{"id":228273,"date":"2026-03-31T08:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/228273\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:27:07","slug":"no-2-baseball-preview-texas-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/228273\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2 Baseball preview: Texas State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>TEXAS STATE vs. #2 TEXAS<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nDate: March 31, 2026<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nWhere: UFCU Disch-Falk Field<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nTime: 6:30 p.m.<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nStream\/TV: SEC Network+<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nRadio: 103.1 FM<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nLive stats:\u00a0<a aria-label=\"texas.statbroadcast.com - open in a new tab\" data-uw-original-href=\"https:\/\/www.statbroadcast.com\/events\/statmonitr.php?gid=tex\" data-uw-rm-brl=\"PR\" data-uw-rm-ext-link=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.statbroadcast.com\/events\/statmonitr.php?gid=tex\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" uw-rm-external-link-id=\"https:\/\/www.statbroadcast.com\/events\/statmonitr.php?gid=tex$texas.statbroadcast.com\">texas.statbroadcast.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUP<br \/>&#13;<br \/>\nTexas State LHP Ryan Markwardt\u00a0(0-1, 37.80\u00a0ERA) vs. Texas RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/max-grubbs\/13932\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13932\" target=\"_blank\">Max Grubbs<\/a> (2-0, 4.08 ERA)<\/p>\n<p>THE MATCHUP \u2014 No. 2 Texas faces Texas State for the second time in the last three weeks, as the Longhorns welcome the Bobcats to UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Tuesday. On March 10 at Bobcat Ballpark, Texas defeated Texas State, 15-4, highlighted by <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/casey-borba\/13924\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13924\" target=\"_blank\">Casey Borba&#8217;s<\/a> second career multi-homer effort. Borba drove in five runs, as the Longhorns notched double-digit tallies for the sixth consecutive game, tying a program record set in 1940. Across the all-time series, Texas sports a 58-17 advantage, including a 44-14 lead in Austin. Texas State head coach Steven Trout played for Texas skipper <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/coaches\/jim-schlossnagle\/3526\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"3526\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Schlossnagle<\/a> during the 2006-07 seasons at TCU.<\/p>\n<p>AIN&#8217;T NO LOVE FOR OKLAHOMA \u2014 For the first time since 2014, the Longhorns swept the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual rivalry series. Texas run-ruled Oklahoma, 14-0, before walking off the Sooners in back-to-back contests to break out the brooms. In the series opener, the Longhorns recorded the largest shutout victory in Red River Rivalry history. Texas&#8217; offense scored at least three runs in four of the first five innings. Meanwhile, <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/ruger-riojas\/13964\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13964\" target=\"_blank\">Ruger Riojas<\/a> became the first Longhorn to post a complete game shutout since Pete Hansen accomplished the feat against TCU on April 8, 2022. In each of the final two contests, Texas erased 3-0 deficits, with <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/ashton-larson\/15084\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"15084\" target=\"_blank\">Ashton Larson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/casey-borba\/13924\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"13924\" target=\"_blank\">Casey Borba<\/a> each delivering the walk-off hit in the 10th inning on Friday and Saturday, respectively. Over the series, Texas welcomed 23,407 fans to UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the third-highest mark for a three-game set in the ballpark&#8217;s history. On Saturday, the 8,059 fans in attendance were the second-most for a regular season contest since opening more than 41 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>SCORCHING START \u2014 The 2026 Longhorns are one of three Texas teams to begin 23-4 or better over the past 21 years. Last season, the Longhorns notched a 44-14 record, earning the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. In 2005, Texas finished with a 56-16 ledger, capturing its sixth national championship. Heading into the midweek, the Longhorns have outscored their opponents, 235-85. As of March 30, Texas has posted the country&#8217;s third-best ERA (2.85) and sixth-best WHIP (1.13). Meanwhile, the Longhorns&#8217; .948 OPS is 20th in all of Division I Baseball.<\/p>\n<p>THE EYES OF TEXAS ARE UPON YOU \u2014 Texas is ranked No. 2 by all five major outlets, trailing only consensus No. 1 UCLA. Through three weekends of league action, the Longhorns are in a three-way tie for first place in the Southeastern Conference, sharing the top spot with Mississippi State and Georgia. In the SEC&#8217;s preseason poll voted on by the league&#8217;s 16 head coaches, the Longhorns were picked second behind defending national champion LSU.<\/p>\n<p>MASTERING MIDWEEKS \u2014 Texas is 4-2 in midweek games, registering three run-rule wins in those contests. Last season, the Longhorns went 9-2 in midweeks. Since 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/texaslonghorns.com\/sports\/baseball\/roster\/coaches\/jim-schlossnagle\/3526\" rel=\"smarttag nofollow noopener\" rev=\"3526\" target=\"_blank\">Jim Schlossnagle<\/a>&#8216;s clubs have notched a 56-12 (.824) ledger in midweek games, winning 28 of the last 33 contests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS STATE vs. #2 TEXAS&#13; Date: March 31, 2026&#13; Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field&#13; Time: 6:30 p.m.&#13; Stream\/TV: SEC&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-228273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}