After losing to Kent State ace Andrew Chafin Saturday, the Texas Longhorns had to take the hard route to win their Austin Regional. They had to beat two seed Texas State Sunday, then beat Kent State Sunday night and again Monday despite a pitching disadvantage. Consider that mission accomplished.
Texas shut out Kent State Monday behind a parade of six pitchers, including every previous starter in their regional games. Sam Stafford bounced back from his Friday start to throw 3.2 strong innings, Taylor Jungman and Cole Green each pitched an inning, and Hoby Milner threw another scoreless 1.1. Relievers Kendal Carrillo and Corey Knebel added an inning each, and it was a five-hit, 137-pitch collective masterpiece that gave national seven seed Texas their ticket to the super regional round of 16.
Texas was led by cleanup man Erich Weiss with a pair of hits and his 42nd RBI. Mark Payton also had two singles for Texas, who chipped away at Ryan Mace and a trio of relievers for ten hits and three walks in eight innings.
Texas moves on to a super regional that will take place next weekend against Arizona State, the winner of the Tempe regional. The next three days should be a nice rest for their pitching staff.