Moving sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis into the Friday night role continued to pay dividends for head coach Jim Schlossnagle and the No. 4 Texas Longhorns with a 3-1 win over the No. 10 Mississippi State Bulldogs at UFCU Disch-Falk Field after rain pushed back the start time.
Against a Mississippi Stat team that entered the weekend with the momentum of three straight SEC series wins and the second-best batting average in the conference, Volantis was dominant for a third straight Friday start,
tying his career high with 12 strikeouts over six scoreless innings, working around three hits, two walks, and two wild pitches in moving to 7-0 on the season.
Volantis did have to work through some traffic on the bases in the first inning when a one-out, full-count strikeout on a wild pitch allowed batter to reach first and advance on an infield single before the 6’6, 220-pounder bounced back with consecutive strikeouts, ending the frame with a devastating 1-2 curveball.
In the second, Volantis got some help from junior catcher Carson Tinney, who cut down an attempted base stealer at second after a one-out single. The Texas ace recorded the third out on another strikeout.
The Bulldogs threatened again in the fifth inning when the leadoff batter reached on a single and advanced to second on a one-out wild pitch. After a full-count walk, the lead runner took third on a flyout to right side and a stolen base put runners on second and third with two outs. Again, Volantis produced a strikeout, this time on a high 3-2 fastball, working off the threat of dropping his curveball in for a strike.
When Volantis departed after 107 pitches, Schlossnagle turned to junior left-hander Haiden Leffew, who struck out two batters in the seventh and avoided any damage from a two-out double. In the eighth, with Schlossnagle leery of leaning too heavily on freshman right-hander Sam Cozart, relied upon last weekend for five innings over two appearances, Leffew allowed a leadoff solo home run, issued a walk, and gave up a single before junior right-hander Thomas Burns entered the game.
In a seven-pitch at bat with runners on first and second and one out, Burns continued the trend of big strikeouts before inducing an inning-ending grounder to second base.
On for the ninth, Cozart was efficient in recording his seventh save, striking out the side in order on 12 pitches.
With freshman center fielder Maddox Monsour starting in center field as junior Aiden Robbins moved to right field for the first time this season, the Longhorns struggled against the three Bulldogs pitchers, but came up with enough clutch hits to prevail in the pitchers’ duel.
A leadoff double in the second by junior second baseman Ethan Mendoza produced the first run after the Arizona State transfer advanced to third on a groundout to second base and scored on another groundout to second base by junior designated hitter Ashton Larson.
In the fifth inning, Texas opened up a decisive 3-0 lead with a two-out rally started by Monsour, who singled up the middle, scored second, and then scored on a single by Robbins into right-center field.
After Robbins stole second and Tinney was hit by a pitch, freshman left fielder Anthony Pack Jr. continued his trend of timely hitting with an opposite-field single to drive in Robbins.
Texas goes for the series win on Saturday with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. Central on SEC Network+.
