 "Photo: Tina Hogue")
What a difference 24 hours makes.
Following a solid win against Baylor, the Longhorns were all smiles Tuesday night. Right fielder Kyle Russell said a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.
Those good feelings didn't last too long.
Wednesday night UTSA came to Austin and outplayed Texas for a 7-1 victory.
"We were making progress," Russell said. "We played Baylor a great game and beat a good team. We just came across this pitcher, his changeup just never moved, never came to you, and he had all of our hitters off balance today."
The Roadrunners' Ryan Proudfoot pitched his second consecutive complete game, allowing eight hits for just one run. The right-handed sophomore kept the Longhorns honest with his fastball and burned them with his changeup.
"They might not have ever seen a pitcher throw like me," Proudfoot said. "I like to mix it up a little differently with my changeup and fastball, so they never really caught on to my changeup."
For the most part, Texas' starter, Riley Boening, sailed through the first three innings, too. The left-handed junior was locating his fastball, curveball and changeup early on and felt as good as he has all season.
"I was locating all three pitches for strikes, and that was the first time I've done that all season," Boening said. "It seemed like my old form, before my [shoulder] surgery [last year]."
But Boening's changeup wasn't working as effectively as Proudfoot's. He left three changeups up in the strike zone, and UTSA hitters drove them all out of the park.
Michael Rockett launched a two-out, solo home run in the first to give the Roadrunners a quick 1-0 lead. First baseman Trent Lockwood hit a two-run bomb in the fourth, before Zach Etheredge chased Boening out of the game with a three-run shot off the scoreboard in left-center field.
Texas (24-17) never answered UTSA's (29-12) five-run fourth. Third baseman Travis Tucker hit a two-out double in the third, plating left fielder Kevin Keyes for the Longhorns' lone run of the game.
"Their pitcher kept us off balance and we never got any momentum going," head coach Augie Garrido said. "We just never got anything going. [Proudfoot] and their defense were able to keep us from mounting any kind of significant rally."
Garrido has fielded a lot of the same questions lately. Most of them are in the neighborhood of 'what does the team need to do to turn its season around.' He has answered just about all of them with something positive. He's pleased with his team's effort and believes they can overcome their problems.
When asked if he felt a sense of déjà vu or if he felt like he's been saying the same things about his team all year, Garrido kept it simple.
"What else is there to say?"
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