Tristan Stevens reveals key to bouncing back for Texas following CWS game 1 loss
Following a 7-3 loss against Notre Dame on Friday, Texas pitcher Tristan Stevens isn’t ignorant of the situation his team is in. Unless they can come up with a win against Texas A&M on Sunday, the Longhorns are out of the College World Series.
Despite this tense situation, Stevens is hoping his team can approach Sunday’s matchup as they would any other. He believes that mindset is the best chance they have at coming away with a victory.
“Like I mentioned, we’ve been in this situation last year,” Stevens said postgame Friday. “Big thing is what we’ve been preaching is next pitch. We can’t think big picture. We can’t be looking three games ahead, two games ahead. Our next target now is A&M. We just go from there and take it one game at a time, one pitch at a time.”
Stevens came in to relieve Pete Hansen on Friday against the Fighting Irish, pitching 4.2 innings and allowing just two hits. Unfortunately, much of the damage had been done before he entered, as Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-1 advantage early.
That deficit ultimately proved too much to overcome, as Texas would score just two runs over the final five innings. The loss setup a win-or-go-home matchup with the Aggies, which will begin at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.
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Tristan Stevens ranks third on the Texas roster this season with 72 strikeouts. He has an ERA of 4.73 across 85.2 innings of work. It remains unclear whom Texas will start against the Aggies, but ace Gordon Lucas seems like a safe bet.
After breezing through Regional action with an undefeated record, Texas has had a difficult path in this year’s NCAA Tournament. After losing the opening game on Super Regional action against East Carolina, the Longhorns came back to win the final two games to punch their ticket to Omaha. That included a Game 3 that went through several rain delays and lasted well past 1 a.m. ET.
The championship for the College World Series begins June 25. But in order to reach that stage, the Longhorns must first win three straight games, starting with Sunday against the Fighting Irish.