College baseball writer Kendall Rogers gives warning on Texas regional draw

Texas Baseball earned the no. 9 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and is set to host a regional after finishing 42-19 in the regular season and 14-10 in the Big 12. But getting out of their region may be a tough hill to climb according to D1baseball.com writer Kendall Rogers.

The Longhorns drew two-seed Louisiana Tech and three-seed Dallas Baptist. Plus, they’ll kick off the tournament against four-seed Air Force to round out their regional.

Roger tweeted out “that’s not an easy draw” for Texas. Noting that “Paul Skenes and Air Force gave the #Horns fits earlier this season.” And that “Louisiana Tech/DBU both have some serious upside, too.”

Texas actually played Air Force in a two-game series earlier this season. Skenes, a First-Team All-American, led the way as Air Force embarrassed Texas 14-2 in the first game. The Longhorns took the second game by two runs to split the series, but Air Force was clearly the better team over the course of the pair of games.

So, Texas will face the team that handed them their worst loss of the season to open the NCAA Tournament. Followed by potential matchups with dangerous Dallas Baptist and LA Tech squads just to get out of their regional.

Should be some fireworks in Austin this weekend.

Ivan Melendez breaks Texas’ single-season home run record in Big 12 Championship loss

Texas fell in lopsided fashion in the Big 12 Tournament’s Championship game vs. Oklahoma. But positive history was written by one Longhorn. Ivan Melendez slugged his 29th homer of the season in the 1st inning of the Longhorns’ contest versus Oklahoma, eclipsing the previous single-season record held by Kyle Russell.

Melendez, who transferred to Texas from Odessa College, was forecasted to be a mainstay of the Texas offense in 2022 after a strong debut season in 2021 as the designated hitter. Imagining a campaign like the current one, a campaign that has him in contention for the Golden Spikes Award, was imagining something beyond all expectation.

“He’s a special player,” Texas head coach David Pierce prior to the final regular season series. “I haven’t seen too many seasons right now. And right now, he may surpass the great seasons that I’ve seen and been a part of day in and day out. He’s got a chance to surpass those guys as well. He’s a fun kid, he’s humble. He appreciates where he is. I’m just glad he’s on our team doing it for us and we’re not having to try to get him out.”