Jeff Howe

How Friday’s 7-1 win over Houston Christian in the opening game of the Austin Regional unfolded went a lot like the 2025 season has played out for Texas. The Longhorns didn’t win with style points en route to capturing the SEC regular-season championship and the No. 2 overall national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The way Texas (43-12) grounded out wins, surpassing the most optimistic expectations for Jim Schlossnagle’s first season on the Forty Acres, was how it advanced into the winner’s bracket for a Saturday tilt with either UTSA or Kansas State. Offensively, the Longhorns righted the ship with only four strikeouts after fanning 10 more times in seven of their last 10 games, a stretch in which the Texas bats racked up 128 strikeouts. At the same time, the lone extra-base the Longhorns recorded against the Southland Conference Tournament champion Huskies was Will Gasparino’s fifth-inning RBI double to left field, which capped a five-run, six-hit frame. Texas didn’t mash the ball all over UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Instead, it took advantage of three Houston Christian (32-24) errors and manufactured more than enough runs to put itself one step closer to the program hosting a Super Regional for the first time since 2021. "You've got to give Parker Edwards credit," Schlossnagle said of the Huskies' starting pitcher. Edwards did his job, holding the Longhorns to one hit before Texas finally created separation in the fifth. "Any time you look on the roster, and you see a guy is a No. 1 starter for a team that's in a regional, and he's a senior, that just tells you he's been around the block," Schlossnagle said. "He's not going to be spooked. He's running it up there 95 [mph]. He had a good cutter going today. "Sometimes," he added, "it's OK for the other team to be good." Gasparino drew a four-pitch walk to lead off the third inning, stole second base, advanced to third on an infield chopper freshman phenom Jonah Williams turned into a single and scored when Ethan Mendoza was retired on a 6-3 groundout. Second baseman Jeremy Rader, who left the game with an undisclosed upper body injury after a violent fifth-inning collision with Williams, couldn’t handle a ground ball off Max Belyeu’s bat, bringing Williams home and putting the Longhorns in front for good. "Somebody needed to come up with a big hit," said Kimble Schuessler, whose two-run single highlighted the productive Texas fifth. "We were able to get some guys on base, and then were able to come up with that big hit." Schuessler’s decisive blow brought Williams home and allowed Mendoza to score, even though a play at the plate had to be reviewed before the second run could be officially tallied. After a bullet from right fielder Tevis Payne nailed Mendoza at the plate in the first inning, a second issue sliding into home nearly brought another Texas inning to an abrupt end. Schlossnagle was visibly upset with Adrian Rodriguez, who contributed to the chaos as the lone man in a home uniform in Mendoza’s line of vision as he tried to cross the plate in both situations. "If the ball is coming from right field, you've got to tell him to not just slide, but to get to the back side of home plate," Schlossnagle said. "The same thing when the ball is coming from left field. "That was a pretty inexpensive experience," he added. "It can be expensive real quick this time of year, so we have to be better." Rodriguez made up for it, though, bringing Schuessler home from second with an RBI single up the middle. Jalin Flores and Casey Borba made it three consecutive Texas singles, the latter bringing Rodriguez home before Gasparino ended the scoring. Friday’s win felt like a typical midweek game. Thankfully, the Longhorns got a similar result to their 12-2 seven-inning run-rule win over Houston Christian on April 8 by playing an error-free game in the field behind three pitchers — lefty Ethan Walker, Grayson Saunier and hard-throwing righty Hudson Hamilton — who scattered eight hits over nine innings, struck out six and issued only two free passes (a hit batter charged to Saunier and a walk charged to Hamilton). As for the offense, an unspectacularly solid performance is one Schlossnagle wants the Longhorns to build on as they continue a road they hope takes them to Omaha for an NCAA-record 39th time. "We got on them pretty good the last five or six days," Schlossnagle said. "We challenged the offense. It wasn't meant to build pressure. It was meant to hold it to a little bit of a higher standard. If you're going to be gritty about anything, have it be the preparation. Then, when the game gets here, you need to do the opposite: you have fun. I think, early on, everybody feels it. You haven't played in a week, and you want to score nine runs, and your coaches have been onto you about being a better offensive team. We put together some good swings, and how we end up with a north wind and Austin, Texas, on May 30, I'll never know. "I think if we had those balls carry out of the ballpark or something like that, we maybe feel a little bit better," he added. "But, 7-1? We'll take it and keep moving on." View full news story

Today's game felt like a typical midweek game. Nothing to write home about, but it got the job done.

Today, it was Victor Rojas and Keith Moreland.

The Longhorns will meet the winner of tonight's game between UTSA and Kansas State at 8 p.m. tomorrow.

FINAL: Texas 7, Houston Christian 1

A 6-4 fielder's choice puts Texas one out away from the win.

It hasn't been anywhere near this bad this season. At least in terms of the volume of errors in one game.

End of 8: Texas 7, Houston Christian 1

Mendoza grounds out to third to end the inning. Hamilton is back out to try and finish this one off.

Since it's an ESPN+ broadcast, they're probably using the student workers who run the SEC Network+ games during the regular season.

Schloss hangs his head as Borba gets tagged out in a pointless rundown for the second out of the inning.

Back-to-back walks by Borba and Gasparino to open the Texas eighth.

Jack Hamilton is the new pitcher for the Huskies. He'll face Borba, Gasparino and Farmer in the bottom of the eighth.

M8: Texas 7, HCU 1

Seven in a row retired by Hamilton and the Longhorns are three defensive outs away from a win.

Two down in the HCU eighth.

A great defensive play by Rodriguez nets the second out of the inning. The ball took a fortunate hop off the mound.

End of 7: Texas 7, Houston Christian 1

Flores missed a home run by a few feet. A drive to left died on the warning track, where Walker made the catch.

Ferazzi has retired six in a row since coming out of the HCU bullpen.

Texas has a 7-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh. Flores comes up with the bases empty and two outs.

Hamilton makes quick work of the Huskies in the seventh. A 10-pitch inning puts the Longhorns six outs away from advancing into the winner's bracket.

End of 6: Texas 7, Houston Christian 1

Laxton, lined up in shallow right, takes away a base hit from Belyeu. He's retired on a 4-3 groundout in a 1-2-3 sixth for the Huskies.