No. 6 Texas hits six home runs in 19-1 demolition of Holy Cross

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Freshman right fielder Anthony Pack Jr. tied a school record with three home runs in his postseason debut and the No. 6 Texas Longhorns tied a school record with six homers in an 19-1 victory over the Holy Cross Crusaders to open the Austin Regional with a massive victory on Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field as the Horns scored the most runs in a postseason game since 2005.

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As the Longhorns recorded 21 hits, seven players had multi-hit performances, including junior right fielder Aiden Robbins, who hit two home runs.

After some recent struggles getting off to slow starts, Texas redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison accomplishment an important task against the first batter he faced — keeping two-time Patriot League Player of the Year CJ Egrie off the base paths, where he does major damage with 46 stolen bases this season, second nationally.

Striking out Egrie took an added significance when Harrison gave up a one-out double to right field to the next batter, who was stranded there after two more strikeouts to end the frame.

Texas jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Holy Cross ace Jaden Wywoda, the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year, when Pack lashed a two-out breaking ball without much bite over the fence in right field for his eighth home run of the season.

In an impressive indication of how much strength Pack has gained since arriving on the Forty Acres, the home run came off his bat at 107 miles per hour and traveled 417 feet.

Harrison got some help from defense to open the second inning when Robbins got a good jump on a ball slicing into the gap and made a full-extension catch to save extra bases.

After a single went off the glove of diving redshirt senior second baseman Temo Becerra, Harrison got out of the inning with the hope of a well-turned double play by Becerra started by sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez.

Leading off the bottom of the second, Rodriguez slashed an opposite-field, ground-rule double down the left-field line. Junior third baseman Casey Borba wasn’t able to advance Rodriguez with a groundout to shortstop, but junior first baseman Ashton Larson came through on a pitch that Wywoda elevated, singling to center to score Rodriguez for a 2-0 lead.

A two-out walk issued to redshirt senior Dariyan Pendergrass brought Robbins to the plate with runners on first and second as Wywoda started to struggle locating his breaking ball, but battled back to get ahead in the count and escaped the inning when Robbins hit a hard line drive at the left fielder.

In the third, Harrison recorded his first 1-2-3 inning with two more strikeouts.

Junior catcher Carson Tinney led off the bottom of the third with a line drive to the wall in left center for a double. Pack took advantage in his second postseason at bat, recording his first career multi-homer game by jumping on a first-pitch breaking ball and sending it over the wall in left center for a two-run shot.

Two more strikeouts for Harrison in the fourth extended his streak of consecutive batters retired as he faced the minimum over three straight innings.

The Longhorns added more runs in the fourth with a solo home run by Robbins, who hit a line drive over the short wall in left field at 108 mph and Becerra drove in Tinney and Pack with a double to the wall in left center for a 7-0 lead

The home run by Robbins gave him 20 this year, joining Tinney as the only Texas pair to ever record 20 home runs in the same season.

Redshirt senior right-hander Cody Howard replaced Harrison in the fifth inning — Harrison’s final line was four hits over four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks, his first start of the season without any runs allowed. After throwing only 50 pitches, Harrison should be available again for the Longhorns later in the regional if necessary.

Howard gave up a two-out single and a hard-hit ball to center field, but kept the Crusaders off the board in the fifth to maintain the shutout.

Texas extended the lead to 11-0 when Robbins hit a two-run home run to the opposite field and Pack hit his third home run of the game, working a full count before blasting a two-run shot of his own to right field, the first time a Longhorns player has hit three home runs in a postseason game and the ninth time overall in school history.

Suffering from cramps, Pack was replaced by senior Jayden Duplantier in the sixth inning, pitched by Howard, who worked around a two-out single.

For the sixth straight inning, the Horns scored on an RBI double by Pendergrass before loading the bases on consecutive walks that brought Duplantier to the plate. The third spot in the order remained hot for Texas as Duplantier continued Pack’s home run momentum with a grand slam into the Yeti Yard, his second career home run and the sixth run of the game, tying the program record.

After redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker got through the seventh on just 12 pitches, Texas kept the pressure on Holy Cross with three straight singles scoring a run to open the inning and freshman catcher Presley Courville adding an RBI groundout to make it 18-0.

Junior right-hander Hudson Hamilton got into trouble in the eighth, hitting the leadoff batter and allowing a single before a pickoff attempt went awry, allowing both runners to advance, but was able to make accurate throw to third to pick off the leadoff runner before striking out the batter at the plate. Another throwing error by Hamilton put a runner on third again and drew a visit from pitching coach Max Weiner before getting out of the inning by inducing a popup to shortstop.

Texas continued its scoring streak on a double by Rodriguez, a single by Borba, and a sacrifice fly by graduate first baseman Josh Livingston.

In the ninth, sophomore right-hander Jason Flores gave up a run after allowing three one-out singles combined with a four-pitch walk, but limited the damage when Holy Cross grounded into a game-ending double play.

Texas returns to the Disch on Saturday at 6 p.m. Central against UC Santa Barbara or Tarleton State with a spot in the regional final on the line. The Gacuhos and Texans face off at 5 p.m. Central on Friday.

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