The Texas Longhorns are hosting an NCAA Baseball Regional for the first time since 2022 and welcome UTSA, Houston Christian and Kansas State to Disch Falk Field. Jim Schlossnagle and players Jalin Flores (shortstop) and Luke Harrison (pitcher) provided comments to the media relative to the upcoming regional which gets underway at 1:00 pm on Friday.
Head coach Jim Schlossnagle opened the session sharing his excitement for the start of the postseason, his first as head coach of the Longhorns.
Welcome everyone to Austin. I want to welcome all the media members, fans and teams of the other three schools. I’m super excited to get going. It’s been a while since we’ve played, and we have had some great work the last week. Our team has gotten some good rest. We will get a new fence put up in center field and be ready to go.
A hot topic for the last couple of weeks has been the health of freshman outfielder Jonah Williams. Williams sustained a hamstring injury and missed the Longhorns’ last four games, but could see playing time this weekend according to Schlossnagle.
Jonah moved around pretty well yesterday and today. He was going to do some more agility-type work this afternoon and maybe after our practice. As soon as I get an update from our training staff, we will have a better idea. He is going to be available this weekend, but we just don’t know what role yet.
The biggest question mark for Texas headed into regional play is the pitching rotation. Ever since ace Jared Spencer was lost for the season with an injury, Schlossnagle has had to play chess with his starting pitching, moving around bullpen arms to assemble a trio of starters. Here’s what he said about how he will approach the regional from a pitching perspective.
Ideally, we’d have four regular starting pitchers that you have been using all year and you feel super confident in those. We have had a couple years where we have had that and you pick what the matchup is. There are other years where you have issues like we have had losing Jared Spencer and you have to balance winning a game versus giving your team the best chance of winning a regional, but it also goes into who you are playing. Not all No. 1 seeds are equal and not all No. 4 seeds are equal.
Pitcher Luke Harrison likes what he saw from Ethan Walker, who earned his first start against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament.
I think we saw a guy that loves baseball and loves to compete. I think what was even more impressive was how he handled himself throughout the season. He showed up the same every day. He was a great teammate and he supported everybody.
Walker will get his second start of the season on Friday against Houston Christian in the Longhorns’ first game of the Austin Regional.
Jalin Flores on playing at Disch Falk Field:
Being on the road is a cool atmosphere, but being at home is a blessing with the fan base we have. Everyone is going to come out and support each team and I think the whole weekend is going to be fun and exciting.
Flores on the intensity of regional play:
Everyone is amped up, but you have to bring that same mentality every day and have good preparation. You have that same Opening Day mentality each day and trust your preparation, and that is what we are going to lean on. Go out there and have fun like it’s Opening Day, do our thing, play our ball and the results will come.
Texas and Houston Christian play at 1:00 pm on Friday with the winner advancing to play the winner of Kansas State and UTSA on Saturday.
