Texas Baseball: Longhorns take series with two-straight wins

The Texas Longhorns have won their third straight weekend series at home after beating Cal State Fullerton 4-3.

The Texas Longhorns and Cal State Fullerton Titans met again at the Disch following the six-run explosion in the seventh inning on Friday night for the 6-1 victory. On Saturday afternoon, Ty Madden took the mound in hopes of getting the Longhorns another win in less dramatic fashion.

Madden was only able to pitch four innings with one earned run given up. After a JJ Cruz in the second inning gave the Titans an early 1-0 lead, Texas fired back with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Murphy Stehly sent a ball down the left field line that brought Eric Kennedy and Silas Ardoin around to score.

In the fourth inning, the Titans would fire back to tie the game up at three. Leadoff hitter Zach Lew drove in two unearned runs as Cruz and Austin Schell scored on the single. That would be the last run to get across for the Titans and Texas would go to the bullpen in the fifth, ending Madden’s day.

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The freshman pitching of duo of Pete Hansen and Andre Duplantier II along with Tristan Stevens would shut down the Titans. The trio of relievers allowed just two hits over the final five innings. Hansen went 3.2 innings with two strikeouts. Hansen has been a pleasant surprise this season with a WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched) of 0.65 which is the best on the team.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Longhorns got a much needed run for the offense. After Douglas Hodo III worked a pinch hit walk, he came around to score on a single from Austin Todd. Todd was out on a run down as he got caught in no man’s land.

Duplantier came into the game in the ninth inning to close the door on the Titans offense. He faced the minimum with two strikeouts to give Texas the 4-3 win. Hansen earned his second win of the year. The Longhorns will go for their third sweep of the season and second-straight at the Disch.