OTF Premium Jim Schlossnagle's culture reset has propelled Texas to a red-hot start in SEC play

Jeff Howe · April 6

AUSTIN, Texas — Even with Saturday’s 7-4 win over No. 3 Georgia securing a second series win over a top-three SEC foe, there are six weekends of conference play left in the regular season. It's too early for No. 5 Texas to celebrate.

Still, Jalin Flores and Will Gasparino highlighted a five-run seventh inning with two-run doubles and righty Max Grubbs held the Bulldogs scoreless during 3.1 scoreless innings of relief, propelling the Longhorns to their 11th come-from-behind win of the season. Pulling off such an effort — ignited when Texas (25-4, 10-1 SEC) trailed Georgia (29-4, 8-3) in the fifth inning, 4-0, and Jaquae Stewart drilled a 409-foot laser to right field for a two-run home run — against one of the nation’s hottest clubs (the Bulldogs had won 26 of their last 27 games coming into the series with three series wins in a row over ranked opponents) — is a credit to the championship culture coach Jim Schlossnagle has established in his first season on the Forty Acres.

If the Longhorns hadn’t bought into Schlossnagle’s mantra of playing to a standard instead of the scoreboard when he accepted the job last summer, they wouldn’t be the first SEC squad to reach the 10-win mark in conference play.

“We pitch well enough to where, when we're down, we're not normally down by a ton,” Schlossnagle said. “We've set a culture where you just keep playing and try to keep your eyes off the scoreboard.”

That’s an apropos description of starting pitcher Luke Harrison’s day.

The southpaw allowed three RBI doubles among six hits during a 5.2-inning outing (96 total pitches). Nevertheless, Harrison minimized his mistakes (one walk, a balk, and two hit batters) and fired a career-high nine strikeouts before passing the baton to Grubbs, who gave up just two hits and struck out two without allowing any free passes.

“He kept us in the ballgame,” Schlossnagle said of Harrison. “He kept us close enough.”

Stewart’s home run was one of the few mistakes Brian Curley made while limiting Texas to three hits and striking out nine over five innings. The Longhorns didn’t panic or press. Instead, they stuck to their process of taking pitches and working counts while looking for an opportune time to strike.

“An at-bat in the seventh inning needs to be the same as an at-bat in the third,” Schlossnagle said. “It should be at least. We see pitches and try to use the whole field and don't panic. Make the pitcher bring it over the plate.”

One of the key statistics Schlossnagle tracks in the free pass battle. Texas finished the game with a plus-4 edge in free passes, 7-3. Walks preceding the big extra-base blows by Stewart, Flores and Gasparino helped the Longhorns make the most of their clutch hits.

“I think we've played really good team offense for two days, and then we try to get the timely hit,” Schlossnagle said regarding what worked at the plate through the first two games of the series. Saturday's win improved the team's record to 3-1 when trailing after six innings.

“Just sticking with how we like to play offense,” he added. “We don't have as many marquee players — nationally known marquee players — in there, but Flores came up big today with his best at-bat. Obviously, Gasparino has been swinging the bat really well for a while.”

The same approach that led to a series-clinching win over Georgia positioned Texas for a ninth-inning rally in Tuesday’s 5-3 loss to Texas State. Whereas Kimble Schuessler’s two-out line drive in the bottom of the ninth lacked the lift to get over Dawson Park’s head at second base, Ethan Mendoza’s seventh-inning fly ball got caught in a stiff breeze blowing out to right field, causing outfielder Dan Jackson to misplay it, resulting in an error.

With runners in scoring position, the next batter up was Flores, who laced the game-tying double to the wall in center field.

While Schlossnagle would prefer the Longhorns play from ahead, the mindset required to string together come-from-behind wins should benefit Texas over the long haul. Maintaining pitch-by-pitch, inning-by-inning, game-by-game mentality is the only way Texas can make the most of a red-hot start while facing some of the best teams in the SEC.

“When you have some comeback wins then you don't panic and you just keep playing,” Schlossnagle said. “It doesn't spook you when you get behind.”

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