The Horns head to Fayetteville on Thursday for a big matchup against the Razorbacks.
After several difficult midweek matchups for the No. 1 Texas Longhorns, the schedule lightens on Tuesday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field as the Prairie View A&M Panthers travel to Austin on another short week with the Horns traveling to Fayetteville for a Thursday start to the weekend series against the No. 11 Arkansas Razorbacks.
Texas has three run-rule victories during midweek games this season and Tuesday could be the fourth — at 11-31 overall, Prairie View A&M has an RPI of 299 out of 307 teams in Division 1 baseball and needed a matchup against Alabama A&M, the second-worst team in the nation, to break a 15-game losing streak. The Panthers are 3-15 away from Prairie View.
Prairie View does have three regulars batting over .300, including third baseman Landon Williams, who is hitting .348 and leads the team with eight home runs and 35 RBI. Overall, however, the Panthers are slashing .262/.381/.399 as a team with only 28 home runs.
On the mound, the story is even more bleak — the Panthers have a 9.35 ERA with a 2.09 WHIP as opponents are batting .299 against the Prairie View staff with 44 home runs and a 218-to-311 strikeout-to-walk ratio that could result in a lot of free passes and balls put in play for Texas.
Against a solid Lamar team last Tuesday, Prairie View’s starter issued seven walks in 1.1 innings. The Panthers eventually gave up 20 walks to the Cardinals in six innings during the 14-3 loss. In the fourth inning, Lamar scored eight runs on four hits with five walks and a hit by pitch and only needed two extra-base hits to run-rule Prairie View.
Tuesday’s matchup is only the third in the all-time series between the two programs and the first since 2016. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.