After being swept by No. 3 Oklahoma State over the weekend, Texas is unranked for the first time this season.
The Texas Longhorns (31-16) will enter Tuesday night’s midweek matchup against the Houston Baptist Huskies (18-27) at UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a pitching staff that was humbled in a conference series sweep by the No. 3 Oklahoma State Cowboys over the weekend.
Texas pitchers allowed 32 runs, served up nine home runs, and gave up 22 free passes (14 walks; eight hit batters) in the three-game series against the visiting Cowboys. As a result, the Longhorns are unranked after starting the season with an unanimous No. 1 ranking.
First baseman Ivan Melendez leads the Texas offense hitting .411 with 22 home runs and 66 RBI. He is followed closely by right fielder Murphy Stehly, who is hitting .384 with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. In the weekend against Oklahoma State, the Longhorns set a new team record for home runs in a season with 86.
Houston Baptist is led by first-year coach, former Rice Owl sand Houston Astros great, Lance Berkman. The Huskies are coming off of a Southland Conference series sweep of the Incarnate Word Cardinals in which the Huskies scored a total of 31 runs. The Houston Baptist offense is led by junior infielder/pitcher Brennen Bales who is hitting .318 with 20 RBI and sophomore catcher Parker Edwards, who is hitting .292 with six home runs and 25 RBI.
Texas leads the all-time series 6-0.
Projected Starters:
Houston Baptist — RHP Daxton Tinker (0-4, 7.62)
Texas — RHP Zane Morehouse (1-0, 4.15)
The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central and will be televised on Longhorn Network.