AUSTIN, Texas – No. 9 Texas Baseball defeated Air Force, 10-1, to win the NCAA Austin Regional Championship on Sunday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns (45-19) went 3-0 in the regional and await the winner of the Greenville Regional, which will be decided between East Carolina and Coastal Carolina on Monday.
Dylan Campbell went 2-for-3 with two homers, two RBI and three runs scored. Austin Todd, Skyler Messinger and Silas Ardoin and Trey Faltine all finished with two hits apiece.
Jared Southard pitched three scoreless innings of relief and picked up the win to improve to 4-1 on the season. He struck out a career high six batters and only allowed one hit.
The Longhorns got out to a hot start and batted around in the top of the first to take a 5-0 lead. With one out and one runner on base, Ivan Melendez got things started with his 30th home run of the season.
Texas kept the inning going, loading the bases with two outs on a single by Todd, a walk by Messinger and an infield single by Ardoin. A passed ball allowed Todd to score from third before Mitchell Daly walked to reload the bases. Faltine turned it into a big inning, ripping a two-run double down the right field line to make the lead 5-0.
The Longhorns tacked on another run in the third inning with Daly hitting a sacrifice fly to go up 6-0.
Campbell launched his second home run of the weekend and eighth of the season in the top of the fourth to extend the lead to 7-0.
Texas continued to tack on runs, scoring one in the fifth to make the score 8-0. Messinger singled and Ardoin doubled to right-center to drive in the run.
The final Longhorn run came home on Campbell’s second homer of the game in the eighth inning.
Air Force got its lone run of the game on a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth.
Travis Sthele started and pitched three scoreless innings with two strikeouts, while Andre Duplantier II pitched two scoreless innings of relief with two strikeouts.
Austin Regional All-Tournament Team
Most Valuable Player – Skyler Messinger, Texas
Catcher – Jorge Corona, Louisiana Tech
First Base – Ivan Melendez*, Texas
Second Base – Trayden Tamiya, Air Force
Third Base – Skyler Messinger*, Texas
Shortstop – Trey Faltine, Texas
Outfield – Jake Greiving, Air Force
Outfield – Murphy Stehly, Texas
Outfield – Dylan Campbell, Texas
Outfield – Gabriel Garcia, Air Force
Designated Hitter – Austin Todd, Texas
Pitcher – Tristan Stevens, Texas
Pitcher – Doyle Gehring, Air Force
*unanimous
There are four outfielders due to a tie in the voting
