Longhorns Notebook: Cold Bats, Defensive Miscues See Texas Start 0-3
ARLINGTON - It is safe to say that the Texas Longhorns will be happy to avoid Globe Life Field for the rest of the season until the Big 12 tournament in May.
The Longhorns will leave Arlington a disappointing 0-3, with their 12-2 loss on Sunday to Vanderbilt sure to leave a sour taste in their mouths. However, while losing all three games over the weekend is not the desired outcome, the sky is not falling in Austin just yet.
Yes, losing three in a row to open the season sucks, but this is a team that is replacing seven of its nine starters from last season. There was bound to be growing pains early in the season.
There are several takeaways from Texas' opening weekend - some are good and some are bad. With that being said, here is the good, the bad and the ugly from the first three games of the season.
The Good
The pitching staff
On paper the numbers don't look outstanding for the Longhorns pitching staff after opening weekend. Texas was outscored 21-9, and it is easy to look at those 21 runs and wonder what was so great about the pitching. Well, if you dig a little deeper, you can see the potential this staff has this season.
Of those 21 runs, a whopping 12 were unearned. The defense was, to put it kindly, abysmal behind the pitchers, but we'll get to that later. Against Vanderbilt starter Travis Sthele "allowed" eight runs in the second, and all eight were unearned.
Lucas Gordon and Sthele both sport 0.00 ERA's after their first starts, while Zane Morehouse has a 6.75 ERA after his first start. However, he settled down over his last two innings on Saturday which could bode well for the rotation as a whole.
As for the bullpen, the quartet of Andre Duplantier II, Chase Lummus, David Shaw and Heston Tole combined for seven innings of scoreless baseball with nine strikeouts. If the rotation and the bullpen can build on what they showed this weekend then the Longhorns pitching staff could be pretty good this season.
The Bad
The offense
While the pitching staff wasn't as bad as the stats made it look, the same cannot be said for the offense. There is no way to sugarcoat it - the offense was nonexistent for large stretches of all three games. After the weekend set the Longhorns are slashing an abysmal .141/.262/.239 as a team.
Eric Kennedy leads the way with a respectable .333/.333/.583 slash line, but after that is not a pretty sight. The next highest batting average belongs to Jayden Duplantier at .167, only recording one hit in six at-bats.
That being said, three games is a small sample size and there is plenty of time for Texas to wake up the bats. There was plenty of hard contact and balls that were lined right at fielders, unfortunately for Texas.
If they can get those bounces to go their way, and make more consistent contact, this Longhorns lineup has the bats needed to be a respectable Big 12 offense.
The Ugly
The defense
If you thought the offensive numbers were bad then whew boy will the defensive numbers shock you. In a weekend full of forgettable moments, there might not be a single inning the Longhorns will want to erase from their memory than the top of the second against Vanderbilt.
In that ill-fated second inning starter Travis Sthele saw eight runs cross the plate, however not a single of the eight were earned. Texas recorded four errors in the inning, two apiece on Jayden Duplantier and Cade O'Hara, leading to the avalanche of runs.
The loss to Vanderbilt saw Texas record more errors than hits, with five and three respectively. Errors were a common theme for the Longhorns, though, as in three games they recorded an uninspiring eight errors. You won't win many games, if any at all, with that poor of a defensive performance.
Texas must fix the defense, and fast. Otherwise it could be a long season in store for the Longhorns.
You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98
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