Dylan Volantis Returns to Form as Texas Opens Missouri Series With Win

Last weekend in Knoxville, Dylan Volantis delivered something Texas fans had rarely seen before.

The sophomore left-hander turned in one of his shakiest outings of the season, allowing three runs in five innings while recording a season-low two strikeouts — a rare “human” performance from a pitcher who has spent most of the spring looking nearly untouchable.

Thursday night against Missouri, Volantis looked like his good old Friday night self again.

Behind another dominant outing from the Longhorns’ ace, No. 6 Texas opened its final SEC series of the regular season with a 6-3 win over Missouri at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Volantis struck out 11 batters across seven innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run while helping Texas improve to 38-12 overall and 17-10 in SEC play.

The outing lowered Volantis’ ERA from 2.13 to 2.05 — the best mark in the SEC.

“Just good to see that response,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Last week, he didn’t pitch bad. He just had, for Dylan Volantis, kind of a B-minus day.”

Texas returns to winning form behind Volantis

Texas Baseball — Texas sophomore pitcher Dylan Volantis tosses a pitch at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas. | Texas Athletics

Things did not start perfectly, as Missouri leadoff hitter Jase Woita crushed a solo homer in the opening inning — just the second home run Volantis has allowed all season.

But after that mistake, the sophomore settled in nicely. Volantis struck out three batters in the first inning alone and added three more punchouts in the second to reach 100 strikeouts on the season.

From there, Missouri barely threatened. And by the end of the seventh inning, Volantis had thrown 97 pitches and allowed only one hit after the opening-frame homer. The outing marked the fourth time in Volantis’ last five starts that he reached double-digit strikeouts.

“I certainly mentioned a few things to him last week, that 'you're Dylan Volantis; don’t ever let it leave your mind that you’re one of the best pitchers in the country,'" Schlossnagle said. “I think he learned from that and obviously had a good response today."

Borba stays red-hot as offense does enough

Texas junior first baseman Casey Borba celebrates a home run against the Texas State Bobcats. | Texas Athletics

Texas struggled early against Missouri starter Josh McDevitt, leaving runners stranded in scoring position in both the third and fourth innings. But the breakthrough finally came in the fifth when Ethan Mendoza lifted a sacrifice fly to give Texas a 2-1 lead.

An inning later, Borba crushed a two-run homer to left-center field — his 16th home run of the season and fourth over his last six games.

“He stayed on that change-up and kind of stayed through it and lifted it up and got it out of the ballpark,” Schlossnagle said. “The overall run production, it's hard to argue with; he's a good offensive player.”

Texas added another insurance run later in the inning on Anthony Pack Jr.’s RBI single before Carson Tinney blasted a solo homer in the eighth.

After Volantis exited, Missouri tagged Haiden Leffew for two runs in the eighth inning, cutting Texas’ lead to 5-3.

Brett Crossland entered and escaped further damage before Sam Cozart slammed the door in the ninth with three strikeouts.

Volantis seemed perfectly aware of who was waiting behind him once Cozart entered the game.

“I feel bad for them,” Volantis said. “They’ve got to face this 40-year-old man that’s still in college. It’s probably super intimdiating”

Texas will look to clinch the series Friday at 6:30 p.m. CT behind Luke Harrison.

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