We are starting with of a three post series previewing the Texas Longhorns written by Djbfootball. The second article in the series is available here and the third is available here.
The 2007 Horns baseball season started with a lot of hope and promise. However, by the time Augie and staff arrived at the Round Rock Regional injuries began to take their toll on the team and even Home Run champion Kyle Russell could not carry this team to the College World Series. The last time Texas was in Omaha was in 2005 and that for a Horn Fan is an eternity. Texas has made it a habit of spending their summers in Omaha making that journey 32 times and winning it all six times. The last time was back in 2005.The prospect of Texas making it back to Omaha in 2007 looked very promising from behind this keyboard. Even though Augie was breaking in a new pitching coach in Skip Johnson, they had quite a few returning pitchers ready to continue this journey to Omaha. After Texas broke from their fall ball camp things began to fall apart. Kenn Kasparek and Riley Boening both ended up under the operating table to take care of arm problems. Then Carson Kainer signed his professional contract with the Cincinnati Reds after undergoing surgery for a kidney transplant. Even with all that, Texas did win the BIG 12 regular season title.
The 2008 season the Longhorn roster is filled with players that have potential but very few innings played in Omaha. The players that were around the last time Texas was in Omaha are Kenn Kasparek, Todd Gilfillan, and Preston Clark. Who will be those types of players that will step up and help the Horns back to the promise land? Could it be one of these highly recruited freshman stepping up or will it be a transfer player filling in a void that was vacated by a previous player?
