Longhorns Notebook: No. 11 Texas Defeats UT Arlington, Wins 14th Straight

The Longhorns kept their winning streak rolling with a gritty win over the Mavericks.

Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Midweek games are a weird beast in college baseball. Any given Tuesday or Wednesday could see an unranked opponent hit the road and leave at the end of the game with a massive upset win in their pocket.

The No. 11 Texas Longhorns (14-1) looked to avoid that fate against the UT Arlington Mavericks (4-9) on Tuesday night.

It was a tightly contested affair, as the Longhorns took a lead in the second and fifth innings, respectively, but saw them erased as the Mavericks quickly answered. Then the eighth inning happened.

With the bats finally waking up, the Longhorns pushed across four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Things did get a bit dicey in the ninth, but Thomas Burns slammed the door shut for the save and a 7-4 win.

Now, here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns' 7-4 win over the Mavericks.

Texas Longhorns infielder Ethan Mendoza (5) catches a ball in the sixth nning as the Texas Longhorns take on the University of Incarnate Word Cardinals at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Feb. 25, 2025. | Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Bats slow to wake up

Look, off nights are going to happen. Expecting a team to put up 10-plus runs every single game is, quite frankly, unrealistic at best. That being said, the Longhorns offense was woefully cold against the Mavericks on Tuesday night for a majority of the game.

They left the bases loaded twice, and in total left 10 men on base heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. Simply put, they were not good enough against a pitching staff that came into the game with a 6.66 team ERA.

Clutch hitting once again

Sure, this point to some extent makes the point above a moot one. However, there is no denying that the Longhorns' bats were lukewarm at best until they woke up in a big way in the home half of the eighth inning.

Will Gasparino got the rally started with a single and then Rylan Galvan drew a walk. Following them was Ethan Mendoza, who turned his only hit of the game into a go-ahead, two-run triple. Texas would tack on two more runs and create some breathing room heading into the ninth.

Hot start marches on

When Thomas Burns recorded the final out and secured the 7-4 win, the Longhorns picked up their 14th straight victory. After dropping the season opener to Louisville, they are now riding high and find themselves sporting a 14-1 record.

That's impressive on its own merit, but when you provide some historical context it gets even better. Texas' 14-1 start is its best start in 20 years, when it jumped out to a 21-1 record to in 2005. Oh, did something big happen in 2005? For those who may not know, that's the last time the Longhorns won a national title.

Now, this is not to say the two clubs are directly comparable. Rather, it shows how impressive this start is and offers plenty of reason for excitement ahead of SEC play.

What’s next for Texas?

The Longhorns are back in action on Friday evening, as they hit the road to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs for their first SEC game at 6 p.m. CT.

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