Evan Vieth

@TexasFanVY10 Game 2 no matter what

@EvanVieth What do you do with volantis?

I would expect UCSB throws Jackson Flora (arguably the best pitcher in the nation) against Tarleton St. in Game 1, with the expectation of using him to close their final game of the regional. Texas needs to start this regional 2-0.

Which SEC programs have been the most successful in major sports in the 2025-26 athletic calendar year so far?

What to watch for at SEC Spring Meetings x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Texas and Holy Cross are tabbed for Noon CST on Friday, while Tarleton and UCSB will play at 5 PM.

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NCAA Tournament Selection Show Reaction x.com/i/broadcasts/1…

Talking the Austin Regional on the @InsideTexas YouTube channel with @NashTalksTexas in a few minutes, come chat with us!

I asked Jim Schlossnagle about the fourth starter/secondary LR role in his staff, here's what he had to say: "No one has kind of stepped forward." "Obviously. We're planning on Luke, Dylan and Ruger pitching. If we get deeper, and if one of those three guys isn't starting, then we'll have to pick from somebody that either hasn't pitched yet or has already had one. I actually thought Cody (Howard) did really well. He threw a ton of strikes, which is all you can ask from him. Could there have been some better pitch execution on a particular count? Always, but in baseball, you're, you know, an eighth of an inch on the barrel, off the barrel, homer becomes a pop up, and now we're all feeling better about ourselves. I actually think Cody did great. If we got that out of him all the time, in terms of just strikes with the good stuff, then you know that gives us a good chance. I'm not telling you he would be the guy, but you know, (Ethan) Walker's done that. Michael Winter's started games; he threw really well yesterday." "I wish we had someone fully set up right there, but we've tried all year, as you've seen."

Schlossnagle is calling on his offense to work better ABs, and hopes the likes of Robbins and Rodriguez are at their healthiest come the weekend. "We're excited to play better offensive baseball than we did on that day."

Jim Schlossnagle was 'not very happy' about the team's performance in Hoover. "That was embarrassing. Our players were pretty disgusted by it. I was super disgusted by it. I understand what we had to do and how we had to do it, but I don't like watching other teams play in a tournament that we could still be in."

Odds to Win Championship Georgia Tech overtakes UCLA with the best odds to win the National Championship. Still Georgia Tech/UCLA/Georgia against the field from TSR's point of view.

UCSB pitching staff rankings nationally: #8 ERA #11 WHIP #15 K/BB #4 LOB (keep an eye on that with Texas) Flora is elite, but they get good production from starters Montgomery and Proskey and a deep bullpen. Texas bats have to be better than they were in Hoover.

Full quote from Jim Schlossnagle on Texas' practice plans post-Hoover, pre-regional: "Yeah, we're gonna err on the side of work. The saying, 'nothing works unless you do,' that's the one we're living by right now. So we had a good practice. We practiced as soon as we got off the bus on Saturday. We practiced yesterday. We had about two and a half innings worth of inter-squad at-bats for all the kind of regular players. We're giving the guys off today, and then we'll practice again tomorrow morning, and I think we're going to play like seven innings tomorrow, so it may not be full-scale baseball with base running and stuff like that, but it's going to be live pitching versus live hitting. We've rested plenty, our players admittedly miss playing baseball, and when you only play one game in two weeks, that's not a good thing. So we need to mimic the game and mimic kind of our week, you know, play Sunday, play Tuesday, have our Wednesday practice, kind of the way you hear a football coach talk to prepare for the weekend."

UCSB's win condition is this regional going long enough where they can use him in the absolute final game of the weekend as a reliever in the final 3-5 innings on short rest. He'll start game 1, and they'll rest as long as possible and hope to use him Monday if they get there.

Since this has come up, I was referring to the 'OOC slate' as the games BEFORE SEC play, out of conference. Should've worded it better, I'm aware Texas lost two midweeks during SEC play. Going undefeated in pre-conference play was an impressive part of this team's resume.

@TaylorS73470630 I'm not claiming it's unfair or unbalanced, I'm just adding context when it seems a lot of people are brushing this one off. UCSB is a tough draw for Texas, especially when the Horns may only face them twice. Is UNC's harder? For sure, but I wouldn't concede this as 'easy'.

@EvanVieth They did in a single game against Oregon and Southern Miss. They lost those two series. They are your normal two seed with a great frontline starter. They also hit .274 as a team despite playing in a really bad conference. It’s a fair draw.

Any team with a ‘superlative’ is a very tough draw. UCSB has the best pitcher in the nation, and were this tournament to go the distance, Texas would see him. You don’t often get that from 2 seeds as a Top 8 National Seed. They are also No. 8 in ERA as a staff. It’s better than Tennessee, that’s for sure, but the No. 3 is a team that has already beaten you, and UCSB has the pitching to blanket this Texas offense even outside of Flora. They’ve done it to UCLA, Southern Miss, Oregon and USC this year. 4 earned runs in four wins. It’s a scary opponent for a team that can go blank against true top of the line arms.

Schlossnagle notes that this is either his 29th or 30th regional: “This is like Christmas morning to me.” “I’ll never take this moment for granted.”

Schlossnagle choose the noon slot for Friday’s game because his team gets more rest, weather can oddly impact the regional and his players will be antsy to get out on the field.

From talking with Jim Schlossnagle, I’d be very surprised if Texas’ rotation is anything other than: G1: Luke Harrison G2: Dylan Volantis G3: Ruger Riojas Anything after that, they’ll need to figure it out.