{"id":327652,"date":"2026-06-08T15:25:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327652\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T15:25:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T15:25:12","slug":"adrian-rodriguez-ends-omaha-drought-texas-claims-austin-super-regional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/327652\/","title":{"rendered":"Adrian Rodriguez Ends Omaha Drought, Texas Claims Austin Super Regional"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Almost an entire graduating class entered and left the Forty Acres without seeing the Texas baseball program reach Omaha.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"64\">In the storied tradition of the Longhorns, the team with the most appearances in the College World Series faced one of its most turbulent eras.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"67\">They struggled, came down to earth, and rose again \u2013 it took a new head coach in one of the most controversial moves in college athletics, countless transfers and recruits, and a painful learning lesson along the way to live up to their lofty reputation as \u201cThe University of Texas at Omaha.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6a\">Everything culminated against the Oregon Ducks in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/texas\/baseball\/texas-super-regional-starting-pitchers-lineups-everything-you-need-to-know\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Austin Super Regional<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6d\">As Sunday night rolled into the twilight hours of Monday, Texas premier relief pitcher Sam Cozart tossed the three-clinching outs to bring Texas out of its slump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The Longhorns would not be left out of the dance on this night, grinding out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/texas\/baseball\/omahorns-no-6-texas-defeats-no-11-oregon-to-reach-college-world-series-01ktjsejhv1j\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">6-5 victory<\/a>, heading back to the College World Series field for the first time since 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">\u201cI have to walk by that sign every day that says 38 trips to Omaha, and 38 has been sitting there for a while,\u201d head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. \u201cI&#8217;m glad we&#8217;ll get to be able to change it to 39.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Super \u2018Horns Rally Back Late<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1780105688_670_01kkdszdxtn8xbgxmccg.jpg\" alt=\"Sam Cozart\" title=\"Sam Cozart\" width=\"360\" height=\"203\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6w\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Texas freshman pitcher Sam Cozart eyes the plate in a midweek game at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, Texas. | Texas Athletics<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"70\">Texas took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, with a pair of back-to-back home runs by Aiden Robbins and Carson Tinney. Getting tagged for two more runs, Oregon ace Will Sanford was able to settle in down the stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">The Ducks&#8217; best closer and Stopper of the Year finalist, Tanner Bradley, maintained dominance in the heart of the night. Sanford and Bradley gave life to an otherwise floundering Oregon team fighting for its tournament hopes.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">The Oregon bats grided back, peppering Texas starting pitcher Ruger Riojas for four runs and another unearned run against Longhorns relief pitcher Thomas Burns in the seventh to take the lead late in the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"79\">But <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/texas\/baseball\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Texas<\/a> was not far behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">Ducks relief pitcher Toby Twist got the first pair of outs in the 8th inning, but after walking Tinney, he was replaced before Anthony Pack Jr.\u2019s at-bat by Devin Bell, riding better metrics against left-handed hitters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">It was the moment the Longhorns desperately needed \u2014 Bell hit Pack Jr. to put two runners on base, and a tough shallow single in the infield loaded by Texas second basemen Temo Beccera loaded up the bases for shortstop Adrian Rodriguez.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">\u201cI felt very prepared,\u201d Rodriguez said. \u201c[Hitting coach Troy Tulowitzki] talked about his experiences with his past groups and what they did to succeed, what they did when they failed, so we can learn from his experiences.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7l\">A day after knocking in a career-high 5 RBIs, Rodriguez fired the biggest hit of his young career, a double down the left field line, just missing the third baseman\u2019s glove and driving in Tinney and Pack Jr., the lead and game-winning run.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7o\">Sam Cozart sealed the Longhorns&#8217; ticket to Omaha with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-18\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7r\">\u201cIt was just an incredible amount of excitement,\u201d said Cozart about getting the final out. \u201cFor the players that I&#8217;m with, to be able to have another opportunity to go play baseball [on the] biggest stage and represent Texas at the highest level.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-19\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7u\">The Longhorns move on to the College World Series, sweeping both the Regional and Super Regional. Texas\u2019 road will not be an easy one with its first game set against the Southeastern Conference\u2019s regular-season and tournament champion, the Georgia Bulldogs, this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-20\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7x\">Texas will open up its 39th trip to the College World Series against Georgia in bracket two, with their first game set for Saturday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-21\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"80\">Sign up to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/texas\/newsletter\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> our free newsletter<\/a> and follow us on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TexasLonghornsOnSI\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Facebook<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/LonghornsOnSI\" rel=\"nofollow\"> X<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/texaslonghornsonsi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Instagram<\/a> for the latest news. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost an entire graduating class entered and left the Forty Acres without seeing the Texas baseball program reach&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-327652","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\/327652","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=327652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}