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Texas routs Tarleton State, 16-2, advances to regional final

by: Evan Vieth05/31/26

In the top of the first inning, Texas C Carson Tinney was hit in the head by the first pitch of his plate appearance.

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It was nothing malicious from Tarleton starter Ethan Wendel, and Tinney barely even flinched as he made his way to first, yelling an expletive towards his own dugout in celebration of reaching base in his first at-bat.

“I just was happy to get on base and give the team some momentum,” Tinney said. “I feel like I do a good job wearing pitches behind the plate, and I feel like when you’re in the box, it’s really indifferent. So I have no problem wearing pitches in the box, and I was happy to get the boys fired up.”

The second free pass in as many batters, Texas would score the first run of the game two batters later off an 0-2 opposite field single from Temo Becerra. Though it would be the only runs Texas scored in the first inning, the energy Tinney and the Texas offense had brought to UFCU Disch-Falk Field was just the appetizer to a filling main course of runs, 16 to be exact, as the Longhorns took down Tarleton State 16-2.

“He was fired up, I saw from first base and at first I was kind of scared. He got hit in the back of the head,” RF Aiden Robbins said, who had walked the PA before. “Pretty sure the exit velo was like 46 MPH. He still hits it hard when he is not hitting with a bat. As soon as I saw him, he turned around, he was fired up.”

The next inning, the bottom of the Longhorn order would supply two base runners for just one out, setting up Robbins with two on, just one day after he had hit two home runs to kick off the Austin Regional.

Wendel rocked, kicked and delivered a splitter that got far too much plate.

It was never a doubt for Robbins.

His 22nd homer of the year was a moonshot, 443 feet out to the Yeti Yard for his 22nd homer of the year, now 10 more than what he had in two prior seasons at Seton Hall.

But Texas was far from done.

Tinney hit his fifth homer of the season that cleared the centerfield batter’s eye, the most in an individual year for Texas hitters, making it back-to-back bombs for the Horns.

Then Anthony Pack, who hit three bombs the day before, stepped in.

It was an absolute explosion of offense for the Longhorns, scoring five runs in the second inning and opening the floodgates against a Tarleton State team that had taken down a solid UC Santa Barbara pitching staff the day prior.

“I think that, as an offense, we do a great job not keeping the past with us. I think we do a good job of flushing it and showering well. I think that the game’s hard at the same time. It’s not every time you’re gonna go up there and get hit or a home run or whatever else you might want. So, I think we do a great job of being able to flush it and move onto the next pitch,” Tinney said.

“We love baseball. We’re also just super confident in our abilities to go out there and compete. That’s one our biggest things, just competing in the box and looking like you own it. So bringing that presence to the box, you know, just walking up there with a certain swagger, catch a pitcher off guard, especially in this environment, in this time of the year, so just attacking and being confident in our abilities is something we’ve really worked hard on since the fall,” Robbins added

Texas would score again in the third, and by the time the fourth inning was done, the Texans were practically waving the white flag.

The Horns walked eight times in the first nine batters of the inning, scoring five runs without a single hit. A wave of purple-donning fans could be seen exiting the gates of the Disch as Tarleton’s back of the bullpen arms struggled to hit the zone, and Texas hit 15 runs in five innings.

All while this was happening, Texas got a classic Dylan Volantis performance.

The star lefty was dominant throughout the day, not showing any dropoff despite the constant wait time in between innings as his bats put it on.

Volantis went six scoreless, striking out seven Tarleton bats, and even pitched through two outs in the seventh inning.

“Dylan did a great job,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said, later adding. “I wanted Dylan to at least get through sixth, and then when he went out in the seventh, frankly, I just wanted to have a chance to tip his cap, you know. I want our fans to get a chance to, I want him to feel the appreciation of fans, and I’m glad we’re able to
do that.”

Hudson Hamilton would relieve Volantis with a runner on and give up a single and double, earning Volantis his only run of the game and losing the shutout, but the starter’s final line was still tremendous.

6 2/3 IP
3 H
1 ER
7 K
1 BB

Texas scored 35 runs between its first two games of the Austin Regional, the most in a two-game stretch in Texas Baseball postseason history. The Longhorns have now outscored opponents 35-3 in the 18 innings they’ve played.

Today’s game also moved the Longhorns into third in the single-season home run list in school history, now trailing only the 2022 and 2024 teams.

And with an eighth inning strikeout from Michael Winter, the 2026 team officially moved into first place all-time in single-season strikeouts by a pitching staff, finishing the night with nine to move to 620 on the season, over 11 per game.

Texas has now advanced to the regional final on the back of two dominant wins, set to face the winner of game one tomorrow between UC Santa Barbara and Tarleton State. First pitch for that game will be at Noon in Austin, with the victor facing Texas at 5 P.M.

The Longhorns are one win away from hosting their first Super Regional since 2022, and have two chances to do it.

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