Texas ends long stretch of five games in five days with home loss to Texas State

If the entirety of the baseball season can be compared to a marathon, the last five days for the Texas Longhorns were akin to a shorter sprint that featured a stumble at the finish line.

One day after No. 19 Texas posted a 5-2 win over Texas State in San Marcos, the Bobcats blew past the Longhorns 9-3 on Tuesday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The six-run setback tied for the second-most lopsided loss for Texas against the Bobcats, a series in which the Longhorns hold a 55-14 all-time lead.

Texas is now 24-11. The Bobcats improved to 21-13.

"(We need to) definitely just wash it quickly," UT shortstop Mitchell Daly said. "They're a good team. We split the series, but what we're focused on is Baylor now. That's what we're going towards: trying to win a Big 12 championship."

Tuesday's home loss closed out a jam-packed portion of UT's schedule. Due to the start of last week's series against Kansas State being postponed by weather, Texas was playing for the fifth straight day, something that hadn't happened since 2008. Texas went 3-2 in that span, splitting with Texas State after winning the weekend series against Kansas State.

Over those five games, 16 of Texas' 20 pitchers on the roster made an appearance.

The list included Cameron O'Banan, a redshirt freshman from Dripping Springs who made his UT debut Tuesday. That list did not include either Tanner Witt or Luke Harrison, both of whom are injured, or David Shaw, who entered last weekend as the pitching staff's leader in appearances but was dealing with what head coach David Pierce described on Saturday as tenderness in an undisclosed body part.

Lucas Gordon, Travis Sthele and Charlie Hurley, as expected, made starts in the Kansas State series. Bullpen favorite Zane Morehouse threw 78 pitches and made three appearances over the first four games:

∙ Morehouse: 3 appearances (Friday, Saturday and Monday), 5 innings, 78 pitches

∙ Chase Lummus: 2 appearances (Friday and Tuesday), 3 innings, 34 pitches

∙ Andre Duplantier II: 2 appearances (Friday and Tuesday), 1⅔ innings, 30 pitches

∙ Gordon: 1 appearance (Friday), 6 innings, 112 pitches

∙ Hurley: 1 appearance (Sunday), 5 innings, 90 pitches

∙ Sthele: 1 appearance (Saturday), 4 innings, 77 pitches

∙ Whitehead: 1 appearance (Tuesday), 4 innings, 72 pitches

∙ DJ Burke: 1 appearance (Sunday), 3⅔ innings, 62 pitches

∙ Kobe Minchey: 1 appearance (Monday), 3 innings, 56 pitches

∙ Lebarron Johnson Jr.: 1 appearance (Saturday), 2⅓ innings, 55 pitches

∙ Chris Stuart: 1 appearance (Monday), 1⅔ innings, 36 pitches

∙ Heston Tole: 1 appearance (Monday), 3 innings, 33 pitches

∙ Max Grubbs: 1 appearance (Tuesday), 1⅓ innings, 33 pitches

∙ O'Banan: 1 appearance (Tuesday), ⅔ inning, 22 pitches

∙ Cody Howard: 1 appearance (Tuesday), ⅓ inning, 20 pitches

∙ Sam Walbridge: 1 appearance (Sunday): ⅓ inning, 13 pitches

Texas started Kobe Minchey on Monday in San Marcos and Ace Whitehead on Tuesday. Minchey, a freshman out of nearby Jarrell, allowed three hits in his first career start and second college appearance. Whitehead gave up four hits and two runs and did not factor in Tuesday's decision.

"Ace has been pretty good on our midweek games," Pierce said. "He's done a pretty good job of just giving us a chance to win. I thought Kobe did an outstanding job yesterday and earned more innings as a freshman that's got a good arm if he just attacks the zone.

"I think that was the key tonight, is just guys need to come out of the bullpen, no matter if they've had innings or not, it's like coming off the bench. You've got to be ready to go immediately. We've got some guys getting in a groove and they just got to understand that they're pretty much on a short leash, so go out there and compete and see what happens."

Offensively, the Longhorns were outhit by a 13-9 margin and struck out 13 times. Two of UT's hits came from Daly, who homered and doubled.

Ramirez's fateful hit paces Bobcats

Key play: After Texas traded Dylan Campbell and Daly's solo home runs for Ryder Hernandez's run-scoring bunt and Peyton Lewis' RBI single, Texas State broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning. The biggest swing was pinch-hitter August Ramirez's two-run double off Howard that gave Texas State a 5-2 lead.

Texas' Mr. Versatile

Notable Number: 11. Whitehead appeared in 11 innings over the two games against Texas State. He started Monday's game in right field before he was pulled for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. Then on Tuesday he pitched four innings, matching his career high.

Kacy Clemens was the last Longhorn to start on the mound one day after starting in the field. On April 18, 2016, he played first base against Kansas and then was the starting pitcher the next day, allowing two runs over four innings.

On deck for Texas: Baylor

Up next: Texas opens a three-game weekend series at Baylor on Friday. Texas is 6-3 in Big 12 play, and its .667 winning percentage is the conference's best. The Bears have dropped eight of their first 12 league games, but they also have won the two conference series they've hosted at Baylor Ballpark.

The last time Texas and Baylor played, the Bears were coached by Steve Rodriguez. But after leading the Baylor program from 2016-22, he's now an assistant coach at Texas.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball taps its pitching staff in five-game, five-day stretch