{"id":231120,"date":"2026-04-02T01:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231120\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T01:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T01:43:08","slug":"no-2-baseball-preview-at-south-carolina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/231120\/","title":{"rendered":"No. 2 Baseball preview: at South Carolina"},"content":{"rendered":"

#2\u00a0TEXAS vs. SOUTH CAROLINA

\nDates: April 2-4, 2026

\nWhere: Founders Park

\nTime: Thursday at 6\u00a0p.m. CT \/ 7 p.m. ET ; Saturday\u00a0at 6\u00a0p.m. CT \/ 7 p.m. ET; Sunday at 1 p.m. CT \/ 2\u00a0p.m. ET

\nStream\/TV: SEC Network (Thursday) & SEC Network+ (Friday & Saturday)

\nRadio: 103.1 FM

\nLive stats:\u00a0texas.statbroadcast.com<\/a><\/p>\n

PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS

\nTHURSDAY\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Texas RHP\u00a0Ruger Riojas<\/a>\u00a0(5-0, 1.59\u00a0ERA) vs. South Carolina LHP Alex Valentin\u00a0(1-2, 3.91 ERA)

\nFRIDAY\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Texas\u00a0LHP\u00a0Luke Harrison<\/a>\u00a0(3-0, 2.65\u00a0ERA) vs.\u00a0South Carolina RHP Josh Gunther (2-2, 6.97 ERA)

\nSATURDAY\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Texas LHP\u00a0Dylan Volantis<\/a>\u00a0(3-0, 2.08\u00a0ERA)\u00a0vs. South Carolina RHP Amp Phillips\u00a0(2-3,\u00a02.68\u00a0ERA)<\/p>\n

THE MATCHUP \u2014 For the first time as Southeastern Conference foes, the Texas Longhorns and the South Carolina Gamecocks face off in a three-game set. Texas has won seven of the nine prior meetings, highlighted by national-championship clinching wins in both 1975 and 2002. The Longhorns claimed their third national title by defeating the Gamecocks, 5-1, on June 14, 1975. Twenty-seven years later, the two sides squared off in the championship game once again. Texas earned its fifth ring by beating South Carolina, 12-6, on June 22, 2002. This series marks the Longhorns’ second-ever trip to Columbia. Texas played a non-conference set at Founders Park in 2022. \u00a0<\/p>\n

SCORCHING START \u2014 The 2026 Longhorns are one of three Texas teams to begin 24-4 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 weekend, the Longhorns have outscored their opponents, 245-93. As of April 1, Texas has posted the country’s fourth-best ERA (2.93) and seventh-best WHIP (1.15). Meanwhile, the Longhorns’ .952 OPS is 18th in all of Division I Baseball.<\/p>\n

IT JUST MEANS MORE \u2014 Since Jim Schlossnagle<\/a>‘s\u00a0first campaign in the SEC in 2022, he has won more conference series than any other coach in the league. Over that four-plus year run, Schlossnagle’s 32 SEC series wins stack up ahead of Dan Van Horn (28), Tony Vitello (27), Kevin O’Sullivan (26) and Jay Johnson (25).\u00a0With Schlossnagle at the helm last year, Texas became the first team to win the SEC in its first season since the league’s inaugural campaign in 1933. The Longhorns \u2014 who were picked eighth in the conference’s preseason poll \u2014 won the league by two games. Texas’ 22-8 ledger in SEC action marked its best record in conference play since 2010. The Longhorns were the lone team to win eight series in league action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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 SEC, sharing the top spot with Mississippi State and Georgia. In the SEC’s preseason poll voted on by the league’s 16 head coaches, the Longhorns were picked second behind defending national champion LSU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"#2\u00a0TEXAS vs. SOUTH CAROLINA Dates: April 2-4, 2026 Where: Founders Park Time: Thursday at 6\u00a0p.m. CT \/ 7…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":231121,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-231120","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231120","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=231120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}