Junior Andrew Ermis fist bumps freshman Sam Cozart after an inning ends against Houston Christian University on March 3, 2026.
After a weekend-long trip away from home turf, Texas baseball returned to the confines of UFCU Disch-Falk Field, coming home to midweek action against the Houston Christian Huskies, and continuing its winning ways with a 16-3 win on Tuesday night.
The Longhorns have had a quick start to 2026 play, with their best start to a season in 21 years, and have been especially dominant in their midweek games. Already playing three so far, all have been won via the run-rule. In total, Texas has won four of its 12 games quickly in seven innings.
“Always (feels) good when you win,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Whether we (win by) run-rule or whether we win by one, but I thought we played well.”
Texas got its scoring started early and kept it going throughout most of the ballgame, scoring a run in every inning except one on the night. The Longhorns scored a single run in the first two innings of the game, going up 2-0 early, but it would be the fourth inning in which Texas would break the game wide open with a six-run inning.
And from then on, the Longhorns didn’t let up on the gas, with a four-run fifth inning and another four-run sixth inning. All-in-all, Texas scored nine of its runs off of eight hits, and three runs came from a 355-foot home-run shot from junior catcher Carson Tinney in his fourth round-tripper of the season.
Freshman pitcher Sam Cozart once again pieced together another solid outing to continue a strong start to his freshman campaign. The righty pitched five innings, surrendering just a single hit and one earned run, and punched out six batters.
“(Cozart), he’s been super consistent,” Schlossnagle said. “It’s pretty rare in college baseball to have, especially a freshman, that’s somebody you can count on. You know he’s going to throw strikes and give you length, four to five innings on a Tuesday.”
In his five-inning outing, Cozart would give up just his second earned run of the season with a solo homer in the fourth inning to Huskies senior infielder Katcher Halligen. The home run would be the first the freshman has given up on the season, and it was just the second homer given up by the Longhorns.
Cozart reset after the big hit with a strikeout against the next batter he faced, getting the Longhorns out of the inning.
“On this staff we try to lead the league in solo shots, so I counted that home run as a victory, to me I thought that was great,” Cozart said. “But of course, I came back and got a strikeout, that’s my job, and I always do that.
The Longhorns will make their way back to the field to take on the USC Upstate Spartans in a three-game series. Game one is slated for March 6 at 6:30 p.m CT.