Last year, an impressive debut season for head coach Jim Schlossnagle with the Texas Longhorns came crashing down in the Austin Regional when the No. 2 overall seed fell to the UTSA Roadrunners after the Longhorns blew a 6-1 lead on Saturday before falling behind 7-0 on Sunday and getting eliminated.
Behind a second straight 40-win season, Texas is hosting an Austin Regional again this year looking for redemption against a field that includes UC Santa Barbara, Tarleton State, and Holy Cross.
For Schlossnagle,
last year’s disappointment hasn’t been a point of emphasis this week.
“I haven’t instilled the message, maybe the veteran players have,” Schlossnagle said on Monday. “In today’s college athletics, you have so much turnover on your team. We have a lot of guys back from that team last year, but there’s still probably more new players than there is returning players, so that’s where you lean on your leadership, the guys that were on last year’s team to just make sure anything we feel like we could have done better last year, we do it this year.”
Mistakes in the field and an inability to execute on the mound contributed to UTSA’s Saturday comeback before the lack of pitching depth was exposed for Texas on Sunday despite winning on Friday with three relievers. The Horns haven’t been able to find a fourth starter this season and senior right-hander Ruger Riojas has been dealing with tendinitis in his throwing shoulder, but the overall depth is better and the infield defense has been a team strength to bolster a fielding percentage that ranks 18th nationally, although outfield misadventures have been too frequent.
However, the infield will continue to be without junior Ethan Mendoza, who hasn’t played at second base since injuring his shoulder against Tennessee three weeks ago. Since the injury, Mendoza is 2-for-16 (.125) as the designated hitter.
Mendoza is one of several Texas players who have benefited from only playing one game in the 13 days prior to Friday’s regional opener against Holy Cross. Junior right fielder Aiden Robbins was sick during the Missouri series and missed the regular-season finale and sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez continues to deal with pain in his surgically-repaired left hand, although he did record three-hit performances against Tennessee and Missouri.
On Thursday, Schlossnagle also provided an update on Riojas.
“I think he’s in a really, really good place,” Schlossnagle said. “He had a couple side sessions in the last two weeks, one in particular a couple days ago, that was outstanding, and so I anticipate him being at full strength.”
The role that Riojas will play is dependent on how the regional unfolds — as the Longhorns head coach pointed out, everything depends on the first game, which redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison (6-3, 4.63 ERA) will start.
“Other than Luke starting the game, there’s no real plan other than that, other than to have every pitcher available for every game, and certainly the guys who have pitched the best will be the ones that more than likely pitch the most. Can’t script out a weekend when you’re playing great teams, and it’s a postseason — anything can happen,” Schlossnagle said.
Harrison is the only Longhorns player with experience in the College World Series after pitching two innings against Texas A&M in Omaha in 2022, giving him an understanding of what it takes to play deep into the postseason.
“I think it takes a lot. It requires you to play your best baseball at the right time, and having that experience, I feel like it’s been good to be able to share with the guys — not only what it takes to get there, but also what it takes to win there. And we know that it starts with just doing our job tomorrow, going out there and playing our game,” Harrison said.
Friday’s challenge is beating Holy Cross, the winners of the Patriot League Tournament. The Crusaders are making their 13th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, a history that includes a national championship in 1952 that makes Holy Cross the only team from the northeast to ever win the College World Series.
With a sub-.500 record this season, the expectations for Ed Kahovec’s team are much more modest, but if Kahovec decides to start the Patriot League Pitcher of the Year Jayden Wywoda, the Crusders could provide a challenge to the Longhorns.
Although Holy Cross features minimal pitching depth across its staff, which has a collective ERA of 6.42 as opponents bat .275 against the Crusaders, Wywoda has a 3.76 ERA with five complete games and a save this season. In the conference tournament, he earned MVP honors after throwing 196 pitches over three days, including a 122-pitch complete game in the opener on Monday and a 74-pitch, 4.2-inning save on Wednesday.
For the Texas pitching staff, controlling two-time Patriot League Player of the Year CJ Egrie will be key — the New Jersey product is first on the team in batting average (.338), hits (54), on-base percentage (.483), and stolen bases (46). The 46 steals by Egrie rank second nationally as he set the program’s single-season record.
Egrie hopes to maintain his momentum from the conference tournament, in which he slashed .474/.643/.895 with a 1.538 OPS, notching a home run, four RBI, three doubles, 10 runs scored, eight walks to one strikeout, and six stolen bases.
“CJ has just shattered record after record here at Holy Cross,” Kahovec said. “He played an almost unprecedented conference tournament. Statistically, he was just off the charts. A remarkable effort on his part.”
Holy Cross is also used to playing on the road — cold early-season weather in Massachusetts contributed to the Crusaders playing 37 of their 53 games away from Worcester, which includes a 5-3 road record in their last 13 games.
Texas could face a bigger challenge on the mound on Saturday if the Longhorns and the Gauchos advance. UC Santa Barbara head coach Andrew Checketts was unwilling to divulge whether his ace Jackson Flora will start on Friday against Tarleton State or on Saturday in a potential matchup against Texas, but saving Flora for Saturday is the most likely scenario.
And Flora could certainly alter the course of the regional because he’s one of the best pitchers in the country. A semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, the 6’5, 205-pound right-hander was also named the Big West Pitcher of the Year because he leads the NCAA in ERA (1.05) and wins (11) while ranking second in hits allowed per nine innings (5.1), third in WHIP (0.86), and fifth in strikeouts (124). Opponents bat just .161 against Flora.
It’s not just Flora, too — the Gauchos staff is fifth nationally in ERA (3.45), seventh in hits allowed per nine innings (7.5), and seventh in WHIP (1.22), combining their elite pitching with a small-ball approach reminiscent of Augie Garrido’s Longhorns teams in ranking eighth in the country with 55 sacrifice bunts.
Given the importance of winning the first two games in the regional, the biggest threat to Texas is facing UC Santa Barbara on Saturday and having Flora shut down the Longhorns lineup, allowing Checketts to use his high-leverage relievers and take control of the Austin Regional.
UTSA didn’t quite follow that blueprint last year after having to rally on Saturday, but that crucial second-game victory set the stage for the Roadrunners to win the regional and that’s exactly what the Longhorns need to avoid this year.
And while Schlossnagle hasn’t addressed the lessons learned from last year with his team, graduate first baseman Josh Livingston did ask his teammates about that loss after his arrival from Wichita State.
The answer, according to Schlossnagle?
“Expect it to be hard. It’s going to be hard. There’s going to be moments in the game that we don’t do well. There’s going to be times where we’re playing from behind.”
And how the Longhorns respond to that inevitable adversity will define this season’s team, just like the inability to respond to that adversity defined last season’s team.
“When you wear this jersey, when you play for Texas, you embrace the expectations that come with it, and making a regional isn’t considered a win for a season here, and everybody here knows that, but it just starts with going out and playing our game one pitch at a time,” Harrison said.
“We can’t win a regional tomorrow. We’ve gotta go out there and just play our best baseball tomorrow, and then worry about the next day the next day.”
Texas faces Holy Cross to open the regional on Friday with first pitch at noon Central on SEC Network.
