The Texas Longhorns are headed to the NCAA Baseball Super Regional. Texas swept all three games of the Austin Regional, capping the weekend with a 6-4 win over UC Santa Barbara. The Horns outscored their opponents by a combined 41-7.
Sunday’s game was much closer than the 19-1 win over Holy Cross and the 16-2 win over Tarleton State. UC Santa Barbara was the No. 2 seed in Austin and gave top-seeded Texas a legitimate game.
The Gauchos got on the board early when outfielder Rowan Kelly homered in the first inning off Ruger Riojas. But Riojas would settle down and scatter just three hits over five innings. The senior pitcher recorded his 300th career strikeout in the game.
At the plate, Texas took the lead in the sixth inning on a Adrian Rodriguez sacrifice fly and a Ethan Mendoza single to score two runs. But UCSB answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to grab the lead back.
But in the seventh, one of the hottest baseball players on the planet put Texas up for good. Aiden Robbins blasted a two-run home run to right center, his third homer of the regional. The outfielder from New Jersey also had nine RBIs in the three game tournament.
Texas would tack on two more runs in the eighth inning and would go on to win 6-4. UT was near perfect in the Austin Regional, but things get considerably more difficult from here.
The Longhorns will play the winner of the Eugene, Oregon regional, which will either be the Oregon Ducks or thge Oregon State Beavers.
This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Texas baseball beats UCSB, advance to Super Regional
Reporting by Trey Luerssen, Longhorns Wire / Longhorns Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
