For the second straight weekend to open the 2026 season, the No. 3 Texas Longhorns secured a sweep, remaining undefeated with a 4-0 victory over the Michigan State Spartans at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis continued his successful transition into the starting rotation with his second straight win, going seven scoreless innings by working around five hits and a walk while striking out nine batters, his career high. Four of the five hits allowed by Volantis never left the infield.
The strong start from Volantis came despite needing some time to find his breaking ball on a chilly February day in Austin, but with the addition of his changeup and a cutter he was throwing well, the four-pitch mix for Volantis is a significant expansion of his arsenal after relying so heavily on his elite curveball as the team’s closer last year.
Volantis departed after throwing 91 pitches, allowing Schlossnagle to get some work for his bullpen, including the second weekend appearances from freshman right-hander Brett Crossland and junior right-hander Thomas Burns.
Crossland only needed five pitches to get through the eighth, helping himself with an impressive play on the mound to field the ball behind his legs.
In an attempt to simulate what an SEC series might look like, Burns came on for the ninth even though it wasn’t a save situation, striking out two to finish the sweep.
“I felt like we had control of all three games and we played some good team offense on a tough weekend to hit the ball out of the ballpark, both for them and us. So feel good about us being able to win a game against a good team in different ways,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said.
The Longhorns managed only two extra-base hits on Sunday, but neither one resulted in an RBI as Texas had to grind the game out, scoring runs on a bases-loaded walk, a groundout, and a balk. Sophomore designated hitter Jonah Williams had the only run-scoring hit, an RBI single in the third inning.
It was an example of the team’s “Win Any Way” mentality, which included Schlossnagle having his players take the first pitch in every at bat the first time through the order.
“We had some good base running to score those runs. When the wind’s doing what it’s doing, you have to take some chances on the bases, and you have to do some things to score runs,” Schlossnagle said.
The season-opening homestand for Texas ends on Tuesday against UTRGV before the Longhorns head to Houston for a weekend classic.
