Texas had chances to extend its season in Tuesday’s College World Series elimination game against Georgia. Unfortunately, the Longhorns went 0-for-8 with runners on base and 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in a 2-0 loss to the Bulldogs, making for a disappointing end to the team’s first trip to Omaha under Jim Schlossnagle.
Texas (46-15) ends the 2026 season three wins shy of the national championship series, which the program hasn’t reached since 2009.
"The bounces didn't go our way tonight," Schlossnagle said. "Really proud of our team and the season we had, finishing in Omaha, and look forward to being back."
While the offense struggled, failing to record an extra-base hit (four hits total) and striking out 12 times against Georgia’s (53-13) pitching staff on Monday, Luke Harrison and Sam Cozart kept the Longhorns in the game.
In his last appearance for the program, Harrison became the first Texas pitcher since Brooks Kieschnick in 1993 to strike out 11 batters in a College World Series game, holding one of the nation’s top offenses to two hits and one run in 5.2 innings. Cozart suffered some hard luck in his College World Series debut, including Dariyan Pendergrass’ overturned diving catch in shallow center for the first out of the seventh inning, which was immediately followed by third baseman Tre Phelps’ single through the right side against the shift to set the table for the Bulldogs’ second run. Still, the freshman scattered three hits and struck out six Georgia batters in 3.1 innings out of the bullpen, including a strikeout with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.
"I think just the moment, it was big, but I knew that all I had to do was go give it everything I've got," Harrison said. "I really felt like I gave every ounce of what I had today. Obviously, the results were solid, but we weren't able to come out with a win."
The Longhorns had a chance to break the game open in the first inning, putting Dylan Vigue on the ropes with two on and one out after a single up the middle by Carson Tinney and Anthony Pack Jr. working a walk. With a mound visit helping settle him down, Vigue got Adrian Rodriguez to fly out to left field and struck out Ethan Mendoza to get out of the jam.
“Most of his starts, he kind of opens for them," Schlossnagle said. "If he gets it going, then they'll leave him in there a little bit. They had the bullpen up and rolling in the first inning and we had a good guy at the plate in Mendoza — uses the right side of the field really well. He just chased the pitch off the plate.
"We let them get confident and then he started making better pitches and we kept chasing out of the strike zone," he added. "In these games, with two great teams, it's those little moments that change it."
Texas had its next best chance to score with Rodriguez up and runners on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Justin Byrd, who struck out four and allowed two hits in five innings of relief after Vigue (two hits, two walks and eight strikeouts in five innings) walked Ashton Larson on four pitches to open the bottom of the sixth, got Rodriguez to ground out to first base, ending the last scoring threat the Longhorns mustered.
In the end, a leadoff walk drawn by first baseman Brennan Hudson in the fifth inning and Phelps' RBI double to left field later in the frame, and center fielder Ryan Lujo's RBI sacrifice fly to left field to score right fielder Ryan Black (which took reviews of Tinney's attempted tag at the plate and whether or not Black left third base early when tagging up to confirm the run) was all of the scoring Georgia needed to end Schlossnagle's second season on the Forty Acres.
Schlossnagle's roster will look a lot different in 2027. Nevertheless, he and the Texas coaches will look to Cozart, Pack, Rodriguez and All-American pitcher Dylan Volantis to lead the program's next quest for an elusive seventh national championship.
"They need to remember this feeling, what it means to be at Texas, what it means to be in Omaha and the fact that our season is over and we didn't accomplish the ultimate thing, which is winning the national title," Schlossnagle said. "It moves on to them."
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