No. 16 Texas holds on for 4-3 win over Dartmouth

On an extremely cold day in Austin, the Horns avoided a bad loss to the Big Green.

The No. 16 Texas Longhorns had to wait three extra days for the season opener at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, but weren’t able to put on the expected offensive display against an overmatched opponent, settling for a narrow 4-3 win over the Dartmouth Big Green on Friday.

Frigid temperatures in Austin pushed up the start time to noon Central, a combination that produced a small crowd at the Disch as winds blowing in from left field and the cold resulted in some hard-hit outs for Texas, which only had six hits, although three of them were doubles, two by sophomore left fielder Tommy Farmer.

The Big Green had more hits than the Horns with seven while matching Texas with six walks. In the decisive moments of the game, however, the Longhorns pitchers were able to strand those runners as the Big Green left 10 on base.

The first inning for Texas senior left-hander Jared Spencer was emblematic of how the game went — the Indiana transfer allowed a leadoff base hit and a two-out walk, but picked the leadoff batter off second base to end the threat.

Two runs in the bottom of the inning appeared to put the Longhorns on track for a comfortable victory as junior shortstop Jalin Flores hit a sacrifice fly to left field after two singles to start the game.

After a two-out walk drawn by sophomore center fielder Will Gasparino, Farmer came through with his first double, driving in the inning’s second run.

Spencer had to work around two two-out walks in the second and a single in the third, but finally paid for all the baserunners in the fourth when a leadoff walk and a single up the middle followed by a sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third with one out. Dartmouth broke through with an RBI groundout to Flores.

After a one-out walk by Spencer in the fifth, he was replaced by junior right-hander Ruger Riojas, who retired both batters he faced.

Texas added an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth after sophomore second baseman Ethan Mendoza drew a walk and stole second base, advancing to third on a throwing error by the catcher and scoring on a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Kimble Schuessler. Gasparino ultimately stranded two runners on a groundout to second.

Farmer led off the sixth inning with his second double and advanced to third on a flyout by sophomore designated hitter Easton Winfield, scoring on a groundout by junior catcher Rylan Galvan. The Longhorns left two more runners on base, however, after Mendoza drew another walk, but couldn’t score on a double by Schuessler prior to junior right fielder Max Belyeu striking out looking to end the inning with a 4-1 lead.

Riojas started to run out of gas in his fourth inning of work in the eighth after retiring eight straight batters, allowing back-to-back singles before recording the first out. The UTSA transfer departed the game without getting a second out in the eighth after two singles each drove in a run. Riojas hit the next batter with the first pitch of the at bat, departing in favor of sophomore right-hander Thomas Burns, who recorded a strikeout and a flyout to end the inning without any further damage.

Burns allowed a one-out walk in the ninth prior to recording his first career save and preserving the victory for the Horns.

First pitch on Saturday was moved back to 1 p.m. Central due to rain in the area with the game airing on SEC Network+.