No. 1 Texas looks for revenge against Texas State in San Marcos

The Bobcats have won five of the last seven games in the series between the two programs.

For just the third time in school history, the Texas State Bobcats are hosting the nation’s No. 1 team in San Marcos when the Texas Longhorns travel down I-35 to Bobcat Ballpark on Tuesday for their only road midweek matchup of the season.

In 2022, No. 1-ranked Texas played in San Marcos against an upset-minded Texas State team that nearly pulled off the feat, falling 9-8 in front of a record crowd with the help of a home run and four RBI from first baseman Ivan Melendez and two hits and three RBI from shortstop Trey Faltine. Reliever Aaron Nixon walked the bases loaded in the ninth before recording the final out to earn his third save of the season.

The season quickly started to come apart at the seams for the Longhorns, however, as the Bobcats won 6-4 in Austin the following day, news broke that star pitcher Tanner Witt needed Tommy Johnson surgery, and an ambitious spring-break trip to South Carolina resulted in a series defeat by the Gamecocks and an embarrassing loss to College of Charleston.

While the Longhorns eventually finished 14-10 in the Big 12, Texas hosted a regional and won it in three games before rallying to win the final two games of the Greenville Super Regional against East Carolina to advance to the College World Series, but lost both games in Omaha to end the season in disappointment, including a 10-2 defeat by Jim Schlossnagle’s first Texas A&M team in the loser’s bracket.

The struggles against Texas State in Austin have continued with the 5-3 loss at UFCU Disch-Falk Field to open April marking the fourth straight home loss to the Bobcats and the fifth loss in the last seven games of the series.

The second midweek loss of the season for Texas came after a road sweep of Missouri that saw the Longhorns outscore the Tigers 29-9, but also suffer two significant injuries — a fractured thumb sustained by junior right fielder Max Belyeu that could keep him out for the remainder of the season and a hand injury sustained by versatile freshman Adrian Rodriguez that continues to impact him at the plate.

With neither player in the lineup against the Bobcats and junior catcher Rylan Galvan serving as the designated hitter after taking a foul ball off his throwing hand, the Longhorns scuffled offensively for much of the game, striking out 12 times and leaving 11 runners on base.

The longest outing of sophomore left-hander Kade Bing’s Texas career lasted 6.1 hitless innings and 81 pitches against Texas State during which he allowed a run and issued three walks while striking out two.

With the Horns leading 2-1 entering the eighth with freshman right-hander Jason Flores on the mound, Texas remained in control until a two-out double and an error by sophomore center fielder Will Gasparino near the wall in center that scored a run. After an infield single plated another Bobcat, Texas State took the lead on a two-run home run.

Texas tried to mount a rally in the ninth against Texas State’s No. 1 starter Alex Valentin that got off to a promising starter when sophomore right fielder Tommy Farmer drew a leadoff walk and scored on a double by junior right fielder Jayden Duplantier. After sophomore second baseman Ethan Mendoza struck out on a full count for his third strikeout of the evening, junior shortstop Jalin Flores singled and Galvan drew a full-count walk to load the bases with one out. But Gasparino popped out weakly to right field and senior first baseman Kimble Schuessler hit a line drive just low enough for the Texas State second baseman to make the play on it and end the game.

Despite the issues beating the Bobcats at home, the Horns have won five straight in San Marcos and 10 of 12 overall. In addition to the challenges of hosting the nation’s top-ranked team, Texas State also has to balance playing a second midweek game on Wednesday against Tarleton State.

Texas State has an uneven record in midweek games this season, winning four against Big 12 and SEC opponents, but failing to secure a midweek game against a lesser opponent until beating Houston Christian last week.

It’s not a strong offensive team, either — the team batting average is .245 with a .366 slugging percentage and none of the regular starters are hitting over .300. The team leader in home runs only has five on the season.

On Tuesday, the Bobcats will start right-hander Austin Eaton (2-2, 7.25 ERA), who is making his third consecutive midweek start and has 14 strikeouts in 22.1 innings this season.

First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. Central on ESPN+.