It was a tough weekend for Texas baseball, dropping two games to Tennessee and Rice, and nearly blowing a third to Houston. Luckily the Horns pulled out an 8-7 victory in 10 innings. The last freshman to have a game-winning hit in Minute Maid Park turned out to be a good one (Kyle Russell in 2006).
As we said yesterday, the errors are by far the most distressing aspect of the weekend. Through eight games, Texas is on pace for a startling 116 errors. We have no doubt that number will go down, and we hope the 11 errors for the weekend were an exception rather than the rule.
Kyle Russell has been in some sort of funk of late, leading him to be nearly 40 points (.296) below his 2007 batting average. Worse yet is Jordan Danks who is 60 points (.276) below his 2007 average. Assuming those two will return to form, the team is an offensively sleeping giant.
Of most concern (other than the defense) has been Kyle Walker at closer. The junior has already given up 4 runs (3 earned) and walked 3 in just 3 innings of work. The stellar play of freshman Slayton Thomas (amongst other freshman fireballers) gives us hope that the closer will be settled by at least conference play. With Brandon Workman, Thomas, and Cole Green, Texas has the chance to really get stronger as the year goes on.
This weekend Texas gets a chance to prove itself, hosting a good Stanford club. Both teams are currently 6-2, with Stanford having victories over Nebraska (series win 2-1) and Cal State Fullerton (sweep). Stanford features Friday starter junior Jeremy Bleich, a friend to one of us from the olden days.
Texas' midweek opponent is Texas A&M Corpus Christi, who at 2-5 should present a great opportunity for the youngsters to get some experience and playing time.
The games should be available on TexasSports.tv, you can probably check back here for some postgame analysis.
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