Column: There is no SEC Tournament conundrum. Jim Schlossnagle and Texas should try to win it.

Conference tournaments mean different things to different people in college baseball. For some, it’s the only path available to the postseason. See 2015 Texas, which won the Big 12 Tournament to send Augie Garrido to the postseason one final time. For others, it can do very little to add to a postseason resume. Two or three games won’t offset what a team has on its ledger for an entire season.

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And in baseball, playing any number of games can affect how pitching will be deployed in the days and weeks following for teams that make the NCAA Tournament. A team that has to play five games in five days will be taxed heavily before the regional round begins.

Texas doesn’t have that problem. As a result of finishing second in the SEC this year, the Longhorns have a double bye into the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament. If Texas wins on Friday? They advance to Saturday.

Win Saturday? Then the Longhorns play for the SEC Tournament championship on Sunday.

The Longhorns and Jim Schlossnagle can treat this weekend, from a pitching deployment perspective, like a regular three-game series. It may not do much to help Texas gain a better national seed, but there’s certainly much more upside than downside.

Schlossnagle and the Longhorns should try to win the SEC Tournament. There’s no reason to use this weekend to “experiment.” This is a team that could use meaningful games in order to prep itself for a home regional, especially after last year’s team that was the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament failed to win a game in Hoover and advance out of the regional round of the NCAA Tournament.

Last year, Schlossnagle made it evident his focus was on getting back home to Austin instead of advancing in Hoover. He started Ethan Walker in a quarterfinal game versus Tennessee in what was just his eighth appearance of the season. In fairness, Schlossnagle was trying to figure out how to optimize his pitching staff as the team advanced into the postseason without standout starter Jared Spencer, but there were other candidates with more SEC experience than Walker he could have chosen. Walker had a solid outing and Texas went to extra innings with the Volunteers but fell 7-5 in 12 innings.

Walker ended up starting the first game of the Austin regional versus Houston Christian, allowing for Luke Harrison to throw in the regional semifinal that the Longhorns dropped versus UTSA. Hindsight is 20-20, but the data Schlossnagle gained from Walker’s outing in Hoover came with a loss, and it still didn’t help a team that was battling injury advance in its own regional.

Circumstances change year over year, and what’s ahead of the 2026 team isn’t the same as what was ahead of the 2025 squad. Sure, Texas has some starting pitching questions with Ruger Riojas’ limited effectiveness and one-batter outing this past weekend, but not enough to where the Longhorns need to find starting pitching options quite yet. Besides, last year Texas was replacing its No. 1 in Spencer. Riojas, though essential, isn’t the No. 1 guy.

So Texas should go try to win game one like always. The Longhorns should go try to win game two like always. And if they’re successful on Friday and Saturday, the Longhorns should go try to win game three. Don’t give into the idea that conference tournaments are “meaningless.” If a game is on the schedule, it’s not meaningless.

It’s a win-win situation for Schlossnagle in any case. A few more wins and even some hardware are always nice. Texas has 16 conference tournament titles in its history, but it hasn’t won one of the SEC variety yet. Why not make another mark on the league in just the Longhorns’ second year of membership?

If they lose? Well, words from Schlossnagle last year explain why it could end up being a positive considering Texas’ constant opening day mentality.

“2015 was at TCU and we went two and out in the conference tournament, and Coach Garrido, first text message I had, was this is the best thing to ever happen to your team, and that team was the second of four straight College World Series teams,” Schlossnagle said in 2025. “It’ll be whatever we make it. We’ve got to get home. We’ve got work to do. We’ve got to make sure we’re prepared for next weekend.”

Texas has an opportunity this week that it should not ignore. Winning begets winning. Momentum is real.

The Longhorns should not sacrifice a chance at momentum especially considering its path to a SEC Tournament title is three games in length, something it should be very used to at this point. Play it straight up and win it straight up. There are lessons from last year worth taking into the weekend for the Longhorns’ second ever trip to Hoover. Use them and there’s a good chance Schlossnagle will be bringing back some hardware.