It was a series two years in the making, with then-No. 2 Texas baseball’s head coach Jim Schlossnagle returning to the hollow grounds of Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park for the Lone Star Showdown series against then-No. 18 Texas A&M.
The matchup was clouded by the emotional return of Schlossnagle, who led the Aggies to a Men’s College World Series championship series. He made the jump from College Station to Austin only a day later.
“I can’t control the fans,” Schlossnagle said before the series. “The 12th man is awesome. … They’re awesome and passionate for their team, and they’re super consistent and loyal. I don’t expect anything less than that over the course of the weekend.”
While emotions swelled over the rivalry, clouded would not just be a figure of speech, as the series was plagued by the weather throughout the weekend in College Station.
The opening game of the series was able to be played out fully. However, it wasn’t much of a bright spot for the Longhorns, as they once again dropped the first game of a series, losing in a 9-8 slugfest.
It was a back-and-forth affair that featured five home runs from both teams, four of which were from batters in burnt orange, though it was not enough for the Longhorns to win on Friday. The Texas bullpen allowed seven free bases as the Aggies tied the game with two runs coming from walks with bases loaded.
Mother Nature made her first mark of the series in game two on Saturday. While the ballgame started on time, the game entered a rain delay right away in the bottom of the first inning.
The rain delay became a pause that ultimately ended up hurting the Longhorns. Before the delay, they trailed 2-1, but when play resumed, and the first inning ended, Texas trailed big, falling behind 8-1.
Graduate pitcher Luke Harrison would allow most of the damage in his Saturday start, as he was not able to get out of the prolonged first inning. Harrison pitched just .2 innings, where he surrendered six hits and was charged with eight earned runs while allowing three free passes.
The 8-1 early deficit proved to be too much for the Longhorns to overcome. For the rest of that ballgame, the Aggies were able to cruise on the lead, ultimately clinching the Lone Star Showdown series on Saturday with an 11-4 win over the Longhorns.
“Trying to remove the whole rivalry thing, life in this league, all these teams are good,” Schlossnagle said after Saturday’s loss. “On any given weekend, anything can happen, literally anything. So it’s never about the best teams, it’s the team that plays the best, and A&M has outplayed us for two days.”
Texas would’ve looked toward Sunday for a chance to salvage a win with its usual Sunday starter, sophomore pitcher Dylan Volantis. However, no baseball would be played as the weather had its final say in the series.
A game that was slated at 1 p.m. on Sunday was delayed right before the opening pitch, and would continue to be pushed back due to inclement weather until 10 p.m. The game was ultimately called off and canceled.
The Longhorns will look to get back on track as they head back home to UFCU Disch-Falk Field for a midweek matchup against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and its weekend series against the No. 11 Alabama Crimson Tide.
