OTF Premium Texas drops College World Series opener to Georgia, 7-1

[Jeff Howe]

A disastrous first inning set the tone for Saturday’s 7-1 loss to Georgia in the College World Series, sending Texas to the loser’s bracket in Omaha with an elimination game against Alabama coming up on Monday (1 p.m., ESPN).

Dylan Volantis walked third baseman Tre Phelps, setting the table for left field Ryan Lujo’s two-run home run down the left-field line. From there, a throwing error by Carson Tinney on a dropped third strike and one of a career-high four batters Volantis hit loaded the bases for shortstop Kolby Branch.

Volantis struck out Branch, but Tinney’s second throwing error of the inning on a dropped third strike allowed two runs to score. The Bulldogs’ four-run first put the Longhorns in a hole from which they couldn’t emerge, even with Volantis rebounding with seven strikeouts and four hits allowed in 6.1 innings.

Nevertheless, the self-inflicted wounds mounted for Texas (45-14), whose bats suffered 15 strikeouts at the hands of Georgia (53-12) right-handed pitcher Joey Volchko. The Bulldogs got a complete game from Volchko, who walked just one batter and allowed only four singles, including Ethan Mendoza’s opposite RBI base hit in the top of the fifth, which scored Adrian Rodriguez (2-for-3) and accounted for the only run of the game for the Longhorns.

The loss marked the sixth consecutive CWS-opening loss for Texas, which hasn’t won an opener in Omaha since 2009. That was the last time the Longhorns reached the national championship series.

At the same time, the 2014 and 2021 trips to the College World Series saw Texas battle through the loser’s bracket to reach a winner-take-all national semifinal before falling to a pair of eventual national champions, Vanderbilt (2014) and Mississippi State (2021), respectively. If the Longhorns are going to make a run at the championship series, however, the miscues from Saturday's loss must be eliminated.

When the dust settled, Texas committed three errors, threw two wild pitches and hit four batters. Only two of the seven runs Volantis allowed were earned.

Seven of the 15 strikeouts against Volchko were recorded by the first three hitters in the lineup. Tinney’s one-out walk in the ninth inning was the only time he reached base (0-for-3 with two strikeouts); Aiden Robbins and Anthony Pack Jr. both went 0-for-4, with Robbins striking out twice and Pack fanning three times against Volchko.

The Longhorns took two of three from the Crimson Tide in April at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Alabama (42-20) suffered a 9-0 loss to Oklahoma in Saturday’s first game at Charles Schwab Field.

View full news story

[Jeff Howe]

Waiting for the press conference to start. I'll be Schloss, A-Rod and Volantis.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss and the players are at the podium.

[Alex Butler]

Le sigh, I was afraid this was going to happen. Why did it have to be UGA? We’ve got to get those guys. It’s really getting annoying at this point lol. 

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss' opening statement: "Well, there was a delayed start, but we did an awful heck of a job catching everybody up, getting closer to bedtime with that game. Volchko did, for sure."

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss on Volchko: "Volchko was awesome. Didn't walk a guy until the ninth inning and threw an endless amount of strikes. I was actually super impressed in an era of baseball where there's strikeouts and emotional things happen in the game, and I didn't see him once screaming at our team or do anything that some of the kids do these days. I thought he was super professional and was outstanding."

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss: "From a defensive standpoint, that's the worst game we've played the whole season, which is super disappointing on our end. That's a very bad taste in our mouth."

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss on the miscues: "We're certainly looking forward to a good day of practice tomorrow and getting back on the field on Monday to play better baseball because, I don't know if it would have mattered, considering Volchko was so awesome, but, yeah, that was not good on the part of the Longhorns."

[Jeff Howe]

Volantis said he told himself after the first inning that he tried to tell himself that it was a 0-0 game and he needed to go out and compete.

[Jeff Howe]

Volantis said he told Carson Tinney that there are no hard feelings about his errors.

"It happens," he said. "We're going to get that cleaned up."

[Jeff Howe]

Volantis said the great defensive play A-Rod made in the second got things going in the right direction for him.

[Jeff Howe]

"My bad," Volantis said regarding what Tinney told him, walking off the field after the first inning.

[Jeff Howe]

A-Rod: "We don't play to the scoreboard, we play to a standard. Today, we didn't meet that standard."

[Jeff Howe]

A-Rod on facing Volchko: "As a lefty, I knew everything was coming into me, so I needed to beat it to the spot."

[Jeff Howe]

A-Rod said he does not doubt the Longhorns will come back and compete hard on Monday against Alabama.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss said Texas wasn't taking pitches. Volchko's fastball was just hard to pick up because it was 94-96 mph with movement.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss doesn't know if Aiden Robbins taking ball four instead of swinging to open the game would've changed anything. When Volchko stuck out the side, Schloss said he was locked in and it was a tough night for Texas.

[Jeff Howe]

On the two Tinney errors, Schloss said the first was just a mistake. The second one, he said Tinney rushed it.

"I expect him to respond in an awesome way on Monday," he said.

[Jeff Howe]

"He's been lobbing them all season and he's been lobbing them perfect," Schloss said of Tinney handling dropped third strikes. "That one, he didn't."

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss said he doesn't have an update on Ethan Mendoza. He said maybe swinging the bat negatively impacted his shoulder, whereas it hasn't since he suffered the injury at Tennessee.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss said Volchko perfectly executed Georgia's plan. Particularly, he mentioned how Volchko only uses his overhand curveball against lefties, which really tied up Anthony Pack Jr.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss was planning to pull Volantis after the fourth, but Texas scored in the top of the fifth. Schloss felt taking Volantis out would've sent the wrong message to the team.

[Jeff Howe]

Schloss said Ruger Riojas will start the elimination game against Alabama on Monday.

[Jeff Howe]

That's it for the press conference. The Longhorns will practice tomorrow to prepare for Alabama.

[Arch2025]

26 minutes ago, Jeff Howe said:

Schloss: "From a defensive standpoint, that's the worst game we've played the whole season, which is super disappointing on our end. That's a very bad taste in our mouth."

Can’t win titles saving your worst for Omaha.  Stick couldn’t hit with a tennis racket…  no adjustments taking 3 strikes…  def was awful… hitting over matched… just a good ole ass kicking.