Why did Texas 1B Jared Thomas pitch against UTRGV on Tuesday? David Pierce explains.

There are 19 pitchers listed on the Texas baseball team's roster. On Tuesday night, however, the Longhorn who started on the mound was a first baseman.

Sophomore Jared Thomas made his pitching debut in a 17-9 loss to UT-Rio Grande Valley at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Thomas allowed one hit and two runs over a start that lasted 1 2/3 innings. He struck out one batter, issued one walk and hit two Vaqueros in the Longhorns' humbling defeat.

Even though he was making his pitching debut, Thomas is no stranger to Texas fans. He's the best hitter in the Longhorn lineup and again batted leadoff on Tuesday. But defensively, 89 of Thomas' previous 97 starts were made at first base and eight happened in the outfield.

So why was he pitching?

Is Texas that desperate for pitching? Was UT coach David Pierce attempting to send a message to the actual pitchers on the roster? With the TCU series on deck, did the Longhorns just want to preserve their arms against a UTRGV team that arrived in Austin with the No. 250 RPI? Was Thomas being rewarded the same way that Jake McKenzie was six years ago when Texas let him play all nine positions in a midweek game against UTRGV? Or does Texas actually view Thomas as a two-way talent like Ace Whitehead, the team's Saturday starter who has also appeared in the outfield during his time at Texas, or Cade O'Hara, who can pitch and also play the infield?

Truth be told, Texas could answer a couple of those questions in the affirmative.

"I'm trying to win. The reason why is because I think he's a kid that can help us just like Cade, just like (Whitehead)," Pierce said after the UTRGV game. "At the end of the day, we're trying to win baseball games and I'm not going to sit and watch the same stuff happen without trying to explore all of our different options. I really think JT's an option."

Back in high school, Thomas was an all-state outfielder at Waxahachie High. But he could also throw a little.

As a junior, Thomas went 6-2 with a 0.86 ERA and 86 strikeouts over 69.1 innings. He was limited by a broken wrist during his senior year but still threw no-hitters in consecutive games with one of those no-hitters coming against a ranked Bryan team in the bi-district round of the Class 6A playoffs.

Former Waxahachie coach Tracy Wood said that after UT announced on Monday that Thomas would pitch against UTRGV, he received plenty of texts from coaching buddies and people around town. Wood said he simply replied that it was "no surprise to me, what took them so damn long?"

"I get it, it's a whole different level. But don't tell him he can't pitch in the Big 12 because he'll tell you he can. That's one of the things that separates him from everyone else," Wood said.

Wood, who retired from coaching after Thomas' senior year, said that what his former player lacked in velocity, he makes up for with a competitive drive and high baseball IQ. "He's just a dang good baseball player," Wood said.

On Tuesday, Thomas saw each batter in the UTRGV lineup once. Facing six right-handed bats and three Vaqueros swinging from the left side, the left-handed Thomas threw a first-pitch strike to each UTRGV batter. Twenty-four of Thomas' 39 pitches were strikes.

When it came to velocity, none of Thomas' pitches hit 90 miles-per-hour on the radar gun. He mostly sat in the 80s but did dip into the high-70s a few times.

The only hit allowed by Thomas was a first-inning homer by Martin Vazquez. With two outs in the second session, he ran into trouble when he hit two straight batters and walked the No. 9 batter in the UTRGV lineup. Texas pulled Thomas after he loaded the bases with that walk, and he was tagged for another run after reliever Chase Lummus plunked a UTRGV batter.

"JT is a good pitcher, I'm telling you," Pierce said. "It wasn't perfect, but we've got a lot of baseball to play after that. I'd much rather have done it tonight to start versus his first time in a leverage situation. He has toughness, he has grit and he'll figure things out."

In reality, Thomas was fine. He was credited with the loss because UTRGV grabbed a lead it wouldn't relinquish under his watch. However, Thomas gave the Longhorns what they could have expected out of a first baseman who had never pitched at the college level before.

Thomas was one of 10 pitchers that saw playing time in the eight-run loss, and the converted first baseman fared better than some of UT's veteran arms. Six Texas pitchers allowed at least one hit on Tuesday. David Shaw was the only Longhorn who didn't walk a UTRGV batter.

As a staff, Texas allowed 11 hits and issued 11 walks against UTRGV. The nine batters that UT hit was one shy of an NCAA record. The Longhorns exited the game with a 5.12 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. Texas last ended a season with an ERA that exceeded 5.00 in 1999.

Texas (22-16, 9-6) will return to action this weekend with a three-game series at home against TCU (22-13, 7-11). TCU and Texas were picked to finish first and second in the Big 12's preseason poll. The Longhorns are currently the conference's fourth-place team. The Horned Frogs are stuck in 11th place.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Top Texas hitter Jared Thomas makes pitching debut in UTRGV loss