Dylan Campbell, holder of a 27-game hitting streak: ‘I expect to get a hit every time I go to the plate’
Texas outfielder Dylan Campbell went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored on March 24 in Game 1 of the Longhorns’ series with Texas Tech. At the time, his average was a measly .229.
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The next day, Campbell went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. That began a hitting streak that went through the end of March, lasted all of April, and endured into May. On May 7 in a game at Kansas, a first-inning double stretched the streak to 26 games, breaking the previous program record set by Michael Torres in 2008.
Campbell extended the streak to 27 on Tuesday with a base hit versus UT-Arlington. The junior from Houston (Texas) Strake Jesuit raised has his batting average 90 points to .319 since March 24, and is 41-for-105 (.390) with 21 RBI during the streak.
Even though he set a record at the most historic program in college baseball, and has been a key part of the Longhorn offense during its late-season run, the accomplishment hasn’t quite set in yet for the utilityman turned outfielder.
“It doesn’t really feel real at times,” Campbell said Thursday. “I kind of don’t understand how big of a deal it is. I’ve got people in my family texting me, ‘do you know how cool this is?’ I’m just like, yeah I don’t really understand it yet. Maybe after the season is over and I get a chance to get out of the flow of things, I’ll realize how cool it is.”
Maybe that’s because the idea of the record didn’t hit him until he was a game or two away from breaking it. Campbell said it wasn’t even someone in the clubhouse who alerted him to the fact he was approaching the mark.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it at the plate,” Campbell said. “I was playing, having fun out there, and just going to work every day. I didn’t really know about it until 24, I think it was, when I saw something on social media.”
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Longhorns head coach David Pierce has overseen a good bit of offensive history as skipper. Last year, a transcendent UT offense was paced by Ivan Melendez, who smashed 32 home runs on his way to becoming the first Longhorn to win the Golden Spikes Award.
This year, Pierce had a front-row seat to Campbell’s achievement.
“You just look at the storybook history around this place, and so many great players come through,” Pierce said Thursday. “It’s kind of amazing that it is the streak. It’s an incredible streak. It’s hard to do.”
He added, complimenting the way Campbell approaches the game day-by-day, “to get a hit in 27-straight games and not try to force it I think has been the real key.”
When Campbell broke the record, some politicking from the UT dugout in Lawrence convinced the Jayhawk pitcher to take the ball out of play so that it could be given to No. 8. Pierce complimented Kansas for the classy move that gave Campbell a piece of history, currently stored in his room.
Twenty-six was nice. Twenty-seven was nicer. But for Campbell, he thinks his hitting streak should continue in perpetuity.
“I expect to get a hit every time I go to the plate,” Campbell said. “I think everybody else does, too.”
The post Dylan Campbell, holder of a 27-game hitting streak: ‘I expect to get a hit every time I go to the plate’ appeared first on On3.
