On Saturday evening, the Texas baseball team will meet Tarleton State in the winners’ bracket of the Austin Regional. 

This is a rematch of Tarleton State’s 6-1 win over Texas at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on March 17. A lot more is on the line this time around, though. In fact, this is arguably the biggest game of the season for both the Longhorns (41-13) and Texans (38-19) since control of the Austin Regional is at stake.

Saturday’s loser isn’t eliminated from the double-elimination competition, but it can only advance to next week’s super regional if it beats UC Santa Barbara (39-19) at 12 p.m. on Sunday afternoon and then tops Saturday’s winner on both Sunday evening and Monday.

On the other hand, Saturday’s winner moves on in the NCAA Tournament if it can pick up another win on either Sunday night or Monday.

Stay tuned for live updates.

While the Texas offense is doing its job this evening, so is Dylan Volantis. The Longhorns’ ace pitcher has allowed two hits and no walks tonight, and he has struck out five batters. One of the two Texans that has reached against Volantis was thrown out at second base while trying to turn a single into a double.

Tarleton State switched pitchers ahead of the third inning, but the Longhorns kept swinging away. In the third inning, Ethan Mendoza hit a solo homer off of Ashton Bassett. That was Mendoza’s first homer since April 7.

Over the first two years of their college careers at Seton Hall and Notre Dame, neither Aiden Robbins or Carson Tinney played in an NCAA Tournament game. They are both making up for lost time while batting atop the Texas lineup. During the second inning, Robbins’ 443-foot blast brought home three runs and Tinney crushed a solo shot over the batter’s eye. Texas freshman Anthony Pack Jr. followed up those back-to-back bombs with another baseball that was hit over the fence.

In UT’s tournament opener, Pack became the first Longhorn to hit three homers in a single game. Robbins also went deep in a 19-1 win over Holy Cross.

Due to regional rules, Texas is actually the designated visitor for tonight’s game. And when given the first chance to strike, the Longhorns did just that.

After Aiden Robbins led off the game with a walk and Carson Tinney was hit by a Ethan Wendell pitch, Temo Becerra brought home UT’s first run with a one-out single. Wendell was able to limit the overall damage, though, and strikeouts of Adrian Rodriguez and Casey Borba stranded two runners.

When: 6 p.m. CT Saturday

RHP Ethan Wendel (6-3, 5.64 ERA)