The Texas Longhorns survived the afternoon, topping Texas State 5-3 on a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth by Kevin Lusson. The Longhorns will move on to play Kent State later today.
Texas State jumped out to a lead in the fourth with a two-run shot by Kyle Kubitza off of Horns starter Cole Green. Texas responded with one run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to take a 3-2 lead. Meanwhile, Green was terrific aside from the homer, allowing just those two runs on four hits in eight innings. He struck out eight and didn’t walk a batter.
Augie Garrido brought out Corey Knebel for the ninth, but the Bobcats small-balled their way to a tying run. In the bottom half, Tim Maitland led off with a bunt single for Texas and was sacrificed over by Brandon Loy. Erich Weiss was intentionally walked, and Texas State went to their ace Carson Smith, even though Smith had just thrown 124 pitches on Friday.
Smith walked Paul Montalbano to load the bases with one out, bringing up Kevin Lusson. Lusson slammed a one-hopper over the right field fence for just his sixth extra base hit of the season. Two runs were forced in, and Texas survived a close call from their regional rivals.
The Longhorns move on to play Kent State at 6:30 this evening, as Hoby Milner will face off against David Starn. You can watch the game live here. If Texas wins again, the two will rematch Monday at 1:00 for a trip to the super regionals.