Under second-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle, the No. 6 Texas Longhorns are two wins away from the program’s first trip to Omaha since 2022 if they can get past the No. 11 Oregon Ducks in the Austin Super Regional, which begins on Saturday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Both teams swept through their respective regionals to set up the first-ever matchup between Texas and Oregon, although there are ties — the last time the Ducks played in a super regional, it was against Schlossnagle’s Aggies two years
ago, a sweep by A&M on the way to the College World Series finals.
Texas has played in 14 super regionals since the current format began in 1999, but hasn’t hosted one since 2021.
For Texas, transfers Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney responded well in their first postseason appearances with the junior right fielder going 6-for-14 (.429) with three home runs and nine RBI and the junior catcher finished 7-for-11 (.636) with a home run and four walks. Freshman right fielder Anthony Pack Jr. was even more impressive in his own postseason debut, setting the school’s postseason record with three home runs on Friday, adding another on Saturday, and 5-for-11 (.455) with three walks and seven RBI.
“I thought guys were in control of their emotions, I thought they were in control of their breath, and therefore they played well,” Schlossnagle said on Monday.
The Horns slashed .376/.493/.761 with 12 home runs in the Austin Regional, outscoring its three opponents 41-7.
Defensively, moving redshirt senior Dariyan Pendergrass into the starting lineup in center field has helped solidify the outfield defense. While Pendergrass hasn’t needed to make many difficult plays yet, he did make a diving catch in right-center against Tarleton State.
And moving Robbins from center to right has allowed him to feel more comfortable and reduce the number of mistakes he’s made in the field — his throwing error against UCSB was his first since early April when he was still playing in enter.
On the mound, Texas will start sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis (9-1, 194 ERA) on Saturday. Volantis was sensational in the Austin Regional, allowing one run on three hits with seven strikeouts in 6.2 innings.
“Dylan’s got a great arm, he’s got size, he’s got angle to his fastball, and he throws fastball, curveball, cutter, and a change. He’s had tremendous effectiveness, holds runners well. He’s got good leg times,” Oregon head coach Mark Wasikowski said on Friday.
“It’s hard to beat a guy like that, right? Very few people have been able to get to him. His breaking ball’s a major league average pitch, if not above average pitch for the major league scale at the college level. The scale is at the top end, right? His breaking ball, maybe it’s the best in the country.”
Beyond starting Volantis on Friday, Schlossnagle also wants to throw senior right-hander Ruger Riojas, but will make more concrete decisions about his pitching rotation after Saturday. After dealing with shoulder tendinitis, Riojas threw 77 pitches in the regional-clinching win over UCSB, the most he’d thrown in nearly six weeks.
Rest over multiple weeks allowed the UTSA transfer to push his fastball velocity back to 96 miles per hour and keep hitters off balance with secondary pitches that gained some bite and pace. In five innings against the Gauchos, Riojas gave up one run on three hits with six strikeouts, looking more like the pitcher who boosted his draft stock so much early in his senior season.
The Texas staff record a 2.00 ERA overall in the Austin Regional.
Oregon arrives in Austin built like an SEC team with a strong pitching staff and a level of physicality at the plate that allowed them to lead the Big Ten with 104 home runs. Five players have reached double digits, including a team-high 15 by 6’2, 200-pound third baseman Drew Smith and 14 apiece from 6’3, 206-pound outfielder Angel Laya and 6’5, 265-pound designated hitter Nouvilou Lauaki Jr.
“We’ve seen all year that it helps fly balls go over the fence. We’ve been able to do that a lot more now the last several years — we’re over 100 homers each of the last several years. The physicality piece is real. We teach and preach it,” Wasikowski said.
“It’s something that I said my first press conference, that we wanted to match up with anybody from a physical standpoint, and you know we haven’t played Texas this year to be able to say if we can or we can’t, but our goals have been to match up with anybody we play against, and we’ve been able to do that so far in terms of our physicality. What does it mean to be 6’3 or better? I don’t know. Baseball is a unique game, right? You just have to play it well, and the team that plays it best this weekend is going to advance the College World Series. We hope that’s us.”
The power comes with some cost — Oregon ranked second in the Big Ten with 509 strikeouts, behind Washington, which finished 11th in the conference regular-season standings.
With a 3.98 ERA, the Ducks enter the Austin Super Regional 11th nationally, allowing opponents to hit .216. No staff in the country strikes out more batters per nine innings at 11.2, led by second-team All-Big Ten right-hander Will Sanford (9-2, 3.46 ERA), who struck out a career-high 14 batters in the 4-0 win over Washington State in the Eugene Regional.
Out of the bullpen, right-hander Tanner Bradley was a first-team All-Big Ten performer who made a team-high 30 appearances with a 5-1 record and a 1.76 ERA and right-hander Devin Bell finished third in the Big Ten with 12 saves, but was the loser in six of the eight decisions into which he factored.
Sanford is scheduled to start on Sunday with Wasikowski giving the Saturday nod to right-hander Cal Scolari (5-0, 2.70 ERA), who struck out a season-high 10 batters in the Big Ten Tournament against Washington.
Because the staff for the Ducks leans towards right-handed pitchers, expect Schlossnagle to lean on his left-handed batters, a positive for the Longhorns since Pendergrass and junior Ashton Larson have been starting regularly in recent games due to injuries.
First pitch on Saturday is at 7 p.m. Central and on Sunday at 8 p.m. Central. Both games air on ESPN. If necessary, the start time and television network for Monday’s game are to be determined.
