Texas falls into early super regional hole with late collapse in Game 1 at East Carolina

GREENVILLE, N.C. — Despite getting 13 hits on Friday afternoon, Texas failed to find enough holes in the East Carolina defense.

Texas was unable to overcome both the offensive opportunities it squandered and an eighth inning implosion on the mound in a 13-7 loss to East Carolina at Clark-LeClair Stadium. The loss puts the Longhorns' season on the brink of elimination in the best-of-three super regional series.

In order to make the College World Series, Texas (45-20) must now beat East Carolina (46-19) twice on Saturday and Sunday or its season will end. Texas last rallied from an 0-1 super regional hole in 2018.

"Obviously, it's must-win," UT outfielder Murphy Stehly said. "You've just got to play your game, you can't make it bigger than what it is."

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As East Carolina scored seven of the game's first nine runs, Texas was forced to rally. And ECU reliever Carter Spivey twice got the Pirates out of situations in which UT had two runners aboard.

To close out the sixth inning, Texas' Mitchell Daly swung at Spivey's first pitch and grounded into a double play to end one threat. And Stehly, who hit two home runs on Friday, hit a double-play grounder to third base to terminate a seventh-inning threat.

Texas trailed 7-4 when Daly hit into his double play. The Longhorns were down by two runs at the time of Stehly's double play.

"The double plays always hurt, obviously," Stehly said. "Hopefully they'll find some holes soon."

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Texas finally broke through against Spivey, the American Athletic Conference's pitcher of the year, in the eighth. The Longhorns led off with two singles before Silas Ardoin's ground-rule double plated Austin Todd to cut ECU's lead to 8-6.

Then Texas coach David Pierce and East Carolina's Cliff Godwin engaged in a game of chess.

With no outs and Longhorns on second and third, Pierce called for pinch-hitter Jack O'Dowd.

Godwin then moved Zach Agnos from shortstop to the mound.

O'Dowd grounded out to second, but the play drove in a run to make it 8-7 and moved the game-tying run to third base. Trey Faltine then flew out to right field, but the ball didn't sail deep enough for the usually-aggressive Pierce to send Ardoin — Texas' catcher — home from third.

So, with two outs, Agnos faced off against Douglas Hodo III. Texas' leadoff hitter cracked a sharp ball to third, but a diving Alec Makarewicz made a stop and successful throw across the diamond.

"Anytime I feel like we've played bad, our defense has been sloppy. It hasn't been our offense, it's been our defense," said Agnos, who himself produced a defensive highlight in the fifth inning. "Defense is more important than offense because it can steal momentum and put momentum back in our dugout, which I thought we did a good job of today."

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Makarewicz led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo homer that appeared to bounce off Hodo's glove at the center field wall. East Carolina then added four more insurance runs as UT relievers Tristan Stevens, Aaron Nixon and Lebarron Johnson, Jr. were unable to keep the Pirates at bay.

East Carolina ended up collecting 15 hits against seven Texas pitchers. Longhorns starter Pete Hansen entered the game with an 11-1 record, a 3.08 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP, but he was tagged for seven hits, five earned runs and an unearned score. He was pulled after the fourth inning.

That marked the shortest start for Hansen since last March. Over the 14⅓ innings he pitched in his previous two starts, he had allowed only two extra-base hits against Oklahoma State and Air Force. In Friday's fourth inning, he gave up a home run and two doubles.

"Pete just didn't have this command that he normally has," Pierce said. "Probably one of the worst starts he's had, and so it's just what it is. Credit their hitters, it's just not Pete's day today."

Key play: Makarewicz's home run wasn't just noteworthy for reasons related to ECU's response. A replay showed that after the play, Hodo was splashed with a liquid thrown by someone standing beyond the outfield fence.

A Twitter account that represents that rowdy fan section known as "The Jungle" insisted that the liquid was water. That account also called for the fan who threw the liquid to be identified.

Friday's game was played in front of a record crowd of 5,723. Despite Hodo's eighth-inning shower, both Pierce and Stehly applauded the atmosphere during UT's postgame press conference.

Notable number: 31. Texas hit four home runs on Friday. One of those was a massive moonshot by Ivan Melendez that led off the sixth inning. That was the 31st homer of Melendez's historic season.

Other than San Diego slugger Kris Bryant, no other Division I batter has hit more than 31 homers during the BBCOR bat era. Bryant hit his 31 homers in 2013.

Up next: Texas and East Carolina will return to Clark-LeClair Stadium at 11 a.m. (Central) on Saturday. Left-handed pitcher Lucas Gordon (7-1, 2.36 ERA) will start for Texas. East Carolina has not yet announced its starter.

Greenville Super Regional

No. 9 Texas at No. 8 East Carolina, ESPN2, 104.9

Friday — East Carolina 13, Texas 7; Saturday (11 a.m.) — Texas LHP Lucas Gordon (7-1 2.36) vs. East Carolina TBA; Sunday — if needed, time TBA

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball rally falls short against East Carolina in Game 1