Ninth-inning homer ekes Texas Tech past Texas, who stranded 10 during 6-4 loss in Big 12 Tournament
Andre Duplantier II pitched an incredible 3.1 innings against Texas Tech during the No. 24 Texas’ Longhorns’ first game in their final Big 12 Tournament. He struck out six, didn’t surrender a walk, and allowed just two hits. Problem for Texas was that his outing needed to be 4.0 innings.
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On the first pitch of a one-out at bat against Texas Tech’s Cade McGee, the Red Raider third baseman skied a ball down the left field line. At it’s apex it reached 151 feet according to MLB StatCast. At it’s bottom it found the outside of the fair pole for a two run home-run that put the Red Raiders up 6-4.
StatCast said that fly ball was a home run in just one MLB ballpark: Globe Life Field, the one the Longhorns and Red Raiders were playing in.
“He literally made one bad pitch,” Texas head coach David Pierce said. “He pitched his tail off. His cutter just backed up on him, and the kid put a good swing on it.”
Texas could not do anything in the bottom half of the ninth and succumbed to the Red Raiders, 6-4. The three-seed Longhorns will face five-seed Cincinnati on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in an elimination game. Texas will look to snap a seven-game losing streak at the home of the Texas Rangers.
Duplantier II took the loss for the Longhorn offense. Texas scored four runs in the first three innings. One came from a leadoff homer from Jared Thomas offered by Texas Tech starter Kyle Robinson. Another was the result of a solo shot from Jack O’Dowd in the third. The last two runs came via a double four batters after O’Dowd from Big 12 Player of the Year Max Belyeu that drove in the runners on first and second.
“We got an early jump on them,” Pierce said. “Played well early in the game. The bottom line is we’ve got to keep the ball in the ballpark. Had an opportunity to tack on some runs. We just left too many guys on base. A pitch here and a pitch there was the difference in the game.”
In the 6.2 innings that followed Belyeu’s double, the Longhorns left nine runners on base. Texas stranded two runners in the fifth, sixth, and eighth. Just one runner was left on in each of the third, fourth, and seventh. No player in burnt orange reached base in a 123 ninth. Porter Brown and Jalin Flores both left four runners on base Tuesday night. Of the 10 total left on, five were stranded in scoring position.
“Just didn’t happen,” Pierce said. “You can credit them for making pitches. We just didn’t get it done.”
Texas Tech responded to each Longhorn rally. A solo shot in the top of the second followed by a three-run blast in the fourth put the Red Raiders, whose only path into the NCAA Tournament is via winning the Big 12 Tournament, back even with the Longhorns.
The game remained a close affair throughout, and an incredible defensive play by Will Gasparino in the fifth kept it that way. Tech designated hitter and leadoff man TJ Pompey smacked a ball to deep center that sent Gasparino to the fence. Using all of his 6-foot-6 frame, Gasparino reached up and made the catch of the year to rob Pompey of a homer and keep Tech off the board. Pompey even tipped his cap as he returned to the dugout.
That would be the final inning of UT starter Ace Whitehead’s night. Whitehead pitched 5.0 innings and allowed four earned runs on five hits with two walks and a strikeout. Duplantier II took the loss, allowing the two earned runs and three hits over his 4.0 innings of work. He struck out six.
A baserunning mishap hampered the Longhorns’ chance to retake the lead in the sixth. Kimble Schuessler was at the plate with runners on the corners and one out. He squared around to bunt but pulled back. Belyeu was running on the pitch and might have slid safely into second base but he over-slid the bag and was tagged for the second out of the inning. Though Schuessler walked, Brown lined out to end the Texas threat.
Belyeu registered three hits and two RBI for the Longhorn. O’Dowd was 3-for-3 and was feet away from a second home run in the eighth that would have given the Longhorns a one-run lead. He slugged a ball to the right-center field fence that traveled 390 feet but found the bottom of the wall. O’Dowd registered only a two-bagger, and his pinch runner would be stranded at second.
Texas will battle a Cincinnati team that made a ferocious bottom-of-the-ninth comeback against Central Florida in the game before the tilt between Texas and Texas Tech. Down 5-2 and to their final out, the Bearcats brought three around in a last gasp to send the game into extra innings. They would succumb to the Knights when UCF catcher Danny Neri hit a go-ahead homer, his Big 12 Tournament record, third longball of the game, in the 11th inning. Cincy would not respond in the bottom of the 11th.
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The Longhorns and Bearcats did not play during the 2024 season, nor have they ever matched up. Come Wednesday at 4 p.m., the winner of the first-ever meeting between the two programs will continue on in the Big 12 Tournament while the loser heads home after just two games.
