Longhorns seeded No. 2 overall in NCAA baseball tournament
AUSTIN (KXAN) — After being projected as the No. 1 overall seed for most of the season, Texas is officially the No. 2 seed heading into the NCAA baseball tournament.
Texas will host a regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, and if the Longhorns make it through the 4-team, double-elimination tournament, they’ll host a best-of-3 super regional for a berth in the Men’s College World Series.
The Longhorns (42-12) will face Houston Christian (32-23) in the first game in Austin at 1 p.m. Friday. Kansas State (31-24) and UTSA (44-13) round out the regional and face off at 6 p.m. Friday. Texas and Houston Christian played once during the regular season April 8, with the Longhorns winning 12-2 in seven innings. The Longhorns lost to UTSA 8-7 in 12 innings March 18 at the Disch.
“This is like Christmas Day to me when you see that you’re in,” Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “We got a super competitive draw with three teams that are familiar with Disch-Falk, and that are good. We hope the fans come out and provide a great atmosphere like they have all year long.”
The Roadrunners are the No. 2 seed, and the Wildcats are No. 3 in the Austin regional. Texas is the top seed as an at-large team with the Huskies at No. 4. Houston Christian won the Southland Conference tournament over New Orleans to earn an automatic bid. UTSA and Kansas State were selected as at-large teams.
Texas catcher Rylan Galvan said the team knew they would host a regional, but seeing it on television and hearing it gives them a big boost.
“We’re grateful for being in the position we’re in, and we’re ready to go compete,” he said. “Everything we’ve done to this point has been pretty cool, but postseason baseball is different. Everything is behind us, and it’s about who is playing their best baseball right now.”
Game times will be announced later Monday, and this story will be updated once they are set.
The Longhorns won the Southeastern Conference regular season championship with a 22-8 record, but lost in the quarterfinals of the SEC tournament to Tennessee. Vanderbilt came on strong in the last half of the season and won the SEC tournament over Ole Miss, grabbing the No. 1 overall seed. The Commodores moved to the No. 1 spot in the RPI with the tournament win, and Texas slipped to No. 4 after bowing out early.
NCAA baseball tournament top 8 seeds
- 1. Vanderbilt, 42-16
- 2. Texas, 42-12
- 3. Arkansas, 43-13
- 4. Auburn, 38-18
- 5. North Carolina, 42-12
- 6. LSU, 43-14
- 7. Georgia, 42-15
- 8. Oregon State, 41-12-1
The top eight seeds have home-field advantage through the super regionals. Six of the eight teams are from the SEC. North Carolina represents the ACC, and Oregon State played an independent schedule this season. The SEC qualified 13 teams for the NCAA tournament, an all-time record for any conference.
For the super regional round, the Austin regional is paired with the Los Angeles regional, hosted by UCLA. Fresno State, UC Irvine, and Arizona State are in the LA regional alongside the Bruins.
Texas A&M, the preseason No. 1 team and 2024 national runner-up under Schlossnagle, didn’t make the tournament. The Aggies finished with a 30-26 overall record.
The Men’s College World Series is June 13-23 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska.
