Tag: texas longhorns baseball

Texas baseball wins two of three games against Texas Tech

Texas got a bounce back series win on the road against Texas Tech.

The Texas Longhorns got back in the win column against the Texas Tech Red Raiders over the weekend. The Longhorns took a series win with two victories in three days.

The much needed performance followed a four-game losing streak. The losing skid is in the rear view mirror after the team began Big 12 play with a 2-1 start in Lubbock.

Texas scored 22 runs in the first of three games to highlight the series performance. Its high scoring output unleashed four games worth of frustration on the diamond.

That it was able to put up so many runs against an opponent of Texas Tech’s caliber is noteworthy for the team moving forward. While series win doesn’t erase big picture concerns we have for the program, it was an impressive response to an adverse start to the season.

Texas will look to channel the momentum into more wins in Big 12 play. The Longhorns improve to 9-6 on the season.

Texas baseball drops its fourth straight in loss to Texas A&M, 9-2

Texas baseball hasn’t been all that competitive against top teams.

Texas baseball lost its fourth straight game on Tuesday. The Longhorns fell to the surging Texas A&M Aggies who in contrast are off to a scorching start.

The four-game stretch has seen Texas lose to good teams, but the Longhorns were completely outclassed in all four matchups. From a blown eight-run lead against Vanderbilt to a late inning lead against Texas State, head coach David Pierce’s team couldn’t capitalize even when it had an advantage.

In fairness to Pierce and company, top programs go through tough stretches. It’s normal for good teams to lose several games simply because baseball involves multiple variables. Even so, blown leads, unreliable performance and not playing up to top competition are indicators that a baseball team might not succeed in the postseason.

Texas can still improve, but the early start to the season portends what could be another disappointing postseason for college baseball’s most storied program. The team will need focused effort to live up to its high aspirations.

Texas A&M demolishes Texas in front of a record crowd in Austin to move to 12-0 on the year

The Aggies best their little brother to the tune of 9-2 in front of 8,000 plus fans in Austin on Tuesday night

Texas A&M (12-0) got hot late and scored six runs in the final three innings to win 9-2 over Texas (9-5).

The Aggies flexed their dominance in Austin in front of a crowd of 8.060 fans at Disch-Falk Field. Braden Montgomery got the Aggies on the board first with a home run over the right-center field just two pitches after Jace LaViolette was hit by a ball, giving the Maroon & White a quick 2-0 lead. The Maroon & White would hold that two-run lead until the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Longhorns took advantage of a free base and a fielding error, allowing them to put a running in scoring position. Then, a sac bunt followed by a sac fly was put across the plate to cut the lead to 2-1. A&M answered back immediately in the top of the fifth inning when Hayden Schott hit a two-out single through the right side, scoring LaViolette.

The game really opened up in the Aggies’ favor in the top of the seventh inning. A Gavin Grahovac single and Montgomery’s walk, followed by an error by the left fielder during Schott’s at-bat, allowed an unearned run for a 4-1 lead. A Ted Burton sac fly scored Montgomery, and a Jaxon Appel home run put two more on the board, extending the lead to 7-2 with two innings left.

With the bases loaded in the top of the eighth inning, Schott hit the ball to right field that should have only allowed one run, but the fielder let the ball bounce off his leg, allowing LaViolette and Grahovac to score standing up for the last two runs of the inning. After walking the lead-off batter and allowing him to advance due to a wild pitch, Shane Sdao shut down any hope of a miracle comeback by striking out the next three batters for a 9-2 Aggie win.

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Baseball Lone Star Showdown returns as No. 6 Texas A&M Aggies face No. 22 Texas Longhorns

The undefeated Aggies roll into a midweek matchup in Austin at Texas following the College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

The undefeated Texas A&M baseball team rolls into a midweek matchup in Austin at the University of Texas following a three-game set in the College Baseball Series this past weekend at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

Junior right-handed pitcher Chris Cortez (1-0) is scheduled to start for the No. 6 Aggies (11-0) against redshirt junior RHP Tanner Witt (0-0). On Monday, Texas A&M moved up one spot in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll. Meanwhile, the No. 22 Longhorns (7-4) dropped nine spots.

Texas has lost three games in a row following a challenging three-game set in the Astros Foundation College Classic at Minute Maid Park this weekend.

The Longhorns lost 6-3 on Friday to the reigning national champions, No. 2 LSU. Texas was upset 11-10 by Texas State on Saturday. The Longhorns were defeated 14-11 on Sunday by No. 10 Vanderbilt.

The Aggies swept McNeese State to begin the season, outscoring the Cowboys 31-1. Texas A&M beat Incarnate Word 9-3 on Feb. 20, Lamar 13-2 on Feb. 27 and USC 9-3 on Saturday in single game play.

In the second weekend at Blue Bell Park, the Aggies swept Wagner and outscored the Seahawks 40-4. Texas A&M beat Arizona State 4-0 and 10-5 on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

The Aggies play the No. 22 Longhorns at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Texas baseball gets swept at Astros Foundation College Classic

Texas opponents sat the Longhorns down one, two, three in the three-game showcase.

The Texas baseball squad went winless this weekend in the Astros Foundation College Classic. What looked to be a tremendous opportunity to bolster its NCAA tournament resume resulted in a three-game sweep.

The Longhorns’ bats have struggled in the early going this season, but it was the pitching that led to the three losses. The pitching staff allowed 31 runs in the three games capped by a 14-11 loss to Vanderbilt on Sunday.

Texas didn’t lose for lack of offensive power. The Longhorns held a 10-9 lead heading into the ninth inning of Saturday’s game against Texas State before allowing two runs in the final inning. On Sunday, the team blew an 11-3 lead through four innings to allow 11 unanswered runs to end the game.

There’s plenty of baseball left to play, and one weekend won’t define how far the team can go in the postseason. But the three games illustrate just how far Texas is from competing atop college baseball this season.

The Longhorns will next face Texas A&M on Tuesday.

Texas baseball begins most exciting stretch of the season Friday

It doesn’t get any better for Texas baseball in the regular season than the next seven games.

The Texas baseball program approaches the most exciting part of the schedule. In the process, the Longhorns will get a glance at their future baseball conference.

Texas kicks off a loaded seven-game stretch on Friday. The team begins the Astros Foundation College Classic on that day against reigning national champions in the LSU Tigers before facing Texas State and Vanderbilt on the following days.

The results of the games won’t determine the success of the season but will give an idea of the team’s postseason chances.

After facing two of the SEC’s best baseball teams in Vanderbilt and LSU, the Longhorns head home from Houston to face the Texas A&M Aggies for a Tuesday night game. Despite the Aggies’ failures in other sports, head coach Jim Schlossnagle has built a strong baseball program in College Station.

The Longhorns follow the four-game stretch with a road trip to Lubbock to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a game with potential Big 12 ramifications.

The seven-game stretch provides an exciting opportunity for Texas to face some of college baseball’s best teams, but could also come with a handful of losses. Given that the Longhorns only face LSU, Texas State, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M once each, we could see several coin flip games fall in the favor of Texas opponents.

Despite the potential downside of the tougher portion of the schedule, it provides an opportunity to build an NCAA tournament resume. Should Texas win three of four in the four nonconference games, it could position the team for high tournament seeding.

The Longhorns are about to face the most exciting portion of their schedule. They’ll look to leave the seven games with more wins than losses.

Social media reacts to Jalin Flores’ grand slam into the Yeti Yard

Friday evening was the largest opening day crowd in school history.

It was an electric Friday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin. Continue reading “Social media reacts to Jalin Flores’ grand slam into the Yeti Yard”

Texas baseball begins quest for trip No. 39 to College World Series

Texas’ final baseball season in the Big 12 and journey to Omaha starts Friday night.

Baseball excellence resumes in Austin on Friday night. The Texas Longhorns will open their final Big 12 baseball season with a nonconference battle with San Diego Toreros, the university that produced MLB star Kris Bryant, at Disch-Falk Field.

The Longhorns are widely viewed as a contender to make the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The program is head and shoulders above the rest of college baseball in World Series appearances with 38. They will look to make it 39 in 2024.

The upcoming season marks the end of Big 12 baseball for Texas after playing in the league since 1997. It sets up big matchups with recent baseball rivals TCU and Texas Tech among others.

Starting pitcher Labarron Johnson Jr. leads the Longhorns into what projects to be a memorable season. Fellow pitcher Tanner Witt, outfielder Porter Brown, third baseman Peyton Powell, outfielder Jared Thomas and second baseball Jack O’Dowd return as key players for the team.

Freshman Will Gasparino was at one point given a Top-100 draft rating, but instead chose to play outfield for Texas. The top prospect could play a big role in improving the Texas lineup in 2024.

The schedule features plenty of teams that should fire up Texas faithful. The Astros Foundation College Classic at Minute Maid park gives the Longhorns matchups with the LSU Tigers, Texas State Bobcats and Vanderbilt Commodores. That slate begins with the Tigers on Mar. 1.

LSU, of course, comes off a national title victory in 2023. Vanderbilt has made two of the last four World Series finals and won it all in 2019 while Texas State has been a program on the rise in recent seasons. The trio of games won’t determine the success of the season, but will provide NCAA tournament-quality opponents early in the year.

Texas follows the classic invitational with Texas A&M at home on March 5. Next, the team faces a three-game road battle over that weekend with Texas Tech March 8-10.

In other notable games for the year, the Longhorns will play host to the Washington Huskies (Mar. 15-17), TCU Horned Frogs (April 19-21) and Oklahoma State Cowboys (May 3-5). The team will face Oklahoma in Norman, April 26-28.

Texas has the pieces to contend for Omaha again in 2024. They begin that championship push on Friday against San Diego at 7 p.m. CT on the Longhorn Network.

Former Longhorns 1B Brandon Belt reportedly a Texas Rangers target

Former Longhorns baseball player Brandon Belt could be coming back to one MLB team in Texas.

One former Texas Longhorns baseball player might be headed back to his home state. The Texas Rangers have reportedly discussed bringing veteran first baseman Brandon Belt to Arlington, Texas.

The homecoming for Belt should bring a positive reception. The former Longhorns standout earned several honors while in Austin. Among those honors were Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player and All-Big 12 team honorable mention.

While in Austin, Belt batted .321 for his career with a .399 on base percentage. The gifted athlete also posted a 4.19 ERA in one season as a pitcher on the Forty Acres.

The Longhorn legend has continued his strong play even late into his career. Since 2020, Belt ranks No. 5 among current MLB first basemen in on base percentage, No. 6 in slugging percentage, No. 4 in on base plus slugging plus and No. 2 in walk percentage.

Belt played a significant role in Texas’ runner up season in 2009 where the Longhorns fell to the LSU Tigers for a College World Series title. His knack for championship baseball carried over to the major leagues where Belt won World Series titles in 2012 and 2014 with the San Francisco Giants.

The productive player’s former manager Bruce Bochy is likely a leading voice in discussions about bringing Belt back to Texas. He would likely add a clubhouse leader to the fold that Bochy can trust.

Brandon Belt could be coming back to Texas. We will keep an eye on where he lands for the 2024 baseball season.

Texas A&M Baseball learned it’s two permanent opponents for 2025 and beyond

Texas & LSU are named as the Aggie Baseball’s permanent opponents starting during the 2025 season.

The SEC announced the permanent opponents for each SEC team starting in 2025. The committee got this one right, and I have no complaints about watching Texas A&M face long-time rival and soon-to-be conference mates again, the Texas Longhorns. LSU also became a bitter rival shortly after arriving in the SEC, which has grown across the Aggie athletics.

LSU and Texas always field really good teams, making each meeting a possible SEC Title Game Preview.

Below you can see the permanent opponents for the remainder of the SEC.

Alabama: Auburn, Tennessee

Arkansas: Ole Miss, Missouri

Auburn: Alabama, Georgia

Florida: Georgia, South Carolina

Georgia: Florida, Auburn

Kentucky: South Carolina, Vanderbilt

LSU: Mississippi State, Texas A&M

Ole Miss: Mississippi State, Arkansas

Mississippi State: Ole Miss, LSU

Missouri: Oklahoma, Arkansas

Oklahoma: Missouri, Texas

South Carolina: Kentucky, Florida

Tennessee: Vanderbilt, Alabama

Texas: Texas A&M, Oklahoma

Vanderbilt: Tennessee, Kentucky

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on Twitter: @whosnextsports1.