Behind Kennedy and Schuessler's career days, Texas evens Big 12 series with Houston

With Texas in desperate need of an offensive spark, Dee Kennedy provided one.

The first multi-homer game of Kennedy's collegiate career lifted Texas to a 6-5 win at Houston on Saturday night. Kennedy's second home run broke a 5-5 tie in the ninth inning.

The one-run victory kept Texas (21-15, 8-6) from falling further behind West Virginia (21-13, 10-4) and Oklahoma (20-14, 10-4) in the race for the Big 12 championship. The Longhorns are currently the conference's fourth-place team.

One day after it was two-hit in a 9-1 loss to the lowly Cougars (17-17, 5-12), Texas fared better at the plate. Texas produced 11 hits and Kennedy provided the two biggest swings. The freshman infielder wasn't the only offensive standout for UT, though.

Senior third baseman Peyton Powell broke out of a 4-for-30 slump with a four-hit performance. Kimble Schuessler also went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a home run.

For Schuessler, those three hits were a career-best performance. His three RBIs matched a feat that he did once before while playing at Texas A&M in 2021.

Picking up the win for a Texas team that did lose 3-0 and 5-3 leads on Saturday was Gage Boehm, who is now 3-2 with a 3.14 ERA. Boehm allowed just a walk over his two innings of relief work. He struck out the side in the ninth inning.

Texas and Houston will close out their series at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Neither team has announced who their starting pitcher will be.