TCU fans showed up at Lupton Stadium Sunday hoping to see their team deliver a knockout blow to the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 regular-season title race.

They left unfulfilled as the Longhorns romped to a 9-3 victory to win the series, two games to one. Jumping out to a 9-0 lead, Texas pulled to within one game of first-place TCU.

Zach Zubia smashed two home runs and Cam Williams added another in a 12-hit attack as Texas silenced the TCU faithful and kept Texas’ championship hopes alive, with one series remaining for each squad before the Big 12 tournament.

Regardless of what happens in the race, Texas left-handed pitcher Pete Hansen sent a message that he is primed for the postseason.

Hansen (6-1) pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits while striking out four in a game that carried NCAA playoff implications.

Backed into a corner after losing 2-1 to TCU on Saturday, Texas played as well in a big-game road atmosphere as is has all season, likely bolstering its hopes for a top-eight national tournament seed.

Records

Texas 15-6, 38-12
TCU 16-5, 34-12

Coming up

Texas plays a couple of non-conference games before closing out Big 12 play May 20-22 with three at home against West Virginia (17-23, 7-14).

TCU will be much busier in coming days. The Frogs play five non-conference home games between now and March 18. They also finish conference May 20-22 but they will be on the road at Kansas State (28-18, 7-11).