2026 Austin Regional
The Texas Longhorns are hosting a Regional Tournament for the 39th time as the Road to Omaha runs through Austin again. Texas is the overall No. 6 national seed, and if we win this weekend, we will host the winner of the Eugene (Oregon) Regional in Austin the following weekend. I love college playoff baseball, and I love it even more when the Longhorns win. Let it be so.
The University welcomes the University of California, Santa Barbara Gauchos (2 seed), the Tarleton State Texans (3 seed), and the Holy Cross Crusaders (4 seed) to Austin. Santa Barbara, California, Stephenville, Texas, and Worcester, Massachusetts – that is some cultural and geographical diversity. Works well in the melting pot of Austin.
The Longhorns open the weekend with the Crusaders at 12:00 noon on Friday, TV broadcast on the SEC Network. The Gauchos and Texans will square off at 5 p.m. Friday evening.
Holy Cross vs. Texas
RHP Jaden Wywoda (6-4, 3.76 ERA)
LHP Luke Harrison (6-3, 4.63 ERA)
The weekend schedule:
Friday May 29: #1 Texas vs. #4 Holy Cross – 12:00 noon SECN
#2 UCSB vs. #3 Tarleton State – 5:00 p.m.
Saturday May 30: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser – 1:00 p.m.
Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday May 31: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser – 12:00 noon
Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner – 5:00 p.m.
Monday June 1: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (if necessary, TBA)
A look at each team below and some statistics.
Biggest weekend for Texas Baseball and Jim Schlossnagle since his arrival in Austin. Texas has the talent to win and even sweep, but the Longhorns are going to have click on all ten cylinders.
A few of the interesting storylines.
Thanks to Danny Davis at the Austin American-Statesman – In 1952 The Crusaders beat the Longhorns 2-1 in Omaha on their way to a national championship. The loss eliminated Texas from the College World Series.
Tarleton State beat us here in March. Their coach, Fuller Smith, graduated from Ole Miss in 2009.
University of California, Santa Barbara. Best pitching staff in the country.
A nice graphic courtesy of The University.
Link to the Texas Notes for the Regional Austin_Regional_Notes – University of Texas Athletics
If you haven’t ever checked out the Wikipedia page, it is pretty amazing. Texas Longhorns baseball – Wikipedia
Vegas likes us.
The entire field by computer rank. Texas is No. 6, UC Santa Barbara is No. 36.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DY2GOXJEwcC/
Cool article that you can read after Texas beats Holy Cross.
Smart Talk: One stat for every team in the NCAA tournament • D1Baseball
Evan Vieth at Inside Texas on why the Horns will win the regional
And the tweet of the year that has nothing to do with baseball but is hysterical. Here is the tease, an alleged memo to the employees of a company, then go read the tweet. “It appears someone, and by “someone” I mean apparently all of you simultaneously, managed to spend $500,000,000 on @claudeai usage in a single month.” Maybe Claude wrote the tweet. If so, I am going to download it.
https://x.com/warco1/status/2060060908504674637?s=43
Statistics
Texas Pitching
Dylan Volantis. Volantis is one of the top 5 pitchers in the country. One of the others is UCSB’s Jackson Flora. If they match-up, it will be one of the best games in the country for the Regionals.
| ERA | W-L | WHIP | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | B/AVG |
| 2.00 | 8-1 | 0.97 | 76.2 | 52 | 18 | 17 | 22 | 109 | 9 | 0 | 2 | .184 |
Dylan’s numbers have actually improved in the last two series. He is pitching really well.
Ruger Riojas. We need a big game from Ruger. Hope he’s healthy.
| ERA | W-L | WHIP | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | B/AVG |
| 4.02 | 5-2 | 1.11 | 65.0 | 58 | 29 | 29 | 14 | 100 | 18 | 5 | 5 | .236 |
Luke Harrison. Luke has his detractors. I am not one of them. He’s not necessarily elite, but he’s a good pitcher. One thing that fascinates me is the delta between runs allowed and his earned runs allowed – 7. Volantis is 1 and Riojas none. Curious.
| ERA | W-L | WHIP | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | B/AVG |
| 4.63 | 6-3 | 1.32 | 72.0 | 66 | 44 | 37 | 29 | 80 | 22 | 1 | 7 | .240 |
Sam Cozart. 6-0 with 8 saves. What a talent. I think our only pitcher whose ERA has dropped over the last few weeks.
| ERA | W-L | WHIP | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | 2B | 3B | HR | B/AVG |
| 1.59 | 6-0 | .64 | 45.1 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 12 | 66 | 5 | 0 | 3 | .112 |
Good note from Evan Vieth: Combined stats for Texas’ top six arms in 2026:
3.22 ERA
1.08 WHIP
.201 OPP BA
4.1 K – BB Ratio
When the four starters, Cozart, Leffew and Crossland are in, Texas is a very hard team to score consistently on. They account for 65% of the team’s innings, but only 50% of runs.
I like this stat – Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP): FIP is similar to ERA, but it focuses solely on the events a pitcher has the most control over — strikeouts, walks, hit-by-pitches and home runs. It entirely removes results on balls hit into the field of play. For example: If a pitcher has surrendered a high average on balls in play, his FIP will likely be lower than his ERA. Balls in play are not part of the FIP equation because a pitcher is believed to have limited control over their outcome. The formula: Where the “FIP constant” puts FIP onto the same scale as the entire league’s ERA: ((HR x 13) + (3 x (BB + HBP)) – (2 x K)) / IP + FIP constant. Sorted by FIP:
Dylan is also No. 4 in ERA and No. 3 in opponent SLG and OPS . Riojas is 4th and Volantis is 6th in XFIP.
Jackson Flora: No. 1 in ERA, No. 2 in OBP, No. 1 in SLG and OPS.
Texas Offense
Carson Tinney is an offensive weapon and great catcher. Batting .316 with OPS of 1.154 (leads team), 20 homeruns (leads team), and 54 RBI. Leads the Horns with 45 walks).
Aiden Robbins – Batting .341 with .683 slug, 19 home runs, and 53 RBI.
Anthony Pack, Jr. tops the Horns with his .353 batting average. 1.018 OPS, .547 slug, and 20 of 22 in stolen bases.
Temo Becerra has a .321 batting average, .898 OPS, and .469 slug.
Casey Borba has been much better. Leads the Horns with 55 RBI and has 17 home runs.
Texas has to get more production from the rest of the lineup, and we must do better with runners in scoring position.
Texas season stats here:
2026 Baseball Cumulative Statistics
University of California, Santa Barbara Gauchos
The Gauchos are a very good baseball team with the best pitcher in the country, Jackson Flora, and a solid staff behind him.
Gauchos were 38-18 overall and won the Big West regular season, lost to Cal Poly and UC San Diego in the conference tournament. Of note: swept Utah, swept Long Beach State, lost 2 of 3 to UC Davis (Texas swept the California Aggies). Gauchos went 1-2 against Oregon; Flora pitched 5 scoreless innings and the Gaucho bullpen gave up 4 runs in one of the losses. Beat No. 1 UCLA in Jackie Robinson Stadium on a Tuesday night, 4-0. Went 1-2 against Fullerton. Got run-ruled by UCLA on Tuesday in Santa Barbara.
Full schedule and results here: 2026 Baseball Schedule – UC Santa Barbara
Stats here: https://ucsbgauchos.com/sports/baseball/stats
Tarleton State Texans
Well, we all know that Tarleton can win in Austin, after kicking the Horns on March 17th, 6 to 1. A stagnant Texas offense managed just 1 run (Tinney’s first inning homer) on 2 hits against 5 different Texan pitchers.
Tarleton had a good season, 37-19, and 12-6 in the WAC. Notable games – lost to No. 7 Arkansas early, Got beat at home by Texas State, swept a 4 game series with New Mexico, lost their series to Houston Christian, Beat Texas 6-1, swept Stephen F. Austin and Air Force, beat Baylor twice on Tuesdays, lost to UTSA 6-2, got run-ruled 13-3 by the Sand Aggies in Lubbock, played a team in the WAC I haven’t even heard of – Utah Tech – swept them.
Full schedule and results here: 2026 Baseball Schedule – Tarleton State
Stats here: https://tarletonsports.com/sports/baseball/stats/2026
Holy Cross Crusaders
The Crusaders are here because they won the Patriot League tournament by beating Army twice and taking 2 out of 3 from Bucknell. Holy Cross was 25-28 overall and 13-13 in the Patriot League. If Texas loses this afternoon, it is going to a bad, bad night to be a bottle of reposado tequila in Tarry Town.
Full schedule and results here: 2026 Baseball Schedule – Holy Cross Athletics
Stats here: https://goholycross.com/sports/baseball/stats/2026
Longhorns, Gauchos, Texans, and Crusaders
Pitching comparison. National rank and stat.
| ERA | WHIP | IP | SO | BB | K/BB | H/9 | |
| Texas | No. 17: 4.22 | No. 6: 1.22 | 460.1 | 601 | 173 | No. 3: 3.47 | No. 10: 7.59 |
| UCSB | No. 5: 3.45 | No. 7: 1.22 | 495.0 | 549 | 194 | No. 15: 2.83 | No. 7: 7.49 |
| TSU | No. 119: 5.59 | No. 96: 1.50 | 489.1 | 409 | 238 | No. 162: 1.72 | No. 90: 9.12 |
| HC | No. 200: 6.42 | No. 171: 1.64 | 441.1 | 399 | 249 | No. 189: 1.60 | No. 137: 9.67 |
Batting:
| AVG | OB% | Runs | Hits | SLG% | BB | |
| Texas | No. 60: .294 | No. 26: .414 | No. 59: 423 | No. 140: 516 | No. 29: .505 | No. 8: 329 |
| UCSB | No. 177: .274 | No. 182: .375 | No. 189: 340 | No. 151: 510 | No. 193: .412 | No. 212: 222 |
| TSU | No. 61: .294 | No. 92: .393 | No. 76: 408 | No. 52: 563 | No. 65: .474 | No. 141: 248 |
| HC | No. 260: ..255 | No. 196: .373 | No. 195: 336 | No. 255: 446 | No. 247: .389 | No. 141: 248 |
Defense:
| Fielding % | Errors | Double Plays | |
| Texas | No. 18: .980 | 37 | No. 245: 30 |
| UCSB | No. 95: .974 | 52 | No. 253: 29 |
| TSU | No. 156: .970 | 61 | No. 8: 53 |
| HC | No. 279: .958 | 75 | No. 284: 24 |
College Baseball Analytics PEA Ratings comparison and projection and some statistics.
TSR – Team Strength Rating | WAR – PEAR’s WAR Approximation | WPOE – Win Percentage Over Expected (Luck) | PYTHAG – Pythagorean Win Percentage | KSHOTS – Inning where team scores 2+ runs and allows 0 | CONCD – Conceded Killshots | KSHOT R – Killshot Ratio | KSHOTS/G – Killshots Scored Per Game | CONCD/G – Conceded Killshots Per Game | ERA – Earned Run Average | WHIP – Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched | K/9 – Strikeouts Per 9 Innings | RPG – Runs Per Game | BA – Batting Average | OBP – On Base Percentage | SLG – Slugging | OPS – On Base Plus Slugging | PCT – Fielding Percentage
https://pearatings.com/cbase/d1/stats?season=2026
Resume:
UC Santa Barbara is No. 33 with a 0.736 score, +3.78 TSR, 38 RPI Quads are 8-6, 3-6, 12-2, and 15-4.
Tarleton State is No. 58 with a 0.700 score, +1.58 TSR, 56 RPI. Quads are 2-3, 7-7, 12-3, and 16-6.
Holy Cross is No. 251 with a 0.379 score, – 1.90 TSR, 201 RPI. Quads are 0-0, 0-0, 8-16, and 17-12.
https://pearatings.com/cbase/d1?season=2026
PEAR Matchups
TCT Thoughts
Texas can and should win the Regional, but it isn’t a guarantee. I will assume Texas beats Holy Cross. If we don’t, then just screw it. The best thing that could happen would be for Tarleton State to upset UC Santa Barbara Friday night so Texas only has to beat the Gauchos once to get to the Supers.
Texas can win if we play defense consistent with the season’s performance, get some good pitching from some of the guys who are not part of the Magnificent 6, and play good offense. Don’t leave runners in scoring position, have productive at bats, and, please, if we need a single, work to get a single, and not a home run. Play smart baseball.
I have Texas winning it, I just hope we wrap it up on Sunday.
Aiden Robbins & St. Baldrick’s Foundation
In kindergarten, Aiden lost a friend to cancer. Fighting childhood cancer has been a lifelong passion and commitment. Please join me in supporting him and St. Baldrick’s Foundation.
Aiden Robbins St. Baldrick’s Mission | A St. Baldrick’s Fundraiser
Texas One
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Jim Nicar
May 28, 1923: The Santa Rita oil well “blew in” on U.T. Austin -owned West Texas lands. The discovery of oil and the royalties that followed led to a windfall for the Permanent University Fund and forever altered UT’s future.
From Jim’s May 28, 2026 Post on X.
Photo of the Week
Storm brewing.
From JType’s May 27, 2026 post on Instagram.
Glenn Taylor
Today, May 29th, would have been my father Glenn Taylor’s 93rd birthday. He passed away in October 2021. I wrote about my dad that week. He loved the Longhorns. I still miss our daily talks, and I really miss what was a beloved tradition – we talked after every Longhorn football, basketball, and baseball game. He had an opinion, win or lose. Hook Em Glenn. Texas Longhorns vs. Baylor Bears 2021 – Austin Horns Fan Dispatch
On X: @tctayloratx
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You can contact me by mail:
Tim Taylor P.O. Box 5371 Austin, Texas 78763-5371