Time for Friday’s first pitch between Texas and Texas A&M set after weather delay

Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle faces his former program and assistant as the Horns and Aggies renew their rivalry as conference opponents.

The Lone Star State is set to witness one of its most anticipated baseball rivalries as the No. 1 Texas Longhorns host the Texas A&M Aggies on the Forty Acres in the rekindled annual Lone Star Showdown in a three-game weekend series at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

This matchup not only revives the historic rivalry between the Longhorns and the Aggies as conference opponents for the first time since 2012 in an all-time series that has featured games in 116 of the last 122 seasons with A&M looming as the most-played opponent for Texas in its 131-year baseball history.

But it’s also a matchup between up first-year Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle and the program he departed last year after losing in the College World Series finals and former assistant Michael Earley, who initially joined Schlossnagle’s staff in Austin before A&M tapped him to take over in College Station.

Schlossnagle is trying to treat it like another conference series. Fans on both sides would disagree, especially those in maroon and white still smarting from Schlossnagle’s untimely departure, the only way such a move can go down.

“You let the fans and everybody else enjoy all the peripheral stuff. My job is to coach the team. It’s not to coach the team any differently Friday night than I did Tuesday night. If we win, it’s worth one. It’s not worth 1.5. If we lose, it doesn’t cost anymore. I’m not trying to downplay it. My own personal role in this thing is to coach our team. I can’t get and I’m not going to get caught up in the other stuff,” Schlossnagle said in a Thursday media availability.

For a coach, consistency is key, so Schlossnagle has reiterated one of his key points this week.

“I addressed it with our team during the course of the week about if we’re going to talk all year about playing to a standard and not a scoreboard, when you get to these moments you better do it,” Schlossnagle said.

Texas A&M Aggies

Under Earley’s guidance, the Aggies have made noise recently, picking up a road series win over the then-No. 2 Razorbacks. Since getting no-hit in a run-rule decision to then-No. 1 Tennessee in Knoxville to drop to 1-9 in SEC play, A&M rebounded to win that series, starting a streak of 10 wins in the last 11 games to rescue a season that was cratering amidst injuries and adversity.

The Aggies are still 12th in the conference standings and 5-5 on the road, but the narrative surrounding the team has turned from concerns over whether hiring Earley was the wrong decision to its resiliency after dropping out of the top 25 entirely after starting the season No. 1 and losing 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year third baseman Gavin Grahovic, standout left-hander Shane Sdao, and right-hander Josh Stewart to season-ending injuries.

Texas A&M will feature its typical weekend rotation of left-handed pitchers this weekend — Ryan Prager (2-2, 4.29 ERA), Justin Lamkin (3-4, 4.13 ERA), and Myles Patton (3-3, 4.85 ERA).

With 61 strikeouts and six quality starts, Lamkin leads the group in those categories, along with ERA, while ranking fourth in the SEC in walks allowed per nine (1.91), seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.08), 12th in WHIP (1.18) and 13th in strikeouts.

Like Lamkin, Patton fills up the zone, ranking second in the SEC in walks allowed per nine (1.73) and fourth in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.90).

During the recent hot streak for A&M, shortstop Kaeden Kent, center fielder Jace LaViolette, and designated hitter/outfielder Caden Sorrell have powered the Aggies offense at the plate, combining for nine doubles, 14 homers, 36 walks, 51 RBI, and a .410 batting average as A&M is averaging 11.4 runs per game over those 11 games, outscoring their opponents 125-52.

Texas Longhorns

The Longhorns enter the series with a strong record at 34-5 and with the No. 1 ranking in the nation. Schlossnagle’s familiarity with A&M’s roster and strategies adds to the rivalry matchup.

Despite the recent injury to pitcher Jared Spencer (3.27 ERA and 1.22 WHIP), the team’s depth has allowed the Longhorns to maintain their dominance through the season with pitchers such as Ruger Rojas (7-1, 3.33 ERA) and Luke Harrison (3-0, 298 ERA), who have been instrumental in the Texas rotation. With Riojas moving into the Friday role occupied by Spencer before his season-ending injury, freshman right-hander Jason Flores is receiving his second Sunday start of his career (4-1, 1.61 ERA).

“Offensively, they’ve got some guys that I think are major leaguers. I feel like I’m a broken record, but just your typical SEC team that when you play, you’re not going to be more talented than them. You just have to play better baseball,” Earley said.

Shortstop Jalin Flores hit the go-ahead grand slam on Tuesday against Texas State in the ninth inning, the first grand slam of the season for the Longhorns and one of three home runs by Texas. Third baseman Casey Borba added a key three-run home run in the seventh inning to cut the Bobcats lead to one run and catcher Rylan Galvan did the same with a two-run homer in the eighth.

Galvan ranks fourth among SEC hitters in on-base percentage (.503), slugging (.754) and OPS (1.258), in addition to sixth in walks (34) and tied for 10th in home runs (12), which are coming once every 9.5 at-bats. The current on-base streak for the 6’0, 215-pounder is now at 31 games.

The weekend matchup is also an important series for Texas first baseman Kimble Schuessler, who grew up an A&M fan and spent one season with the Aggies before he was cut from the roster by Schlossnagle when he arrived from the Horned Frogs program.

Now playing for Schlossnagle, Schuessler is red-hot for the Longhorns, batting .565 with three home runs and 12 RBI over the last six games and hitting all six of his home runs in the last month.

Texas may be without left fielder Jonah Williams, however, who is listed as questionable with a leg injury sustained in Tuesday’s win. Ethan Mendoza will remain at designated hitter due to his shoulder injury, according to Schlossnagle.

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Friday’s matchup, with the first pitch at 7 p.m. Central, airs on SEC Network with ESPN2 televising the Saturday and Sunday games that both start at 3 p.m. Central.

[Update 4/25 6:12 p.m. Central]: Due to rain in the area, first pitch on Friday is delayed.

[Update 7:23 p.m. Central]: With rain moving out of the area, first pitch is set for just after 8:00 p.m. Central.