Longhorns Notebook: No. 15 Texas Collapses, Falls to No. 9 Vanderbilt 14-11

The Longhorns choke away an 11-3 lead in crushing loss to Vanderbilt.

HOUSTON -- Anything can happen in baseball. It is widely known as one of the most random and unpredictable sports. That being said, an 11-3 lead should be considered one of the safest leads. 

For the No. 15 Texas Longhorns (7-4), though, that was far from the case against the No. 9 Vanderbilt Commodores (10-3) as they completely imploded in spectacular fashion. 

There will be a ton of questions for the Longhorns to answer as they return home for a tough matchup against the Texas A&M Aggies on Tuesday.

Now, here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns' 14-11 loss to the Commodores. 

Cody Howard impresses

The first two games in Houston saw the Longhorns only get a combined 4.2 innings of work from their starting pitchers, with the combination of Lebarron Johnson Jr. and Charlie Hurley both struggle to get anything going on the mound.

So, it was a must for Texas to get any sort of length out of Howard on Sunday. Fortunately for the Longhorns, he delivered just that. While he only went 4.2 innings himself, his performance was easily the best for a Longhorns' starter as he allowed only five runs and exited with the lead.

Bullpen implodes. Again.

And then the bullpen struck. Again. When Howard ultimately left the game, he did so with an 11-5 lead and in line for the win. That would not be the case, though, as for the second straight day the Longhorns' bullpen completely self-destructed with a lead.

However, this one was much worse as they were up six runs heading into the fifth inning. A lead, that for all intents and purposes, should be fairly safe. Instead they proceeded to give up two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to see the lead cut to 11-7. Then disaster truly struck in the seventh.

Vanderbilt hung a five-spot on the board in the seventh to take a 12-11 lead, marking nine unanswered runs. It tacked on two more in the eighth of its eventual 14-11 victory. 

Hot and cold offense

Texas could not have asked for a better start to this game if they tried. Jalin Flores doubled in Jared Thomas and eventually Kimble Schuessler went deep for a two-run shot to give the Longhorns the 3-0 lead after the first. 

It only got better, of course, as they piled on the runs and were cruising with an 11-3 lead after the fourth inning thanks in large part to a pair of home runs off the bat of Porter Brown. After that? Well, the bats suddenly disappeared. 

Over the last five innings the Longhorns were shutout, stranding runners and failing to take advantage of men in scoring position. That, paired with the bullpen imploding, was a recipe for disaster in Texas' 14-11 loss. 

No. 15 Texas Blows 11-3 Lead, Falls to Vanderbilt 14-11: Live Game Log

What's next for Texas?

The Longhorns return home after their weekend trip to Houston for a non-conference contest against in-state rivals on Tuesday looking to snap a three-game losing streak, the Texas A&M Aggies, at 6:30 p.m. CT.