After the Texas Southern Tigers won their third SWAC Tournament Title in four seasons (2015, 2017, 2018), they drew a tough matchup in the College World Series: the Texas Longhorns. The Longhorns (37-20) landed the No. 1 seed in the region.
The top-seeded Longhorns, who dropped both games in the Big 12 championship (to Kansas and Oklahoma), will host Texas Southern Friday at 9 p.m. EST. It will be the second game of the regional doubleheader, which kicks off with Texas A&M versus Indiana at 5 p.m. EST. The No. 4 seed Tigers will face a tall task in this bracket.
Here are the game times for the @NCAACWS Austin Regional, @TSU_Bats game versus UT on Friday will be broadcast live on @LonghornNetwork #TigerNation pic.twitter.com/HoPvOP8GGZ
— TSU Athletics (@TXSOTigers) May 29, 2018
Game Odds
BetDSI Sportsbook has released odds, which you can view below, for this matchup.
Texas Southern Tigers +500
Texas Longhorns -900
Spread -5.5
Over/Under 11.5
Game Preview
Kamren Dukes leads Texas Southern with a .396 batting average. Dukes amassed 91 hits and 39 RBIs this season. The Tigers get their power from Christian Sanchez, who belted 17 home runs and 60 RBIs.
Texas Southern will bring some potent bats to the ATX Regional this weekend. UT's 1st opponent on Friday owns the nation's 9th best batting average, .307 & TSU's Kamren Dukes owns the nation's 11th best BA, .396#CollegeBaseball #ATXregional #Longhorns #TexasSouthern
— Shawn Clynch (@ShawnC_KVUE) May 30, 2018
Texas, on the other hand, will look to junior infielder Kody Clemens, who started all 57 games this season, for reliable offense. Clemens, the son of Roger, hit .341 this season, belted 19 home runs, and drove in 61 runs. Zach Zubia added 10 home runs and 41 RBIs.
UT's first first-team All-American since 2011? ✅
UT's first first-team All-American position player since 2007? ✅
The Clemens' first All-American? ✅With All-American accolade, @TexasBaseball standout Kody Clemens ascends into Longhorn lore. https://t.co/Cr368ZwTlt #HookEm pic.twitter.com/73PeztpPl5
— Danny Davis (@aasdanny) May 31, 2018
The Longhorns have had an up-and-down season. They had won five straight heading into the Big 12 championship.
Texas Southern claimed its second straight SWAC title with a 18-3 win over Grambling State last Sunday.
TSU Baseball is heading to the Austin Regional that will be hosted at the University of Texas!! #TigerNation pic.twitter.com/kdbELdqKVR
— TSU Athletics (@TXSOTigers) May 28, 2018
Prediction
Texas Southern, which finished 27-26, is the class of the SWAC. We, however, favor the Longhorns in this matchup, largely because of Kody Clemens, who will be the best player in this showdown.
First, he was named the Big 12 Player of the Year. Now, he’s a @CBNewspaper First-Team All-American.
Congrats, @kodyclem! https://t.co/839xhbs3U1 🤘 pic.twitter.com/pjj45PRQSq
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 31, 2018
It will not hurt that Texas has home-field advantage and should have the support of a raucous crowd.
AUSTIN REGIONAL
HOST: @TexasBaseball#RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/xXTWf1PRMU
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) May 28, 2018
Soooooo, this is going to be 🔥.
The 2018 Austin Regional is officially SOLD OUT. https://t.co/9Sm6X91k17 🤘 pic.twitter.com/qYHwif74cS
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 30, 2018
The teams met earlier this season, on April 18, and Texas came away with a 10-2 victory. Expect a similar lopsided result on Friday.
Texas and Texas A&M seem destined for a showdown in the regional final.
That Austin Regional is going to be out of control. #Aggies and #Longhorns fans have been chirping at each other on my feed. They’ll settle it all on the field. @AggieBaseball @TexasBaseball
— Kendall Rogers (@KendallRogers) May 28, 2018
