What we learned from No. 8 Texas' loss to UTSA ahead of a weekend set with No. 2 LSU

Yes, Jim Schlossnagle’s Texas baseball club is mortal.

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After losing the first game of the 2025 season, Texas baseball went on a tear, winning 17 straight games over the next month, including a sweep in their first SEC series on the road against Mississippi State.

Yet, somehow, the team that had catapulted its way up to a No. 8 ranking in the country lost two days later to UTSA of all teams.

Texas’ 8-7 loss to the Roadrunners wasn’t a true disaster as much as headline writers might try to make you think. Last year’s national champion Tennessee lost to a Lipscomb team that would go on to win 22 games in a late April 2024 midweek matchup. It’s a part of college baseball.

Texas also seemingly couldn’t catch a break. UTSA’s leadoff homer was completely carried by wind, and it felt like every hard hit ball late in the game for UT ricocheted perfectly off a pitcher, or conveniently found a glove. Don’t get it twisted, UTSA played an extremely good game in all three aspects, but it’s rare to see a non-power conference team make that many elite plays. It’s even rarer to see a team use two weekend starters in relief for a mid-week matchup.

Texas’ loss was just its second on the year, and there were some important notes learned from this game. College baseball coaches use these midweek games to assess their roster, piece through positional battles and understand the limits of their arms. A lot of that happened on Tuesday. Here are IT’s three notes from the loss.

Kade Bing is a weekend pitcher.

When starting pitcher Drew Rerick gave up a leadoff homerun and allowed the next three batters to reach base, it seemed like Texas’ arms were going to be a problem all night. With a run already in and the bases juiced, Schlossnagle had seen enough and requested the services of LHP Kade Bing in arguably the toughest position a pitcher can be put in: bases loaded, no outs.

Bing looked ready from the jump, forcing two groundouts and a flyout to the next three hitters and halting the UTSA rally before it could fully start. Texas had given up two runs, but Bing kept it from being much worse. From then on it was open season for the southpaw, retiring the next 12 batters he faced for a perfect five innings of baseball.

Bing’s final line: 5 IP, 4 K’s, 0 runners allowed on base

Bing was always expected to pitch in a game like this, but no one could’ve seen this level of dominance coming in. The early hope for Bing was to be the Sunday starter, but it didn’t work out well in his first three starts, pitching above the 6.00 ERA line against Oklahoma State, Dartmouth and Illinois.

But Schlossnagle has now seen two separate strong outings from Bing after a good inning of relief against Santa Clara. For a team desperate for lefty relievers this could be a huge development for the rest of the season. Bing would be a much appreciated long relief option if Texas needs him on Saturday or Sunday against LSU.

The back end of the bullpen… needs some work

On the flipside, Texas did not see what it would’ve liked from the back end of the bullpen.

The Longhorns used four pitchers outside of Bing and primary relief arm Ruger Riojas. Here was the combined statline:

3 IP, 6 ER, 7 BB, 7 H, 4 Ks

Texas has a core group of pitchers on this team that go as following:

Starters: LHP Jared Spencer, LHP Luke Harrison

Fringe Sunday Starter/Long Relief: LHP Dylan Volantis, RHP Jason Flores and now Bing

Relief Options: RHP Ruger Riojas, RHP Andre Duplantier, RHP Max Grubbs

These 8 pitchers have each thrown between 11 and 27 IP. The next closest is Rerick with 5 IP.

The hope with midweek games are to test players like Rerick, Bryce Navarre and Thomas Burns against good but not great hitters to see if they’ll be able to play SEC ball. We, unfortunately, got some negative results. Rerick looked shook on the mound and probably won’t be seeing much SEC action until he gets some good starts under his belt. Burns and Navarre have each shown promise in games against Dartmouth and Santa Clara, but the two were responsible for five runs between the sixth and seventh innings.

RHP Cody Howard looked decent, but still has a ways to go with command. With someone like Will Mercer battling injury and Grayson Saunier not even getting Tuesday looks, it’s hard to pinpoint a ninth arm that can get into the rotation. A team like last year’s Tennessee squad got away with a seven-man staff, but Texas might not be able to afford that with injuries or potential slumps.

Late-game hitting must improve

Texas had some unfortunate events transpire, including a rocketed base hit in the 9th that could’ve led to a walk-off win. Instead the batted ball hit off of baserunner Max Belyeu and caused the inning to end.

Still, Texas has to improve late in the game if it wants to truly contend against SEC powerhouses like LSU this weekend. From the 7th inning on, here is how Texas hit against UTSA, a team 107th in the nation in ERA.

4/19, 6 Ks, 2 BBs, just one run

Catcher Rylan Galvan’s homer in the bottom of the 8th was really the only offense Texas had in the back half of the game. UT had as many strikeouts as batters reaching base, a singular XBH and an overall lack of urgency from many at-bats.

This may come off as nitpicky, especially given the 17 other games of success at the plate before Tuesday, but the competition will only get harder. No. 2 LSU arrives on Friday, then the Longhorns take on Georgia in early April and teams like Texas A&M, Arkansas, Florida and Oklahoma to end the year.

The Longhorn bats are, overall, just fine (though you’d love to see more from Tommy Farmer) but this team still has some flaws that need to be addressed heading into the thick of conference play.

Thankfully, college baseball is a game of failure, and teams are going to drop midweek games and lose series. Texas just needs to compete in this LSU series to remain in a good spot.

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IT will be focusing on the bullpen and situational hitting late in these games.