Texas baseball has made a record 39 trips to the College World Series. However, a recurring theme led to a disappointing outcome of the Longhorns’ first game, as the Longhorns continued the pattern of not winning an opening game in Omaha since 2009.
The team’s wretched streak will continue and extend to six consecutive opening losses for the Longhorns after dropping their first game of the greatest show on dirt, 7-1, to the Georgia Bulldogs.
Texas struggled to get much of anything going against the Bulldogs’ junior starting pitcher, Joey Volchko. The Longhorns’ batting order could not figure out Volchko, having just one hit heading into the fifth inning.
The Bulldogs’ starter would go the distance for the complete game victory, surrendering just four hits to the Longhorns and just the lone run, which was not earned. Volchko would dominate on the mound, punching out 15 of the 31 Texas batters that he faced.
“Volchko was awesome,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “(He) didn’t walk a guy until the ninth inning, threw an endless amount of strikes … (he) was outstanding.”
While the Longhorns wouldn’t score their only run of the game until the fifth inning of the ballgame, the Bulldogs did not have any sort of a slow start, jumping all over Texas’ starting sophomore pitcher Dylan Volantis.
Georgia found quick success against Volantis. After just three batters, the Bulldogs led 2-0 following a two-run home run by sophomore outfielder Rylan Lujo. However, the first inning scoring wasn’t down there, as a throwing error from Longhorns junior catcher Carson Tinney allowed a batter to get on the base paths, which set up an RBI-single the very next at-bat.
The Longhorns were not done with the self-inflicting wounds, as Texas hurt itself once again two at-bats later.
Needing just one out to get out of the first inning, Volantis spiked a pitch into the dirt, which got away from Tinney, allowing one run to score. The Texas backstop tossed a ball wayward to first base, allowing another run to score on the throwing error.
Texas left the first inning after allowing four runs on two hits and committing two errors. The Longhorns’ missteps put them into a 4-0 deficit they couldn’t work their way out of.
“The other story of the game is, from a defensive standpoint, that’s the worst game we’ve played the whole season, which is super disappointing on our end,” Schlossnagle said. “That’s a very bad taste in our mouths.”
The defensive lapses wouldn’t end there for the Longhorns, even after cutting the lead to 4-1 after scoring a run in the fifth inning. The Bulldogs kicked off their seventh-inning three-spot with their lead-off hitter of the frame reaching on a fielding error from junior infielder Casey Borba, the third error of the game for Texas.
Lujo hurt the Longhorns once again with an RBI double, which scored the initial base runner of the inning. A two-RBI single from sophomore outfielder Kenny Ishikawa put the finishing touch on the Longhorns’ loss.
The Longhorns drop into the elimination bracket at the College World Series, as their next loss will mark the end of the 2026 season.
Texas will now play for both a chance at the national championship and its season, taking on the Alabama Crimson Tide in an elimination game, on Monday at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN.
