For a sixth straight College World Series opener, the Texas Longhorns dropped into the loser\u2019s bracket with the 7-1 defeat by the Georgia Bulldogs, setting up an elimination game on Monday against the Alabama Crimson Tide with first pitch at 1 p.m. Central on ESPN.<\/p>\n
The hope for head coach Jim Schlossnagle\u2019s team was that a win over the Bulldogs would put the Longhorns in prime position to make the finals. Instead, it\u2019s Georgia leading the field with 65.1-percent odds to play for the national championship and 42.3-percent odds to win it<\/a>.<\/p>\n The odds for Texas now? Only 8.8 percent to make the finals and 5.2 percent to win it. Making the finals would require winning four straight elimination games, a challenge the Horns nearly surmounted in 2014 and 2021, falling to the eventual national champions both years. Since losing in the finals to LSU in 2009, Texas has exited Omaha after two games in 2011, 2018, and 2022.<\/p>\n Assessing Saturday\u2019s disastrous, uncompetitive performance, Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle broke it into two storylines \u2014 the sensational performance by Georgia right-hander Joey Volchko in the best effort of his collegiate career, setting a personal best with 15 strikeouts in his first complete game, and the defensive mistakes by Texas.<\/p>\n \u201cNumber one, Volchko was awesome. He didn\u2019t walk a guy until the ninth inning, threw an endless amount of strikes,\u201d Schlossnagle said. \u201cI was actually super impressed \u2014 in an era of baseball where there\u2019s strikeouts and emotional things happen in the game \u2014 I didn\u2019t see him once scream at our team or do anything that some kids do these days. I thought he was super professional and was outstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n Schlossnagle compared Volchko\u2019s mid-90s fastball with glove-side run to a slider and noted his previous tendency to yank two-strike pitches throughout the season. On Saturday, that didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI think once he got through that first at bat and then punched out the side, he got a lot of confidence,\u201d Schlossnagle said. \u201cHe was outstanding, and that\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re playing at this level against these great teams.\u201d<\/p>\n To get to Volchko, who perfectly executed the game plan put together by the Georgia coaching staff, Texas right-handed batters needed to hit the ball the other way, an area in which they struggled beyond a couple well-struck outs and a single by junior designated hitter Ethan Mendoza, and the left-handed batters needed to catch the ball early before it could get in on their hands.<\/p>\n Only sophomore shortstop Adrian Rodriguez was able to succeed with that plan, finishing 2-for-3 and scoring the lone run for the Horns. Freshman right fielder Anthony Pack Jr. and junior first baseman Ashton Larson both struggled against Volchko as Pack went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts as the Georgia starter was able to keep him off balance with the overhand curveball he used almost exclusively against left-handed hitters.<\/p>\n The Longhorns also made critical mistakes behind sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis in committing three errors. Two throwing errors by junior catcher Carson Tinney in the first inning after strikeouts led to two unearned runs by the Bulldogs and three more unearned runs scored in the seventh after an error by junior third baseman Casey Borba to lead off the inning and a mental mistake by Rodriguez trying to throw out that runner at third with no outs.<\/p>\n \u201cThe other story of the game is, from a defensive standpoint, that\u2019s the worst game we played the whole season, which is super disappointing on our end. It leaves a very bad taste in our mouth, and we\u2019re certainly looking forward to a good day of practice tomorrow and getting back on the field on Monday to play better baseball, because I don\u2019t know if it would have mattered, considering Volchko was so awesome, but, yeah, that was not good on the part of the Longhorns,\u201d Schlossnagle said.<\/p>\n Between Volantis giving up two quick runs after issuing a leadoff walk and giving up a two-run home run to Rylan Lujo and the errors, Schlossnagle came away frustrated by how his team dealt with the spotlight of playing in Omaha.<\/p>\n \u201cWe spend more time, effort, and money than any program in the country on the mental game,\u201d Schlossnagle said<\/a> on Sunday. \u201cThat\u2019s why, actually, last night was so disappointing, because I did see some guys super sped up in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n So the Longhorns need bounce-back performances from multiple players, including Tinney, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts in addition to the two critical errors.<\/p>\n