For the first time in almost 30 years, the Tarleton State Texans are coming to the Forty Acres for a Tuesday matchup against the No. 2 Texas Longhorns as junior catcher Carson Tinney tries to build on his best performance in burnt orange and white.
The Notre Dame transfer looked like a sure-fire star to replace Rylvan Galvan after leading the Fighting Irish in batting average (.348), runs (52), homers (17), RBI (53), total bases (119), walks (34), on-base percentage (.498), slugging (.753), and multi-RBI
performances (17) in 2025.
The transition to Texas hasn’t been easy for the Colorado product, however — the 6’4, 240-pounder entered the opening series of SEC play batting .259 and without a weekend home run.
Between the 15-4 victory over Texas State in San Marcos and the weekend series against Ole Miss, Tinney and assistant coach Troy Tulowitzki spent time addressing Tinney’s mentality at the plate and making some physical changes to his swing.
Head coach Jim Schlossnagle had a simple message for his catcher.
“We’ve either got to take the swing that you show us in the batting cages and in practice, and just his ability to control his emotions and heart rate, we’ve got to take that into a game, or we’ve got to start practicing that massive uphill swing and learn how to hit the ball that way, right?” Schlossnagle said during his Monday appearance on the Around the Horns podcast.
Tinney’s adjustment to the large crowds at UFCU Disch-Falk Field and the increased pressure of the Texas baseball spotlight hasn’t gone smoothly, and it’s caused him to press.
“Sometimes you can care too much, and Tinney really cares. He’s a great, great guy. He wants to do well, he loves Texas, and you can care too much and and when you care too much and you want to do so well, then that leads to mental and that leads to physical things. In a game, the swing gets a little bigger,” Schlossnagle said.
For Tinney, who boasts prodigious pull-side power, the physical changes can be a change in his swing path trying to elevate the ball too much or an unwillingness to use the entire field to hit, causing him to roll over on outside pitches, leading to weak groundouts.
So when Schlossnagle saw Tinney line out to right field on Saturday, the outcome mattered less than the improved process, prompting the Texas head coach to turn to Tulowitzki and say, “It’s coming.”
It was, and on Sunday, Tinney had his best performance with the Longhorns, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
The home run was a monster blast that traveled 465 feet over the batter’s eye in center field with an exit velocity of 113 miles per hour.
For Schlossnagle, an RBI single up the middle off the end of his bat was probably more encouraging.
“Once he starts staying on the ball, then he’s going to be able to keep the balls he hits to the pull-side fair, maybe get them on the barrel instead of off the end of the bat. He had two hits on the weekend where he just kind of gave something up and stayed through a ball and just spit the ball up the middle of the field. I think he may have had two of those,” Schlossnagle said.
Tinney will get his first opportunity on Tuesday against senior right-hander Brendon Carter, who has only pitched one inning this season against Houston Christian after recording a 5.96 ERA last season in 17 appearances, including two starts.
Texas will have a new midweek starter after moving freshman right-hander Sam Cozart to the weekend bullpen following four superlative performances on Tuesdays. Getting the nod over sophomore right-hander Jason Flores is junior right-hander Hudson Hamilton (0-0, 9.00 ERA), who is making his second career start and fifth appearance of the 2026 season. Hamilton didn’t allow a hit or a run over his first three appearances before a hit and a walk in 0.1 innings against USC Upstate resulted in two earned runs on Hamilton’s ledger.
Hamilton will face a Tarleton lineup batting .298 overall and with some hot hitters — Rayner Heinrich boasts a 14-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 15 straight, Slade McCloud is on a 10-game hitting streak, reaching safely in 11 straight, and Carson Lorch has reached base safely in all 19 games this season.
On the road this season, the Texans have a 4-0 record after a four-game sweep of the Lobos in Albuquerque.
First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
