Anytime Texas and Rice get together, there are a few things that are guaranteed: 1. Great baseball. 2. Angry fans. 3. Great baseball.
Texas, the #2 national seed, picked up the regional hosting duties after posting a 46-11 record and winning the Big 12 Regular Season Championship by an amazing eight games before bowing out of the Big 12 Tournament with an 0-3 record. While most teams have a pitcher on their staff they designate as their ace, Texas has the advantage of boasting four such pitchers. Sophomore RHP Taylor Jungmann only managed to go 6-3 this season, but led the Texas starters with a 2.17 ERA, and struck out 113 batters over 104 innings. Junior RHP Cole Green was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after finishing the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record. Green picked up his only loss in the conference tournament, finished with a 10-1 record and 2.64 ERA. Rounding out the starters, Junior RHP Brandon Workman picked up 11 wins versus only one loss. His 3.77 ERA was the largest on the entire pitching staff. If a team is lucky enough to get past the trio of starters, they still run into a brick wall with a great fastball and slider. Junior RHP Chance Ruffin because the first Longhorn player to record a 10-win season and a 10-save season in a career after he saved 13 games in his first year as the closer. Ruffin, son of Bruce, was named a finalist for NCBWA Stopper of the Year after striking out 89 over 58.1 innings and shrinking his ERA to 0.77.
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