Jim Schlossnagle Announces Major Pitching Change Ahead of Alabama Series

It might be a brutal two days for the No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide when they roll into Austin, Texas, later this week.

Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle announced following the Longhorns' 14-7 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi that he will shuffle the starting pitching rotation around to give Dylan Volantis a chance to pitch this weekend against the Crimson Tide.

Texas' starting order heading into the Alabama series is expected to look like this:

Dylan Volantis - Friday

Ruger Riojas - Saturday

Luke Harrison - Sunday.

Schlossnagle prefaced not to read too much into the shuffling around his pitching rotation because he doesn’t want one of his best arms to sit for too long between starts.

“I don't want Dylan sitting for two weeks,” Schlossnagle said. “If we don't do that, then Dylan's going to sit for almost 15 days, and I don't want to do that. So we feel like those three guys are interchangeable, and so that's what we're going to roll this weekend.”

What Does This Mean For Texas?

Texas Baseball — The Longhorns celebrate following a victory at the Bruce Bolt College Classic | Texas Athletics

The Longhorns were going to roll out Volantis in his usual Sunday spot against Texas A&M this past weekend, but Mother Nature had other plans this past Sunday.

The series finale of the Lone Star Showdown was cancelled after an eight-and-a-half-hour rain delay that pushed too close to the Southeastern Conference rule of not allowing a game to start after 10 p.m. CT.

Volantis' last start came in the rubber game against South Carolina on April 4th. Once again, his prowess on the mound showed as he tossed for 5.2 innings and allowed two hits and just one earned run while picking up six strikeouts to secure Texas' series victory.

In his eight starts so far this season, the Longhorns have yet to drop a game, but with him moving to the Friday spot against the Crimson Tide, it will be interesting to see if the Longhorns will be able to break their plague of dropping the series opener.

Texas has dropped four out of its five conference series openers, with Oklahoma being the lone outlier in SEC play. The losses haven’t been under the watch of typical Friday starter Rugar Riojas, with the Texas bullpen being the cause of the Longhorns' series-opening woes this season.

Luke Harrison, who has occupied the Saturday spot this season, arguably has the hardest job on staff, being the one responsible for maintaining life in these past couple of conference series. It will be intriguing to see if he plays looser against the Crimson Tide, with him now occupying the Sunday spot.

Depending on the success of a relatively “rusty” Volantis on Friday, it would be hard for Schlossnagle to return to the previous starting rotation. Especially if the sophomore can deliver his typical performance and a series-opening win.

While he did not see any action against the Aggies past weekend, and on Tuesday against the Islanders, relief pitcher Sam Cozart is still available and should see action on Friday against the Crimson Tide.

No. 4 Texas will open up the series against No. 11 Alabama on Friday at 6:30 p.m CT at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas.

Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google