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Texas rallies back with 10 unanswered, takes top-ten series win over Mississippi State, 11-6

by: Evan Vieth05/03/26

Take everything you know about this Texas Baseball squad and turn it upside down. That’s the kind of day this Horns squad had in Austin.

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Luke Harrison, the usually steady final arm in a superb Texas staff, was nearly chased out of the game in the first inning. Three seperate 3-2 count walks, and a grand slam as the cherry on top. Texas was down 5-0 in arguably the most important game of the year.

The optics were poor to say the least. Texas had lost a game the night before in which they stranded 17 runners on base. They found ways to generate base runners, loading the bases in all four of the final frames, only scoring two runs while already down six.

A rubber match against one of the five best teams in the SEC, with chances of swaying their spot in rankings and ratings as high as No. 2 and as low as No. 8. Three outs into the game, and they were down five.

But that didn’t deter a ball club that has dealt with injury and adversity throughout the year. In fact, it only helped them.

“It’s a winning team,” Jim Schlossnagle said about his squad. “We’ve won a lot of ball games, a lot of ball games in this league. 37 games out of 48. This team knows how to win.”

Texas would storm back off the back of a nine-run third inning, eventually scoring 10 unanswered, beating No. 10 Mississippi State 11-6.

The rally started in a similar way to Mississippi State’s, as Texas let Mississippi State’s substitute Sunday starter Charlie Foster beat himself.

It began with two unsung freshman, Presley Courville and Maddox Monsour, drawing walks. Courville saw seven pitches in his AB.

“Super underrated at-bat, to lead off that inning,” Schlossnagle said about the freshman Courville. “Rook some pitches, and I said to him, before he went out there I told him, put together a good AB right here. And he did that again. He’s got some Mendoza in him.”

Aiden Robbins would draw a walk, also on a 3-2 count, setting up Carson Tinney. He would get hit by a pitch, and the floodgates were on.

In stepped Anthony Pack, who had left seven on base the night before, failing to bring in two seperate bases loaded opportunities. But the true freshman wasn’t going to let a single bad night get in his way. Instead, the beginning of the best rally of the season.

Texas would keep it going, as Ethan Mendoza would walk, and Adrian Rodriguez would tie the game with a two-RBI single.

“I think it was our willingness to just keep on going, keep on making good at-bats,” Rodriguez said. “The two games before, when we got to their bullpen, I feel like that’s what made us have more confidence, because we get where we’ve already seen those pitchers before, then we get to hammer a new pitcher they throw at us.”

Still with no outs, Temo Becerra would double down the line, followed by a double of Casey Borba’s own. Three more RBI, capped off by an Aiden Robbins single to make it nine runs.

It was Texas’ best comeback of the year, and as Becerra knocked in another run with another double in the fourth, Texas had scored 10 unanswered.

As all of this was brewing, Harrison settled back in. Despite throwing 41 pitches in the first, he would find a way to throw five innings of baseball, blanking the Bulldogs in the next four innings. He would allow just one hit after that five-run affair, a huge boost to the Longhorns chances of winning the game. An inning-eater through and through.

“Very proud of the way that I competed today. You know, I think you can look at the line or the ERA or whatever, but I really felt like my response today just says a lot about who I am as a competitor,” Harrison said. “Tthat’s something that I can I can lay my head on the pillow at night and be very, very proud of.”

Of course, this game was far from over. Mississppi threatened at multiple avenues.

Haiden Leffew got into trouble in the sixth; a misjudged single turned into a triple, and a two walks saw Leffew exiting one out into his apperance with two runners on and a run in.

Brett Crossland stepped in in what was probably the most pivotal moment of the back half of the game, and things got interesting. He’d get the check swing groundout, but a four pitch walk to the next batter brought Max Weiner out for a mound visit.

Two outs, bases loaded, up four against MS State’s star lefty Ace Reese. Crossland got ahead 0-2, before placing a fastball low and inside. The ump thought it was a strike, Bulldog head coach Brian O’Connor didn’t.

As the Texas crowd erupted, so did the Bulldog coaching staff, and as the dust settled, O’Connor was ejected from the ballgame.

Mississippi State would threaten later, as the usually elite Sam Cozart found himself in trouble with three free passes in the eighth, but the infield defense had his back. Rodrigueze turned a double play for the first two outs, and Borba’s elite scoop from a poor Rodriguez throw gave them the third out.

Cozart would cleanly work through the ninth, and Texas would take home a top-ten series win with the final score of 11-6. Winning on Sunday’s feels pretty good.

“We know we’re never out of the fight,” Harrison said. “When you’ve got Sam Cozart in the bullpen, you just gotta go get some runs.”

IT called this the most important game of the year before this game started, and for good reason. Texas has slowly fell in rankings and ratings over the last few weeks, and a loss today might’ve dropped them as low as No. 8 in next week’s D1 Baseball Poll.

With the goal being a national top-eight seed, things would’ve gotten dicey in the final two weeks of the regular season and SEC tournament for the Longhorns with a loss like this. They would’ve potentially fallen to fifth in the SEC standings, as well.

Instead, Texas is tied for the second spot in the SEC standings with Texas A&M, will stay a top-four team in D1’s poll, and will likely preview as a top-three seed in the Field of 64 projections come Monday.

We’d say that’s a pretty good place to be at the start of May.

Texas will host a familiar foe, UTSA, on Tuesday, hoping to get some revenege for last year’s Regional loss, with a road trip to Tennessee coming up over the weekend. No off days in the SEC.

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