This weekend, Jim Schlossnagle begins his second year as the head coach in Austin. In year one there wasn’t a consensus on what to expect. Despite a sour ending to the 2025 season, it was an astounding success for Schlossnagle in year one. Nobody expected Texas to win the SEC Championship in year one. Having accomplished that, Schloss has done nothing but raise the expectations for the Longhorn Baseball program. Texas hasn’t made it to Omaha since 2022, and anything short of a berth in the College World Series in 2026 will be viewed as a disappointment. Let’s dive in to a couple of things to watch for as the Longhorns open play in a weekend series at Disch-Falk against UC Davis.
Can the Texas Offense Limit Strikeouts?
The 2025 Texas offense was largely productive and even carried a worn-out pitching staff at times. They hit for power and hit well overall as a team. The glaring issue on offense was too many strikeouts. That was an issue that likely contributed to the 2025 season ending sooner than they’d hoped. It was magnified in the latter part of SEC play and especially the NCAA Tournament.
In the two losses to UTSA in the Austin Regional, Texas struck out 23 times. That is way too many, especially given UTSA was far from the best pitching Texas saw last season. That must improve in 2026 in order for Texas to get where they want to be. The good news is, the coaching staff understands that. In his press conference this week, Schloss acknowledged he’d like to see 100 less strikeouts this year. If you saw his teams at TCU and Texas A&M, they were disciplined at the plate and didn’t strikeout much. Expect the 2026 offense to have a similar approach compared to what we saw last year.
How Will Dylan Volantis Handle The Transition to Being a Starting Pitcher?
In his freshman campaign Dylan Volantis played a pivotal role for the Longhorns. He started out as a mid-week starter, and a reliever. By the season-end he was needed as a starter. He was more than capable to start games, but he was so dominant as a reliever it hurt the bullpen when injuries forced him into his role as a starter. This year Volantis is expected to potentially be the ace of the staff. Schlossnagle surprised everyone by announcing Ruger Riojas as the Friday starter. This may be a strategy to ease Volantis into things before he potentially becomes the Friday starter when SEC play starts.
With Volantis and Riojas being in the starting rotation, it means other pitchers must step up in their absence. Volantis was the closer for much of the 2025 season. Riojas on the other hand, was a high leverage do-it-all reliever. The bullpen will rely upon Thomas Burns, who returns after a promising campaign. Burns is the likely closer, and promising freshmen Brett Crossland and Sam Cozart will play big roles out of the bullpen as well. Another name to watch for is sophomore Jason Flores. Between those three players, the bullpen should provide good options for outs needed to get to Burns. The pitching staff has depth we haven’t seen in Austin a long time. If the pitching stays healthy, this Texas team will be among the best in the nation with a trip to Omaha in their future.
