Entering the first game of a three-game series with the Spartans tied for the team lead with two home runs (6-for-15 at the plate with five runs scored through four games) while leading the Longhorns with seven RBI and 12 total bases, Mendoza launched his third long ball of the young season in the bottom of the second. The two-run opposite-field shot was one of three home runs Texas (5-0) pounded out in front of 7,808 fans at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, highlighting Mendoza's 3-for-4 night at the plate with a double, two runs scored and two RBI.
“I just try to recommit every AB,” Mendoza said after recording a multi-hit game for the third time in five games. “It's really not like a hot streak or anything like that. I just take it one pitch at a time. If you have that mentality, I feel like you can do some pretty good things.”
Although he slugged four home runs in his first 34 at-bats after transferring from Arizona State for the 2025 season, Mendoza tallied just one dinger the rest of the way. The difference in Mendoza's three home runs in his first 20 at-bats in 2026 is that the additional pop in the junior’s bat appears to be a sustainable source Texas can count on at the top of the order.
“It's more true power this year,” coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I think last year, he hit some balls that got up in the wind when we had those early-season (games) like we'll have tomorrow — it's kind of a north wind that cuts across the field and the ball goes out to right (field).”
Mendoza's ability to go the other way for his home run and use the whole field is part of what makes him the offensive catalyst in the leadoff spot. With the influx of talent the Longhorns brought in from the transfer portal, Schlossnagle said he’s told professional scouts that he can’t remember a time in his coaching career when he’s had three right-handed hitters who can hit to all fields the way Mendoza, catcher Carson Tinney and center fielder Aiden Robbins can.
With switch-hitting shortstop Adrian Rodriguez, who went 2-for-5 with two doubles in Friday’s win, “taking a jump from the right side of the plate,” according to Schlossnagle, Texas has the potential to get on base and drive in runs in multiple ways.
“I think those are the four guys,” Schlossnagle said. “You see why guys hit for a high average when they’re able to use the whole field.”
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A late-season sickness derailed Ruger Riojas’ first season in a Longhorn uniform. Determined to return to the mound and be someone Schlossnagle and pitching coach Max Weiner can count on from start to finish in 2026, Riojas looks like a different pitcher through his first two Friday starts.
Riojas mowed down Michigan State (2-2) to the tune of a career-high 10 strikeouts. Scattering three hits and one walk over six innings against the Spartans, Riojas has fired 19 strikeouts against two walks while allowing six hits and two earned runs through 11 innings of work.
“I feel stronger. I look a lot better,” Riojas said after picking up his second win in as many starts. “I look at myself in the mirror and I don't look like I'm a buck fifty anymore. Seeing the work I've put in at the TANC and the weight room is definitely paying off.”
The staff wants to keep the 195-pound Riojas’ weight up and “keep him strong,” Schlossnagle said. While Riojas’ 97 mph fastball is the most noticeable sign of the strength gains he’s made, his seven-pitch repertoire allows him to toe the rubber confident that he can execute any pitch Weiner calls at any point in the game.
“I think Ruger's beauty is that he can pitch in a variety of ways,” Schlossnagle said. “Tonight, he used his fastball a little more. That's a team that they like to swing and they don't swing and miss a ton, especially the guys at the top.”
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