struck out seven on the afternoon.

The defense behind Madden was ready to play this afternoon. Cam Williams was ready to drop the hammer on opposing base runners with a few web gems again on the afternoon.

Texas got the early lead in the first inning as Zach Zubia drove in the Todd who scored from second base on play. Austin Todd hit safely in his seventh-straight game. Todd was able to get in scoring position when he stole second base, Duke Ellis also added a stolen base for Texas.

Hometown kid Reagan Doss hit a home run in his first career at bat. Doss from nearby Round Rock, Texas and grew up a Longhorns fan. It remained tied heading into the bottom of the seventh inning when sophomore Eric Kennedy came to the plate.

Madden went the distance with the complete game for the first time in his collegiate career. Ty picked up his second win on the season as Texas improved to 7-0 and will be looking for their second-straight weekend sweep on Sunday.

Two Longhorns Named To Preseason All Big 12 Team

Texas Longhorns baseball team has two players represented on the preseason All-Big 12 team with Bryce Elder and Eric Kennedy.

Two weeks until the Longhorns start their baseball conference championship defense against the Rice Owls on February 15th. The Big 12 announced their preseason All-Big 12 team. Two Longhorns represented on the team with pitcher Bryce Elder and outfielder Eric Kennedy.

Elder is heading into his junior season for the Longhorns. Last year with Texas, Elder was named to the All-Big 12 second team. He posted a 2.93 ERA in 13 starts where he pitched 83 innings. He led the team with 86 strikeouts and was named Big 12 pitcher of the week on multiple occasions. Elder looks to lead the staff back to the College World Series in Omaha for the second-consecutive season for the first time since 2002-2005 when Texas participated in the championship tournament for four consecutive years.

Kennedy will return to Austin for his sophomore season. The former high school All-American was named to the All-Big 12 honorable mention team as a freshman. He led all Longhorns with a .310 batting average and hit safely in 13 of 14 of the final games of the season. He scored 41 runs with eight doubles, three triples and two home runs in 2019.