After the weekend sweep of the Michigan State Spartans at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the eight-game homestand to start the season ends for the No. 3 Texas Longhorns on Tuesday as the UTRGV Vaqueros come to the Forty Acres.
Coming off a successful 2025 season in which the Vaqueros finished No. 43 in RPI, the highest season-ending ranking in the eight-year tenure of head coach Derek Matlock, UTRGV has opened the 2026 campaign with a challenging slate of Big 12 opponents, dropping a home weekend series against
Kansas, losing to Texas Tech 21-12 last Tuesday in Edinburg, and taking two games against Houston on the road last weekend.
UTRGV is only batting .242 against its slate of Big 12 opponents, but has flashed some power in the middle of the order, including four home runs from first baseman Armani Raygoza, one of the best home-run hitters in school history — the El Paso product is tied for second in school history with 27 home runs. Leading the Vaqueros at the plate is designated hitter Julius Ramirez, who is batting .385 with two doubles, two home runs, and a team-high 10 RBI. The UTRGV lineup also features left fielder Rene Galvan, the younger brother of former Texas standout catcher Rylan Galvan.
“There’s a couple hitters in the middle of their lineup that are as good as anyone, and certainly Ryan Galvan’s brother is on the team, but they have some super physical, fast left-handed hitters that can really play. They have great lineup balance,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said in an appearance on the Around the Horns podcast on Tuesday.
Like the position players, the pitchers for UTRGV have also struggled against more talented competition with an ERA sitting at 8.13 while allowing opponents to hit .331 with 11 home runs. Command has been a problem for the Vaqueros with 10 hit batters, 17 wild pitches, and 39 walks in 62 innings.
In last Tuesday’s loss to the Red Raiders, the Vaqueros used eight pitchers as redshirt senior right-hander Kike Cienfuegos, who only lasted two innings while allowing seven runs on five hits, including five runs in the third inning without getting an out.
Texas is 55-7 in the all-time series against UTRGV, but two years ago, the Vaqueros broke a 48-game losing streak to the Longhorns in beating Texas for the first time since 1971, one of the losses that precipitated the end of the David Pierce era and only the second true road win for UTRGV in the series.
“It’s going to be a dogfight, I’m sure,” Schlossnagle said.
Undefeated over the first seven games of the season, the Longhorns enter Tuesday’s matchup with a well-rested bullpen after the starting pitchers threw 17.1 innings over the weekend, allowing Texas to only use six relievers with senior right-hander Max Grubbs the only pitcher who went more than one inning in a single game.
After appearances from junior right-hander Thomas Burns on Saturday and Sunday, Schlossnagle doesn’t want to use him again, but everyone else will be available as he decides whether to start sophomore right-hander Jason Flores again or go to freshman right-hander Sam Cozart, who allowed one run in four innings in relief of Flores last week in his collegiate debut.
On Tuesday, Schlossnagle also teased some of his potential lineup decisions — giving junior catcher Carson Tinney a break behind the plate by using him at designated hitter with junior Andrew Ermis at catcher. The weekend starter at designated hitter, sophomore Jonah Williams, may not appear in the field as Schlossnagle and his staff continue to try to protect his health.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to play Jonah in the outfield just yet. We may wait a few more days. We’ll just see how he feels and how he moves around before the game,” Schlossnagle said.
Since arriving on the Forty Acres close to 14 months ago, Williams has been injured consistently, raising questions about his ability to continue playing baseball and football for the Horns, but the immensely talented Galveston Ball product did make his season debut against the Spartans, batting .300 with a double, two walks, and two RBI over the weekend.
“Jonah puts together a competitive at bat. You talk about a guy that rarely swings and misses,” Schlossnagle said.
On Friday, a competitive at bat in the fifth inning was big for Texas — after Williams singled to center on a 1-2 pitch after fouling off two two-strike pitches, junior first baseman Casey Borba hit a two-run home run to make it 6-1.
Schlossnagle also praised the maturity that Williams showed on Saturday. To help reduce the chances that Williams re-aggravates his persistent hamstring injury, the staff has dictated the percentile of his top speed he should run at as tracked by his Catapult GPS wearable.
“If you tell him to run 75 percent, he can actually nail it, like he can nail it. We told him to stay in the 80 percent range, and he did that,” Schlossnagle said.
On Sunday, Williams stayed within that range on a flare double in the seventh inning, but instinctually slid head first into second base despite working on sliding in feet first in practice. Fortunately for Texas, Williams didn’t re-aggravate his shoulder injury, but he was removed from the game for precautionary reasons.
In the 4-0 win, Williams had played a key role in it, taking a bases-loaded walk in the first inning to drive in the game’s first run and delivering an RBI single in the third inning.
First pitch on Tuesday is at 6:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
