'Electric' Zane Morehouse leads red-hot Texas past Texas Tech in Big 12 baseball opener

A nightmare? For Texas, hardly.

Zane Morehouse starred out of the bullpen Friday night as Texas opened Big 12 play with a 6-2 win over No. 14 Texas Tech at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Nicknamed "Nightmare" by his teammates, Morehouse pitched 3⅔ innings of perfect relief against one of the Big 12's top offenses.

With the victory, Texas extended its winning streak to 12 games. The win was UT's first over a ranked opponent.

"It's a sweet feeling," said outfielder Porter Brown, who hit a two-run homer. "I feel like in the beginning of the season there was a lot of doubt in our team and really low expectations, and having a win like that means a lot."

Tied 1-1 after five innings, Texas and Texas Tech traded home runs in the sixth. But since Tech's Gavin Kash's homer was a solo shot and Brown's was a two-run blast, UT exited the frame with a 3-2 advantage.

Morehouse, who had entered the game with one out in top of the sixth, made that lead stick.

Aided by two nice defensive plays from third baseman Peyton Powell, Morehouse did not allow a base runner. The last of his four strikeouts ended the game.

Texas Tech entered the weekend as the Big 12's leader in batting average (.325) and runs (223). After the game, UT coach David Pierce said Morehouse was "unbelievable." Brown described his teammate and roommate as "electric."

"Honestly, it was pretty much all of my pitches," Morehouse said when asked what was working for him. "Four-seam was really good; I felt like I had a lot of command over that. Curveball was pretty solid. Splitter was good, and slider felt really good coming out of the hand, too."

Just a few weeks ago, not many would have expected to see Morehouse pitch in this series opener. Until last week, he was the Longhorns' Saturday starter.

But Texas shifted him to a bullpen role last week, and he recorded saves against North Dakota State and New Orleans. Morehouse said his first relief appearance felt "a little weird," but he wanted to do whatever he could to help the team.

"He wasn't doing anything wrong as a starter," Pierce said. "But as we approach our top five guys, we sat him down, and we're just trying to get that combination the best we can, and Zane has the most resiliency to bounce back, and he fits in there with his stuff. And if he commands it, he's really tough."

Texas added some insurance in the eighth inning when Jack O'Dowd doubled in two runs and Brown scored on Mitchell Daly's sacrifice fly. Daly also drove in UT's first run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly.

Key play: Texas Tech pulled ahead in the top of the sixth on Kash's 401-foot blast to right field. That was the eighth home run of the season for Kash, who entered the day tied for the league lead. Kash backed up Ivan Melendez at Texas last season, but he elected to transfer after appearing in 16 games.

Earlier this week, Pierce was asked why things didn't work out for Kash in Austin. "Gavin Kash was outstanding when he was here," Pierce said. He said the departure was due to uncertainty about scholarship money.

"The biggest reason (it didn't work out was) I was trying to do the right thing, and I sincerely mean that," Pierce said. "With the portal (deadline) being at July 1 a year ago, it puts me, coaches, in a position to go, 'Hey, if we needed some help on some money' or if we need to make some adjustments in your scholarship for the time being, I need to go to you and talk to you about that. If that's not something that's comfortable for you, I want to give you the opportunity to go play.

"The flip side of that is you can not worry about that, let it run its course, get through the draft and then see what you need or what kind of scholarship money you have, what your roster looks like, what your incoming (class) looks like. If we make a decision then, then the kid's stuck, whether he's stuck with having to get a loan or whether he's stuck transferring and not being eligible. I just didn't feel like it was right to do that with any of our players."

On Friday night, Kash went 1-for-3 with a strikeout.

Notable number: 8. Texas starting pitcher Lucas Gordon registered eight strikeouts, two of which were recorded after Texas Tech loaded the bases with one out in the fourth inning. In his sixth start of the season, Gordon allowed six hits, three walks and two runs over 5⅓ innings.

Up next: Texas and Texas Tech will return to UFCU Disch-Falk Field for a 2:30 p.m. game Saturday. Right-handed pitcher Travis Sthele (2-2, 4.07) will start for the Longhorns. Texas Tech is scheduled to go with left-hander Mason Molina (2-1, 2.81).

Saturday's game

No. 14 Texas Tech (18-5, 0-1) at Texas (16-7, 1-0), 2:30 p.m., UFCU Disch-Falk Field, LHN, 104.9

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball team beats ranked Red Raiders in conference opener