Since joining the SEC last year, Texas baseball has won 12 of its 14 conference series. That’s part of the reason why the Longhorns won the 2025 conference title in their debut and why they currently sit in second place in the conference standings with a 9-3 mark.
Why has Texas succeeded in the SEC? Good coaching? Timely hitting?
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How much credit does Luke Harrison deserve?
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Texas’ veteran left-handed pitcher has posted an overall record of 9-1 with a 2.93 ERA since landing in the weekend rotation last year as the Saturday starter. But more notable has been how Harrison has pitched after the Longhorns have lost a series opener in SEC play.
Texas Longhorns pitcher Luke Harrison (53) pitches in the second inning as the Longhorns play the Auburn Tigers in the second game of a three-game series on Friday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, April 18, 2025.
Sara Diggins/American-Statesman
Last year, Harrison started after Texas dropped Game 1 in three-game series against LSU, Arkansas and Florida. This season, he’s done the same after UT’s first-game losses against Ole Miss, Auburn and South Carolina. In those matchups last year, Harrison was 0-1 with 13 strikeouts, four walks and a 4.85 ERA. This year, he’s 3-0 with 19 strikeouts, six walks and a 1.96 ERA in those games.
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NO. 2 TEXAS VS. NO. 18 TEXAS A&M
When/where: 7 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday in College Station.
TV/radio: SEC Network on Friday, ESPN2 on Saturday, SEC Network+ on Sunday; 1300 AM.
Combined, Texas won five of those six games. The Longhorns also went on to secure a series win in four of those six series.
“I’ve always wanted to be the guy who’s able to pick his teammates up,” Harrison said. “In a game that I don’t have any control over, like on a Friday night game, it kind of sucks just to sit there and watch things happen, but I know that I get the ball the next day and I’m going to make it happen.”
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MORE: Carson Tinney etching name in Longhorns record books with ‘monster shots’
Why has Harrison been so effective after a loss? Texas catcher Carson Tinney thinks it may be his experience. Over Harrison’s five years at Texas, the Friendswood product has appeared in 68 games and pitched 159â…” innings.
“He’s been there. He’s done it. He’s super mature,” Tinnery said. “He’s just going out there and playing his game. He knows what makes him good, and he executes that.”
Texas Longhorns pitcher Luke Harrison (53) pitches during the second inning as the Texas Longhorns take on the Florida Gators, May 10, 2025.
Sara Diggins/American-Statesman
Texas set for Jim Schlossnagle’s return to Texas A&M
But for as good as Harrison has been in do-or-die conditions, Texas would rather have him securing a series than saving one. That will certainly be the case this weekend when the Longhorns (27-5) travel to face Texas A&M (25-7, 7-5) in a showdown between the No. 2 and No. 18 teams in the D1baseball poll.
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MORE: Who wins out between Texas’ pitching and Texas A&M’s offense?
As Texas prepares for its first three-game series in College Station since 1992, the Longhorns are set to keep intact their weekend rotation of Ruger Riojas (5-1, 2.74 ERA), Harrison (4-0, 2.72) and Dylan Volantis (4-0, 2.01). As a team, Texas claims college baseball’s second-lowest ERA at 3.07.
Texas will face an A&M team that ranks second in the SEC in scoring (9.9 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.592) while boasting the conference’s third-best batting average (.320). Georgia and Vanderbilt are the only Division I schools with more homers than the Aggies, who have gone deep 68 times.Â
“I think the challenges are the same that we face every week,” Harrison said. “The goal for us is just to go out there and be the best version of ourselves. Regardless of the opponent, every week when you go out there and you fill up the strike zone with quality stuff, you’re going to have good results. That’s kind of been the message for us is just keeping the main thing the main thing, go out there and play our brand of baseball.”
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Texas A&M head coach Michael Earley meets Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle ahead of the Lone Star Showdown at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Friday, April 25, 2025.
Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman
But how well Texas pitches or how well A&M hits will likely be a footnote. This weekend is all about Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle’s first public appearance in College Station since he left the Aggies for their in-state rival after the 2024 season. Schlossnagle was booed by A&M fans who made the trip to Austin last year for the Longhorns’ three-game sweep of the Aggies, and he won’t receive a warmer welcome at Blue Bell Park. Schlossnagle, though, said he’s still looking forward to the series.
“I can’t control fans,” Schlossnagle said. “The 12th Man’s awesome, I’ve said that ever since I had the chance to experience it. They’re awesome. They’re passionate for their team and they’re super consistent, very, very loyal, and I don’t expect anything less than that over the course of the weekend.”
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This Lone Star Showdown series will draw a large crowd to Blue Bell Park, which has a listed capacity of 6,100. As of Thursday morning, the asking price for one ticket for Friday’s opener ranged on StubHub from $58 to $5,870. Social media posts also circulated Wednesday night of A&M students beginning to camp out at the ballpark in an attempt to secure their seats.