No. 4 Texas Secures Series Win Over No. 10 Mississippi State: Longhorns Notebook

If you want a stress free weekend of college baseball, then the SEC is not for you. Just ask the No. 4 Texas Longhorns (35—10, 15—8). It was another action packed conference series for the Longhorns with the No. 10 Mississippi State Bulldogs (36—12, 14—10) in Austin.

They would take the opener, 3-1, in what was a dominant showing from the staff, headlined by Dylan Volantis. He tossed six shutout innings and tied his career-high with 12 strikeouts. As a staff, they tied their program record with 19 punch outs in nine innings.

The second game was not as fun, as they dropped it 7-4 and saw a late rally come up short while stranding 17 runners in the contest. Erasing that, they then found themselves trailing 5-0 after the first inning on Sunday.

Fortunately for Texas, though, that was erased in the third after it plated eight runs before recording a single out. Three more runs came across for the Longhorns the rest of the way, as they did the job and secured an 11-6 win to clinch the series and keep themselves tied with No. 7 Texas A&M for second in the SEC.

Three key takeaways from the Longhorns’ series win over the Bulldogs

Texas Longhorns outfielder Aiden Robbin — Texas Longhorns Aiden Robbins celebrates with teammates after hitting his second home run of the game against Vanderbilt. | MARK ZALESKI / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Offense remains inconsistent

At this point, the Longhorns offense is what it is. When the bats are firing on all cylinders there isn’t an easy out in the lineup and everyone can produce. However, they simply have failed to do that consistently throughout the season.

This was again the case against the Bulldogs. Despite winning the opener, they only managed three runs on five hits. It was bad in the second game, though, as they did score four runs but left a whopping 17 on base.

And then in the finale, they put up 11 runs on 11 hits and 10 free passes, including a nine-run third inning. A series win is a series win, but the Longhorns will undoubtedly look to bring the offensive energy from the finale to their final seven games.

Rotation continues to deliver

All three of the Texas starters delivered phenomenal outings against the Bulldogs. The trio of Dylan Volantis, Ruger Riojas and Luke Harrison combined to toss 21 innings and rack up 28 strikeouts while giving up only six runs.

Volantis continued his dominance with six shutout innings and tying his career-high with 12 punchouts, while Riojas bounced back with five strong innings of one-run baseball. Harrison, however, is the true story of the three arms.

Things didn’t look great for him to start. He gave up five runs in the first inning and looked en route to a short outing. Instead, the southpaw bounced back with four shutout innings and did his part to keep Texas in the game.

Key bats heating up again

Yes, the bats have been inconsistent in recent weeks for the Longhorns. A key reason why were struggles from core pieces such as Ethan Mendoza, Temo Becerra and Adrian Rodriguez. Well, it looks like they are collectively breaking out of their slump.

In the finale, the trio found themselves hitting four, five and six in the lineup respectively and combined to deliver an outstanding performance. Between the three of them, they collected six hits, with Becerra and Rodriguez each racking up a pair of RBI.

These three getting it going with seven games left in the regular season bodes well for the Longhorns, as they look to make a trip to Omaha.

What’s next for Texas?

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