Tied 3–3 versus No. 3 Georgia, freshman pitcher Dylan Volantis came out of the bullpen for No. 5 Texas in the seventh inning. After winning the first two games of the series, the Longhorns were aiming for the series sweep, and Volantis knew just that.
“Pretty much all my pitches (were working). The curveball was definitely the most used. Got a lot of swings and misses,” Volantis said. “A lot of swings in the dirt. The sinker had good movement to it as well. So those two are the ones that pitch the most.”
Throwing 65 total pitches, the freshman produced 43 strikes and eight strikeouts while only allowing Georgia one hit. By utilizing his array of pitches, Volantis kept the Longhorns in the game, leading to extra innings.
In the 10th inning, with the game still tied 3–3, junior catcher Rylan Galvan stepped up to the plate and patiently waited for the right pitch to take a chance on. Leading Georgia graduate pitcher Brian Zeldin to a 3–1 count, Galvan took a swing and hit the ball to the right of center field and outside of UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The walk-off home run sealed a 4–3 win for the Longhorns and a series sweep over the Bulldogs.
“I saw some good pitches. … I was able to kind of back (Zeldin) into a corner in the 3–1 count, and then knew if I got it, I wasn’t going to miss it and put a good swing on it,” Galvan said. “I knew, wind or not, I got it, so it was fun. Just kind of blacked out a little bit. Looked over at the dugout, and everybody’s going crazy. That’s what I enjoy the most. It’s just seeing all the smiles on the guys’ faces.”
Completing the sweep, Texas also simultaneously out-hit the No. 1 home run team in the nation and the No. 2 hitting team in the nation coming into the weekend. The Longhorns accomplished this without junior outfielder Max Belyeu and freshman infielder Adrian Rodriguez.
“Part of it was our pitching. We pitched really well,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “But we have good players too. Guys that stay on the ball. They know their role and they know who they are. Troy (Tulowitzki) has done an awesome job with them, as has Nolan (Cain) and Gehrig (Mosiello) and the rest of the coaches.”
The series sweep over Georgia is Texas’ third of the season in the Southeastern Conference, giving the Longhorns an 11–1 record in the SEC. Its only conference loss was against then-No. 2 LSU. For the players, despite the new coaching staff and freshman already making an impact, this was an expectation.
“We all thought that, and that’s the standard. That’s what it’s expected of you when you come and you put this uniform on, you play for the University of Texas, you’re expected to win,” Galvan said. “There’s no ‘take a couple years,’ it’s University of Texas. And coach always talks about it all the time, we played to a standard, not the scoreboard.”
Texas baseball returns to the mount to take on Houston Christian on Tuesday for its weekly non-conference matchup. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 pm CT at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
