AUSTIN, Texas — Behind Ruger Riojas’ exceptional performance on the mound and Aiden Robbins’ heroic home run in the seventh inning of Sunday’s championship game of the Austin Regional, Texas eliminated UC Santa Barbara to advance in the NCAA Tournament with a 6-4 win at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

After last year’s disappointing exit in the regional as one of eight national seeds, the Longhorns (the No. 6 overall national seed) righted the ship this season. With a 19-1 rout of Holy Cross on Friday and a 16-2 dismantling of Tarleton State in the winner’s bracket game on Saturday preceding the late-inning comeback victory over the Gauchos, Texas (43-13) will host the winner of the Eugene Regional (either Oregon and Oregon State) in next week’s Austin Super Regional.

The Longhorns didn’t score until the sixth inning, but Jim Schlossnagle’s club stayed in the game because of the job Riojas did in his first extensive action in three weeks. Riojas, who battled shoulder tendonitis late in the regular season, scattered three hits and one walk while striking out six in five innings of one-run baseball.

UC Santa Barbara (40-20) built a 3-2 lead through six innings thanks to a first-inning home run and two Texas errors in the bottom of the sixth. With Casey Borba on first and one out in the top of the seventh, Robbins took the fifth pitch he saw from lefty Van Froling deep to right field for a two-run, opposite-field home run.

The Austin Regional Most Outstanding Player, Robbins, who hit his team-leading 23rd home run of the season, gave the Longhorns a lead they never relinquished. Still, the Gauchos made them work for the last nine outs.

A pair of eighth-inning insurance runs (Adrian Rodriguez scored from second on an RBI double down the left-field line by Ethan Mendoza, who scored from third with two outs on a failed pickoff attempt) came in handy after UCSB scored a run against Sam Cozart in the home half.

Cozart recorded the first two outs of the ninth inning, but he exited with the bases loaded after hitting a better. Luke Harrison, who started Friday's win over Holy Cross, came out of the bullpen to notch a two-pitch save (the third of his career and his first since March 5, 2022, against LSU), helping Texas earn a Super Regional berth for the first time since 2023.

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Natty incoming 🤘🏼

I’m very happy with getting to Supers

Team came through. 

Glad they pulled it out tonight. Wanted no

part of a ‘do or die’ game tomorrow.  

Texas beat everyone in their regional. Solid 

UCSB head coach Andrew Checketts said a sign was initially missed on the double steal that gave Texas a huge out in the eighth inning. "We got caught with our pants down," he said, referring to the poor execution that ran the Gauchos into an out and played a role in stranding a runner on third.

Checketts on referring to Texas as the Yankees: "In this day and age, when you're talking about resources and infrastructure, it did feel a little bit like walking into that."

Kellen Montgomery said the third time the Longhorns saw him, they were ready. He credited Robbins and Tinney for making good adjustments, which led to Texas knocking him out of the game in the sixth inning.

 

 

 

 

18 minutes ago, SETXAN said:

Glad they pulled it out tonight. Wanted no

part of a ‘do or die’ game tomorrow.  

Yep. Not with this bullpen.

I’m so glad I’m not a ball coach I would have been fired like 8 times in that game

Arkansas' season is over.

So far, Texas, Georgia, Kansas and North Carolina are moving on to the Supers.

Gutsy move by Schloss to go to Harrison. He liked the matchup with Cozart and Barrett; Cozart just hit him. He felt like Kelly was seeing Cozart too well, that he and Max Weiner went with the lefty-lefty matchup.

They bet on Harrison and they bet on the winning horse.

"It felt a lot better than when I saw Pack looking up for the ball and not being able to see it." — Schloss on how he felt about Adrian Rodriguez securing the last out

Schloss: "The goal here is not to win a regional. It's to keep going."

Schloss challenged the athletic training staff and the sports medicine staff two weeks ago to make sure Riojas was ready for the regional. He applauded them for the job they did, but now they've got to get him ready to go again.

Riojas said he's been dealing with a "constant nagging" in his right arm. He said today, he felt better than he has in a long time.

"I'm so happy that I'm pain-free," he said.

Schloss is expressing his frustration that college baseball's postseason doesn't mirror the regular season. If you really want the best teams in Omaha, he said, then you should play three three-game series to get to Omaha, just like you do in the regular season.

Schloss: "This is the golden age of college baseball. The players — no disrespect to the past — they've never been so good. The coaching is great... I think we've grown enough to deserve a more regular-season-like postseason."

#Texas RF Aiden Robbins in the Austin Regional:

6–14
3 HR
9 RBI
8 runs scored
4 K | 3 BB

#Texas OF Anthony Pack Jr in the Austin Regional:

5–11
4 HR
7 RBI
1 K | 3 BB