Texas baseball’s 2024 season ended in the NCAA Baseball Championship regionals round after losing to Texas A&M and Louisiana.
Now, the team is about a month away from kicking off its 2025 campaign, 20 years after its last national championship in 2005.
With Jim Schlossnagle, former Texas A&M head coach, taking over No. 19 Texas, the Longhorns are aiming to rewrite the wrongs of the 2024 season and climb back to the top of collegiate baseball.
“It’s an honor to be here and try to get Texas back to Omaha, to the final game, and finally win that (national championship),” Schlossnagle said to the MLB Network on Friday, Jan. 10. “It’s a national championship or bust. If the expectation is high and the support is high, I’ll take my chances.”
Despite the Longhorns’ disappointing end to the season and some players leaving for the MLB, Schlossnagle still has an array of dangerous players to take over the Southeastern Conference.
Returning to the outfield is junior Max Belyeu, last year’s Big 12 Player of the Year. Belyeu was a productive hitter with 18 home runs. With 210 at-bats, the outfielder generated 50 runs and 53 RBIs, finishing the season with a .667 slugging percentage.
Belyeu was also named to the American Baseball Coaches Association’s Central All-Region First Team with infielders Jalin Flores and Jared Thomas. Thomas has since been drafted into the MLB by the Colorado Rockies while Flores returns for his junior season.
Flores brings a safe pair of hands and experience to the defense with 84 putouts and 161 assists. His defensive stats, combined with only 12 errors, earned him a fielding percentage of .953. On the other side of the mound, Flores produced a .656 slugging percentage with another 18 home runs.
These players will play pivotal roles as Texas takes on its new conference. In-state rival Texas A&M, which was in the College World Series last year under the mentorship of Schlossnagle, losing the final series 4–1, will be one of the Longhorns’ final conference opponents in late April. The Aggies currently top the preseason rankings.
The Longhorns will need to be ready for key matchups versus No. 5 Arkansas and No. 8 Georgia. The Longhorns will take on the Razorbacks for an away series in Fayetteville and host the Bulldogs in Austin.
Arkansas will bring experience and youth to the matchup versus Texas, with three pitchers named Preseason All-Americans by Perfect Game and its class of transfers and recruits ranking at No. 3 by Baseball America.
Before they face Arkansas, Texas baseball will need to play through the preseason first. The team returns to the mound on Feb. 14 in Arlington, Texas, to compete in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. The Longhorns will face Louisville, Ole Miss and former Big 12 opponent Oklahoma State University.
Schlossnagle will coach his first game at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Feb. 18 when the Longhorns take on the Houston Cougars.
