AUSTIN, Texas — Following Texas baseball’s three-game sweep of Georgia over the weekend, the Longhorns have moved up to No. 2 in the latest set of college baseball rankings.
Jim Schlossnagle’s club opened the season at No. 14 in Baseball America’s preseason poll, and the Longhorns were slotted 19th by D1Baseball.
In the rankings for April 7, Texas (26-4, 11-1 SEC) now sits at No. 2 in both the D1Baseball and Baseball America Top-25 polls.
The Longhorns should also rise in the latest NCAA Baseball Coaches Poll, after entering the week slotted at No. 5 in the nation.
Following a midweek loss to Texas State at home, Texas bounced back by winning three straight games over Southeastern Conference foe Georgia, who came into the series ranked No. 3.
The series win marks Texas’ fifth weekend sweep of the year and eighth straight conference win. Jim Schlossnagle’s club has won all of their series’ against SEC opponents, which includes taking two out of three games against then-No. 2 ranked LSU in late March.
Entering the weekend’s series against the Bulldogs, Texas’ head coach was extremely complimentary of Georgia.
“There are some guys on their team who will steal some bases, but they’re built around power,” Schlossnagle said during his media availability on April 3.
“A lot of teams in [the SEC] are, but Georgia is really good at it. Their starting pitching hasn’t been awesome, but their bullpen has been amazing, and they’ve flipped some guys from their pen into the rotation. So, they’re a national championship contender for sure.”
Texas was able to secure the series sweep in large part because of a talented rotation of arms who were able to stifle the Bulldogs’ bats.
Senior left-handed Friday night starter Jared Spencer struck out a career-high 11 batters in 7 2/3 innings while holding the Bulldogs to a season-low one run on two hits in a 111-pitch effort in a 5-1 Game 1 victory.
UTSA transfer Ruger Riojas pitched into the seventh for the second consecutive start in Game 3, as the 6-foot, 192-pound hurler notched seven strikeouts in Texas’ 4-3 win over Georgia on Sunday.
True freshman left-handed pitcher Dylan Volantis extinguished any chances of a Bulldogs’ win, retiring 12 of the 14 batters he faced.
Volantis recorded a career-best eight strikeouts over four shutout innings in Game 3 on Sunday, yielding just one hit to keep the potent Bulldogs (29-5, 8-4 SEC) silent the rest of the way.
The Longhorns will return to the diamond at Disch-Falk Field for a midweek non-conference matchup against Houston Christian on April 8. SEC play will continue three days later as the Longhorns head to Kentucky for a three-game set against the Wildcats starting on April 11.
Schlossnagle and the Longhorns will continue to be tested during the program’s first season in the SEC after previously playing in the Big 12 Conference.
Texas is one of 10 programs from the SEC listed in D1Baseball’s top 25, six of which are ranked among the top 10.
No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Tennessee, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Georgia, No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Alabama, No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 19 Oklahoma all sit among the top programs in the nation.
