No. 6 Texas hosts last-place Missouri with SEC tournament seeding on the line

The pitching hasn’t been much better because the Tigers are saddled with a 5.43 ERA that ranks 15th in the SEC and a .246 opposing batting average that slots 13th. But the No. 1 starter, right-hander Josh McDevitt (3-5, 4.08 ERA), has been good for Missouri, striking out 91 batters in 69.2 innings and ranking fourth nationally in whiff rate on his fastball at 31.8 percent. Left-hander Brady Kehlenbrink (3-8, 6.45 ERA) gets the nod on Friday, but the Saturday starter remains to be determined.

“That’s the thing about Missouri is they play a lot of close games and their starting pitching, especially the first two guys, those guys can pitch for every single team in our conference in the weekend rotation,” Schlossnagle said.

The Texas rotation remains the same as last weekend, led by sophomore left-hander Dylan Volantis (6-0, 2.06 ERA) and followed by redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison (5-2, 3.88 ERA) and senior right-hander Ruger Riojas (4-2, 3.93 ERA).

The key for all three starters is to get off to a better start. Volantis gave up three runs over the first two innings in last Friday’s loss to Tennessee before reeling off three straight scoreless frames. For Harrison, every inning was a struggle against the Volunteers, but giving up two runs in the first inning is the continuation of a trend that includes eight runs allowed in the first inning against the Aggies and five runs allowed in the first inning against the Bulldogs. After Texas took a 4-0 lead on Sunday against Tennessee, Riojas gave up a first-inning grand slam and also conceded three runs in the first inning against Vanderbilt.

Riojas cited some poor luck on batted balls as part of the randomness of baseball as a factor in his slow starts and recent struggles, but also referenced the need to play with emotion, but not emotional.

“Honestly, the most exciting time is when you first when you first step onto the mound. You take everything in and it can be hard for you to refocus into that. I feel like I do, but maybe when I try to refocus off that excitement, it takes the edge away from it. When I try to be calm and collected, maybe I’m just too calm,” Riojas said.

With the rotation remaining the same despite the short week imposed by the start of the SEC Tournament, the biggest decisions for Schlossnsagle are who to play at second base with junior Ethan Mendoza still unable to throw — senior Jayden Duplantier, redshirt senior Temo Becerra, or sophomore Callum Early — and whether redshirt senior outfielder Dariyan Pendergrass is healthy enough to play after missing nearly a month with a hamstring injury.

“We’ve got to look at the matchups and see what that looks like,” Schlossnagle said.

Missouri trails the all-time series 37-30 and hasn’t won a series in Austin since 2007.

The series opens with 6:30 p.m. Central start times on Thursday and Friday, followed by the series finale at 2 p.m. Central on Sunday. SEC Network+ airs all three games.