MUSINGS FROM THE DISCH
What a weekend it was at Disch-Falk FIeld. In case you were in Cabo or otherwise occupied, the #8 Texas Longhorns hosted the #2 LSU Tigers for a three game series, the first home SEC series nonetheless. From a baseball perspective, you could not have asked for much more from the weekend. In what Coach Jim Schlossnagle called a classic SEC weekend, the games included just about everything. There were big home runs, timely hits, stellar defensive plays, elite pitching, and even a coach ejection.
All of this in front of a combined 21K fans over the three days. As they always do, LSU faithful travelled well, but the first comment out of Coach Schlossnagle's mouth today was about how amazing the crowd was and multiple Texas players echoed that sentiment. Rylan Galvan and Jalin Flores stated it was the best crowd that they had seen since their time at Texas. Max Grubbs said that the crowd is what helped carry him through his Saturday performance, and of course Ruger Riojas was all smiles in recounting the feeling he had walking off the field after his Sunday masterclass.
One person inside the program texted me this morning and said that the atmosphere was ELECTRIC.
The crowds and the wins over LSU were doubly important because it wasn't just a conference series win over the #2 team in the nation, but it happened in front of some of the biggest 2025 and 2026 recruits and a few top tier prospects.
The other notable aspect about the win is that it is the first time that the Horns have won a series over a Top 5 team since May 9th, 2021 when Texas went to Fort Worth and beat a Jim Schlossnagle coached TCU team.
One other fun fact that I forgot to bring forward last Monday is that the road series sweep over Mississippi State was a first for Jim Schlossnagle in his SEC coaching career as well. During his tenure at Texas A&M, they never swept a team on the road.
Overall, I thought the Horns played an outstanding brand of baseball this weekend. While they certainly were not perfect, including a loss to LSU on Friday night, they didn't look like they didn't belong on the field against the #2 team in the nation. The Texas coaches pushed all the right buttons and the players responded in a big way after the Friday night loss when there were some feelings of dejection.
Plate discipline, mental makeup from the pitching staff, timely hitting, adjusting to what the pitchers were throwing, and overall defense was great.
DOMINATE THE DAMN ZONE!
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Teams that impressed this weekend: Arkansas, Georgia, Vanderbilt, Troy, Arizona, Georgia Tech
- Arkansas took it to South Carolina this weekend and dominated in all facets
- Georgia swept Florida over the weekend, battering the Gators in the final two games of the series
- Vanderbilt swept Texas A&M at home, overcoming Aggy starting pitching
- Troy took two of three against Coastal Carolina in one of the biggest mid-major series on the weekend
- Arizona took two of three against a West Virginia team that had been on an absolute tear
- Georgia Tech swept Notre Dame over the weekend and now leads the ACC
Teams that disappointed this weekend: Florida, Stanford, Louisville, UC Santa Barbara, Texas A&M, Virginia
- Florida got swept again for the second weekend in a row. Yes, they have faced Tenn and Georgia, but ugly start from the Gators
- Stanford got swept by Cal, a weekend after sweeping Duke. Ouch
- Louisville had been cruising but inexplicably lost two of three to Virginia Tech this weekend
- UC Santa Barbara had been the darling of mid-major baseball, but lost 2 of 3 to Hawaii last weekend then got swept by UC Irvine this weekend
- Texas A&M from preseason #1 to unranked and starting conference 0-6 after back to back sweeps. Ouch
- Virginia started the season as #2 in the nation but are now unranked after getting swept by Duke and having lost their last four games
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Check out the latest episode of Around the Horns as I sat down with Coach Schlossnagle to talk Texas Baseball
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Useless Stat(s) of the Day:
- The Saturday win over #2 LSU represented the first series win against a Top 5 opponent since May 9, 2021 over then #3 TCU, coached at the time by Jim Schlossnagle.
- From 2021 to 2024, here is the Horns record against Top 10 teams: 7-13
- After a bit of a struggle at the plate, freshman Adrian Rodriguez appears to be back at the plate. On the season, he is hitting .333, but he hit .500 over the weekend
- Spreading the wealth – 7 different Horns have hit a home run on the season. Galvan leads the way with 9 home runs.
Updated Rankings & RPI:
- Texas RPI - #14
- D1Baseball – #7
- Baseball America – #3
- CBC – #6
- 64 Analytics – #5
Mid-Week Preview:
Opponent: Sam Houston
Date: Tues March 25th
Time: 630pm
Where: Disch-Falk Field
TV: SEC Network+
History:
- First Met: 1952
- All-Time Record: 84-19
- Horns are 78-19 at Disch-Falk Field
- Last Meeting: 2024 – Texas beat Sam Houston 16-9 with Charlie Hurley getting the win. In fact, the pitchers did outstanding against Sam Houston, except for a horror inning from Cody Howard in which he gave up 7 runs. Offensively, the Horns hit 5 home runs on the evening
- Texas last lost to Sam Houston in 2015
- Texas is currently on an 11 game winning streak against the Bearkats
- Sam Houston is picked to finish 5th out of 10 teams in the Conf USA
- This past weekend, Sam Houston lost 2 of 3 to Louisiana Tech
- Overall, Sam Houston is 0-5 against Quad 1 teams and 0-1 against Quad 2 teams.
Records:
Texas: 19-3 (5-1 SEC)
Sam Houston: 7-17 (1-2 Conf USA)
RPI
Texas – 14
Sam Houston - 208
Probable Pitching Matchups:
Texas RHP Jason Flores or LHP Kade Bing v. RHP Danny Valadez (2-1, 2 saves, 12 apps, 5.16 ERA, 12 BB, 15 K, .270 B/Avg)
-- Danny will be making his first start of the season
--Danny is a Junior from Round Rock, who went to Cedar Ridge HS, originally having signed with Baylor out of HS
Bullpen Leaders:
Noah Kendrick (0-3, 3.57 ERA, 22.2 IP)
Danny Valadez (2-1, 5.16 ERA, 22.2 IP)
Cole Marthiljohni (2-1, 5.54 ERA, 13 IP)
Offensive Leaders:
Brady Christensen (.304 BA, .949 OPS, 2 HR, 14 RBI, .493 SLG%, .456 OB%, 3-3 SB)
Hunter Autrey (.301 BA, .894 OPS, 3 HR, 22 RBI, .484 SLG%, .410 OB%, 8-10 SB)
>>> Hunter is the older brother of Texas commit Easton Autrey
Jace Martinez (.297 BA, .819 OPS, 2 HR, 10 RBI, .446 SLG%, .373 OB%, 4-5 SB)
Stats Comparison
| STAT | TEXAS | SAM HOUSTON |
| Batting Average | .296 | .261 |
| OPS | .909 | .752 |
| Runs | 162 | 141 |
| Hits | 224 | 211 |
| 2B | 52 | 37 |
| 3B | 7 | 12 |
| HR | 33 | 12 |
| RBI | 150 | 127 |
| SLG% | .515 | .382 |
| BB | 107 | 127 |
| K | 193 | 239 |
| OB% | .394 | .370 |
| SB-ATT | 27-38 | 37-50 |
| ERA | 3.42 | 6.71 |
| WHIP | 1.22 | 1.76 |
| Saves | 11 | 3 |
| BB | 84 | 106 |
| SO | 196 | 167 |
| B/Avg | .217 | .307 |
| Errors | 22 | 36 |
| Fielding% | .973 | .959 |
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Game Prediction:
- Texas wins the game
- On the season, I am 17-5 with my predictions
Weekend Prediction:
On the season for non-conference games, I am 32-16
- Week One: 5-3
- Week Two: 6-2
- Week Three: 5-3
- Week Four: 7-1
- Week Five: 4-4
- Week Six: 5-3
On the season for SEC games, I am 11-5
- Conf Week One: 6-2
- Conf Week Two: 5-3
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SEC Weekend Recap:
- Alabama – Tide beat #1 Tennessee on Friday but lost the next two
- Arkansas – Razorbacks swept South Carolina with ease
- Auburn – Tigers took 2 of 3 from Kentucky, losing the Sunday finale
- Florida – Gators got swept by a red-hot Georgia team
- Georgia – Bulldogs swept Florida, battering them in the final two games
- Kentucky – Wildcats lost back to back one run games, before bouncing back with a Sunday win
- LSU – Tigers won the Friday night opener and then lost the next two to Texas
- Mississippi State – Bulldogs beat Oklahoma Friday night, but then lost the next two to the Sooners
- Missouri – Tigers got swept by Ole Miss as their struggles continue
- Oklahoma – Sooners lost the opener, but bounced back to win the next two games against Miss State
- Ole Miss – Rebels swept the Tigers, on the back of their offense
- South Carolina – Cocks got swept by Arkansas, who battered them
- Tennessee – Vols lost the first game, but bounced back to win the series against Bama
- Texas – Horns lost game one to LSU, but bounced back in a big way to win the series
- Texas A&M – Aggies got swept on the road at Vanderbilt
- Vanderbilt – Dores swept the offensively hapless Aggies
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SEC RPI Rankings:
- Tennessee – 1
- Arkansas – 2
- Georgia – 4
- Ole Miss – 6
- Vanderbilt – 8
- Alabama – 10
- Auburn – 11
- Oklahoma – 12
- Texas – 14
- South Carolina – 28
- Florida – 34
- Kentucky – 35
- LSU – 38
- Mississippi State – 61
- Texas A&M – 117
- Missouri – 203
Zach's Power Rankings:
- Tennessee
- Arkansas
- Georgia
- Texas
- Alabama
- LSU
- Oklahoma
- Ole Miss
- Vanderbilt
- Auburn
- Kentucky
- Mississippi State
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Texas A&M
- Missouri
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Top 25 Rankings (per D1Baseball.com)
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