Texas Baseball Facing Lamar Cardinals in First Midweek Game of 2026

The No. 3 Texas Longhorns (3-0) opened their season over the weekend with a strong showing against the UC Davis Aggies, sweeping the series and starting the campaign perfect. To no one's surprise, the strength for the Longhorns was the stellar pitching staff.

Leading the way was the starting rotation of Ruger Riojas, Luke Harrison and Dylan Volantis. All three offered a glimpse at just how special they can be for the Longhorns in 2026, especially Volantis. Dealing an absolute gem, the sophomore southpaw tossed a career-high seven innings while allowing one hit and striking out eight.

At the dish, they showed flashes of their ability to strike quickly and put up crooked numbers. It was a group effort, with Ethan Mendoza and Aiden Robbins among the names that stood out. However, they also did get off to a slow start in both Friday and Saturday's wins, a pattern they'll look to avoid as the season continues.

Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle stands in the dugout ahead of the Lone Star Showdown. | Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Longhorns aim to keep it rolling on Tuesday against the Cardinals

Now, though, the Longhorns find themselves at home once again for their first midweek clash of the campaign. Coming to town are the Lamar Cardinals (2-1), eager to leave UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a huge upset victory in their pockets.

How to watch/listen -

Tuesday Feb. 17 - 5 p.m. CT - SEC Network+/TexasSports.com/Audio

A look at Lamar's season so far -

Like the Longhorns, the Cardinals have only played three games so far this season. They opened their campaign with a home series against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, in which they went 2-1 and outscored their opponents 19-12.

Lamar by the numbers -

Record - 2-1

Runs scored - 19

Runs allowed - 12

Team Avg. - .286

Team Avg. against - .204

Team ERA - 3.54

Lamar wins this game if...

In the matchup between these two teams last season, the Cardinals were unable to keep the Texas lineup contained en route to being handed a 9-3 loss. They'll undoubtedly aim to avoid a similar fate this time around and do everything they can to pull off one of the biggest upsets this early in the season.

To do so, they must find a way to slow down the Longhorns bats. Which, if their series against UC Davis is any indication, is not an impossible task. While Texas did sweep the Aggies, the offense got off to a slow start in both of the first two games. If the Cardinals can replicate that formula, then they have a chance to come into Austin and leave with an early season marquee win.

Texas wins this game if...

As talked about above, the best way for the Cardinals to win this game is to keep the Longhorns from putting up runs in bunches. Well, the same philosophy can be applied to what Texas needs to do in order to send them back home with a loss rather than pulling out the upset.

Lamar has shown in its first three games that it can put up runs without breaking a sweat. Each of its two wins saw the potent lineup produce at least eight runs, while in the loss the Cardinals only pushed across two in ten innings. Should Texas show it can slow down Lamar's bats, then it has a good chance at moving to 4-0 to start the season.