Why did Texas first baseman Jared Thomas pitch on Tuesday? Coach 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.

Jared Thomas made his college pitching debut in the 17-9 loss to UT-Rio Grande Valley at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The sophomore allowed one hit and two runs over a start that lasted 1⅔ 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 Longhorns' best hitter and again batted leadoff on Tuesday. But defensively, 89 of his previous 97 starts were made at first base. The other eight came in the outfield.

So why was he pitching?

Is Texas that desperate for pitching? Was head coach David Pierce trying to send a message to the actual pitchers on the roster? With this weekend's TCU series on deck, did Pierce just want to preserve his pitchers against a UTRGV team that arrived in Austin with the No. 250 RPI? Or was Thomas perhaps 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 Saturday starter in the rotation who also has appeared in the outfield during his time at Texas, or Cade O'Hara, who can pitch and also play the infield?

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

David Pierce: 'I really think JT's an option'

"I'm trying to win," Pierce said Tuesday night. "The reason why is because I think he's a kid that can help us just like Cade, just like (Whitehead). 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. But he also could throw a little.

As a prep junior, he went 6-2 with a 0.86 ERA and 86 strikeouts over 69.1 innings. He was limited by a broken wrist his senior year, but still threw no-hitters in back-to-back games, one of them against a state-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," Wood told the American-Statesman. "That's one of the things that separates him from everyone else."

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

David Pierce: 'He has grit and he'll figure things out'

Tuesday night, 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 one. Twenty-four of his 39 pitches were strikes. When it came to velocity, none of his' pitches hit 90 miles per hour on the radar gun. He mostly sat in the 80s, and dipped into the high 70s a few times.

The only hit Thomas allowed was a first-inning home run by Martin Vazquez. With two outs in the second, he ran into trouble when he hit two straight batters and walked UTRGV's No. 9 batter. Pierce pulled him after he loaded the bases with a 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."

Texas still trying to figure out its pitching

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

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

As a staff, Texas allowed 11 hits and issued 11 walks. The nine batters that UT hit was one shy of the NCAA record. The Longhorns exited the game with a 5.12 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. Texas last ended a season with an ERA higher than 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 weekend's series

TCU (22-13, 7-11) at Texas (22-16, 9-6), Friday-Sunday, UFCU Disch-Falk Field, LHN, 1300

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