Dylan Volantis struck out 10 and allowed two runs in Texas’ opener against Oregon in the super regional.
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AUSTIN — Jim Schlossnagle made one thing perfectly clear.
He’s not saving anybody for anything.
The Texas head baseball coach started his ace, Dylan Volantis, in the Austin Super Regional opener and brought in his No. 2 starting pitcher, Luke Harrison, in relief at the most critical juncture of the Longhorns’ 11-3 win over Oregon Saturday night.
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Volantis fulfilled his obligation with 5⅓ effective innings by striking out 10 and stranding 10 baserunners, and Harrison came on to stop the bleeding in a high-leverage moment in the sixth with a key strikeout of Burke-Lee Mabeus with the bases loaded.
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Together, those two along with Thomas Burns and finisher Brody Walls combined to leave a whopping 17 Ducks on the bases and prevent a strong Oregon lineup from mustering anything resembling a clutch hit.
The Longhorns (44-13), on the other hand, had plenty. While the Ducks went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, Texas shortstop Adrian Rodriguez drove in a career-best five runs with a tone-setting, two-run double in the first inning, an RBI single and two sacrifice flies.
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The victory before 8,550 as the largest crowd for an official game at Disch-Falk Field, discounting the 10,000 for a 1977 exhibition against the Texas Rangers, inched No. 6 Texas ever closer to a record-extending 39th appearance in the College World Series but first since 2022. The Ducks fell to 43-17.
“I thought it was a real sloppy game on probably both sides, and disappointed in the fact that’s what we brought,” Oregon coach Mark Wasikowski said. “I think we’re a whole lot better than what we showed tonight. I thought we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. But nothing got won tonight. Nothing got resolved tonight.”
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Texas needs one more win to join Ole Miss and become the second SEC team to clinch a CWS berth in the College World Series, which begins Friday. The two teams face each other again at 8 p.m. Sunday. Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama also are a win shy of a trip to Omaha, and West Virginia, Troy and the Rebels have clinched CWS spots.
“I felt like there were a lot of awesome bats all the way through the lineup,” Schlossnagle said. “Again, we scored 11 runs without two of the best players in the country getting a hit, so if we can get them going tomorrow, I like our chances.”
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Texas didn’t need a hit from Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney, the top two in the batting order.
But the Longhorns got a two-run blast from Casey Borba and a solo shot from Ethan Mendoza — the team’s 13th and 14th home runs in just four NCAA postseason games — to trample the Ducks in the first meeting between these two.
But it was the stout pitching, especially from Volantis and Harrison, that quelled a robust Oregon lineup.
“One of my regrets last year in the regional was not bringing Dylan in when we had a six-run lead (on UTSA), so I’m not going to let that happen again,” Schlossnagle said. “I’ve also watched guys like Augie (Garrido) and Wayne Graham and (Dave) Van Horn, the greatest coaches in our sport, how they use their bullpen and how they use their best pitchers in the biggest moments in a short series.”
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To nail down the first win in this best-of-three series, which continues at 8 p.m. Sunday, Schlossnagle called on Harrison, the graduate left-hander from Friendswood, who came on in the sixth in relief of Thomas Burns, who walked in two runs. Drew Smith knocked in Oregon’s only other run with a solo homer in the eighth.
The gamble to use the team’s No. 2 starting pitcher paid off because he quieted the looming Oregon threat before Texas answered with three runs, two on Mendoza’s blast way over the left-field wall.
Besides, he threw only 27 pitches over his 1⅓ shutout innings and will be ready to go as long as his team needs him if a Monday game is needed.
“This is super cool to see Luke Harrison coming in that situation and just doing the job,” Volantis said. “He’s the most trustworthy guy you can ever ask for.”
Volantis has built up a ton of trust himself as a finalist for national Pitcher of the Year.
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The Longhorn ace (10-1) suffered through rare command issues but was wildly effective. The sophomore left-hander dodged trouble all night long but made his best pitches in the clutch. He stranded 10 baserunners in the first five innings alone and left after 5⅓ innings after walking four and giving up eight hits and two runs to allow his ERA to peek above 2.00 at 2.03.
“I didn’t think he was sharp tonight, compared to other outings that we saw,” Wasikowski said. “Yet he gutted it out. He showed the makeup that a true warrior shows so I really credit him. To still be able to go zeroes with high-stress inning.”
Oregon, meanwhile, didn’t get the best out of starter Cal Scolari, who lasted just 3⅔ innings after walking six and allowing five earned runs. But Wasikowski saved all of its best relievers for the rest of the super regional and has its best pitcher, Will Sanford, ready for Sunday’s game against Texas senior Ruger Riojas.
Wasikowski curiously enough turned to a redshirt freshman who didn’t throw a pitch in the Eugene Regional in one of Saturday’s highest-leverage moment. He called on little-used left-hander Jonah Barkoff, who had thrown only 5⅓ innings in five different appearances. Barkoff fell off balance during his delivery and balked home Texas’ fifth run of the game, a moment that went the home team’s way.
The Longhorns remained perfect with their fourth consecutive win in the NCAA postseason and have now outscored their four different opponents 52-10. They have scored runs in 23 of their 34 post-season innings and never trailed by more than one run in four games. While they only had eight hits, four were for extra bases.
Oregon, on the other hand, put theirs to little use. They collected nine hits on the night but could not come up with one in the clutch for the life of them. The Ducks went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position.
However, Texas took full advantage of the wildness of three Oregon pitchers, who combined to walk eight and hit three more batters. Of those 11, only four eventually scored. The Ducks also balked in another run with the bases loaded.
While Robbins and Tinney went hitless, the rest of the order came through.
The slumping Borba, who went 2 for 14 in the regional, smashed his 18th long ball of the year and 34th of his career. It was also the Longhorns’ 100th homer of the season. Mendoza would add the 101th four innings later.
The Longhorns now have hit 14 home runs in four NCAA Tournament games. They’ll likely need more Sunday.