No. 4 Texas Kicking Off Final Home Stand Against Sam Houston

For the No. 4 Texas Longhorns (32-9), the final home stand of the 2026 season is here and set to kick off on Tuesday evening. Starting it off, they will be playing host to the Sam Houston Bearkats (20-24) in their second to last midweek contest of the campaign.

Entering their game against the Bearkats, the Longhorns sport a 7-2 record in their midweek outings so far. Those two losses, of course, coming in back-to-back weeks against the Tarleton State Texans and Houston Cougars.

Since then, they've won three midweeks in a row before last week's against the Air Force Falcons being cancelled due to weather. They are fresh off a gritty conference series win on the road, having taken two games from the Vanderbilt Commodores and will look to keep that momentum rolling to start their home stand.

How do the Bearkats and Longhorns stack up?

Texas Longhorns Aiden Robbins, Casey Borba and Anthony Pack Jr. throw up the Hook 'Em Horns. | University of Texas Athletic

How to watch/listen -

Tuesday April 28 - 6:30 p.m. CT - SEC Network+/TexasSports.com/Audio

A look at Sam Houston's season so far -

The Bearkats have been rather streaky this season, posting several mini winning streaks followed by a mini losing streak. They've ultimately been unable to string together multiple victories, however, beyond a recent stretch of five straight wins which occured not long after an 11-game losing streak.

Sam Houston by the numbers -

Record - 20-24

Runs scored - 238

Runs allowed - 279

Team Avg. - .252

Opponent Avg. - .277

Team ERA - 5.90

Opponent ERA - 4.80

Sam Houston wins this game if...

It can keep pace with the Longhorns offense enough to get into the bullpen and take advantage of a potential lack of depth. When Texas has lost this season, it has been on the back of a struggle to produce on the mound. Most notably, they've suffered multiple rough bullpen outings.

In fact, both of their midweek losses came when the bullpen failed to keep their opponents in check at the plate. This is exactly what the Bearkats need to take advantage of when they hit the diamond in this one. Otherwise, it could be a long night.

If they can, however, then they have a chance at turning this into a bullpen game and capitalizing on that situation with a marquee upset.

Texas wins this game if...

It can string together successful at-bats and capitalize on the Bearkats' pitching staff. Coming into their game against the Longhorns, the Bearkats sport a 5.90 team ERA and have been outscored 279-238. You're not going to win many games when that's the case.

As such, Texas needs to start out hot at the plate and avoid a sluggish showing in the early innings like it has displayed more than once this season. When the bats are all clicking and firing on all cylinders, the lineup is one of the better ones in the country and can feast on weaker pitching -- which it'll need to do in this one.

If it can do that and put up crooked numbers early, then look for the Longhorns to start their final home stand in strong fashion.

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