The No. 25 Texas Longhorns started Friday evening's game in Columbia plenty hot, jumping out to a 5-0 lead entering the bottom of the fifth, but they had to hang tight to earn a 6-4 victory.
The Texas scoring started in the second, when Jordan Etier doubled home catcher Jacob Felts, then Jonathan Walsh hit a two-run dinger in the third for a 3-0 lead. In the fifth, a Felts double and an Alex Silver single drove in two more.
Longhorns starter Parker French pitched four scoreless, then gave up an Andreas Plackis triple to open the fifth before he left the game. The Tigers put Plackis across to cut the deficit to 5-1, then scored twice in the sixth and once in the seventh-all off Hoby Milner, who had a tough 2.1 inning outing- to make it a 5-4 game. The 'Horns then pushed across another run in the eighth on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to give closer Corey Knebel some cushion, and he responded by throwing 2.1 scoreless innings for the save.
The victory preserves the one-game lead in the Big 12 standings Texas (27-16, 13-6) holds over No. 9 Texas A&M, who beat Texas Tech Friday night.
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