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Texas rolls past Kansas State, moves into NCAA Austin Regional title round against UTSA

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The Texas Longhorns will get another shot at the UTSA Roadrunners in the NCAA Austin Regional.

Casey Borba hit a grand slam and a three-run homer in an eight-RBI performance Sunday as the top-seeded Longhorns (44-13) stayed alive in the double-elimination format with a 15-8 victory over the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats.

Less than 24 hours after they were upended by the second-seeded Roadrunners, 9-7, the Longhorns produced 15 hits against five Kansas State pitchers to eliminate the Wildcats (32-26).

Borba stroked four hits, joining teammate Max Belyeu with first-inning homers. Belyeu started off the six-run first by slicing a two-run homer over the left field wall. Borba followed with a grand slam, an opposite field shot to right.

In the third inning, Borba, a sophomore from Santa Ana, Calif., launched a three-run homer to left.

Ruger Riojas, who played at UTSA the past two seasons, started on the mound for the Longhorns and set career highs in innings pitched (7 and 1/3) and pitches (119). He allowed seven runs on six hits, including three homers.

For the Wildcats, Seth Dardar homered in the first inning, while AJ Evasco heated up late with round-trippers in the seventh and the eighth.

Fourth-seeded Houston Christian (0-2) and Kansas State (1-2) are both out of the tournament. Texas, at 2-1 this weekend, will play 2-0 UTSA in the title round starting tonight.

UTSA (46-13) needs one victory to win the regional. Texas needs to win tonight and again in a winner-take-all game on Monday to advance to the Super Regional round.

Kansas State stays alive in the Austin Regional; Wildcats oust the HCU Huskies, 7-4

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Keegan O’Connor’s three-run homer backed the pitching of lefthander Lincoln Sheffield as the third-seeded Kansas State Wildcats stayed alive in the NCAA Austin Regional with a 7-4 victory over the No. 4 HCU Huskies Saturday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

O’Connor’s blast, his 17th home run of the season, highlighted a four-run third inning against HCU starter Joshua Caravalho. Sheffield (7-4) pitched into the seventh inning to earn the victory. He allowed no runs on four hits in six and two thirds.

Caravalho (9-4) took the loss after getting knocked out in three and two thirds.

HCU made it interesting in the ninth inning when Jeremy Rader belted a two-run homer to account for the final score. Radar was playing a day after he had to exit Friday’s game against Texas with an injury.

But with a runner aboard and the potential tying run on deck, Kansas State reliever Tazwell Butler got Tevis Payne on a fly ball to right field to end the game.

Coach Pete Hughes’ Wildcats, who lost their opener Friday night to UTSA, 10-2, will advance in the losers’ bracket to play again on Sunday afternoon. Kansas State, with a 32-25 record, will need to win twice to play on Monday for the regional title.

With the loss, the Huskies became the first team out of four in Austin to be eliminated. They will exit with an 0-2 record in the double-elimination format after riding a 5-0 sweep to the Southland Conference postseason title.

Clay VanderLaan finished his first season as HCU’s head coach at 32-25.

Saturday’s results

Losers’ bracket
Kansas State 7, HCU 4
(HCU is eliminated)

Winners’ bracket
UTSA vs. Texas, 8 p.m.

Seeds, records

1 – Texas (43-12)
2 – UTSA (45-13)
3 – Kansas State (32-25)
4 – HCU (32-25)

Sunday’s schedule

Losers’ bracket
Kansas State vs. TBA, 2 p.m.

Winners’ bracket
Texas or UTSA vs. TBA, an hour after the conclusion of the first game.

UTSA makes history again by winning its first game in the NCAA baseball playoffs

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James Taussig three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig’s three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning helped boost the UTSA Roadrunners to a 10-2 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats on opening day of the NCAA Austin Regional. The win was historic in that the team had never won a game in the NCAA playoffs, going 0-2 each time in three previous trips. – Photo by Joe Alexander

By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

AUSTIN — UTSA’s dream season just keeps getting more and more surreal by the day. The Roadrunners won the first NCAA playoff game in their 34-year baseball history Friday night by defeating the Kansas State Wildcats 10-2 on opening day of the Austin Regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Norris McClure hit a solo home run in the third inning and James Taussig added a three-run shot over the right field wall in the sixth to back the pitching of Zach Royse and others, who held the Wildcats to more than five runs below their season average.

On top of all that, the team had another, more personal reason to celebrate. Assistant coach Ryan Aguayo took an early Friday morning drive home to be with his wife, who was in labor. She gave birth to the couple’s daughter at about 9:30 a.m.

Later, Aguayo drove back to Austin and was at the game. “I told him, ‘We could run it without you,’ ” UTSA coach Pat Hallmark told reporters. “But he’s here.”

The emotions will continue to swirl within the camp of the second-seeded Roadrunners over the next 24 hours as they prepare to face the host and No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns on Saturday night.

Norris McClure home run. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA’s Norris McClure energized the team by slashing an opposite-field solo homer in the third inning. – Photo by Joe Alexander

First the Wildcats (31-25) will play the HCU Huskies (32-24) in an elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m. First pitch for the Roadrunners (45-13) and the Longhorns (43-12) will be at 8 p.m., with the winner advancing to the regional finals.

Earlier Friday, Texas surged with a five-run fifth inning to down HCU, 7-1, without using any of its front-line pitchers.

Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle said lefthander Luke Harrison would “probably” pitch Saturday for the Longhorns, the regular-season champions from the Southeastern Conference and the second-seeded team among 64 in the NCAA field. Roadrunners coach Pat Hallmark said in the postgame that he isn’t ready to name his starter yet.

Royse (9-4) answered the call in the program’s first NCAA game in 12 years, earning the victory by working five and a third innings and allowing only one run on three hits. He struck out five and walked three.

Robert Orloski and Christian Okerholm closed in the final three and two thirds innings. Orloski performed erratically at times but ended up getting some important outs. He yielded one run on three hits, walked one and struck out four.

A defining moment for Orloski came in the top of the seventh when he gave up a one-out solo home run to Nick English. At that point, he continued to struggle, walking Shintaro Inoue and giving up a single to Maximus Martin.

Zach Royse was the UTSA starting pitcher. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

Starting pitcher Zach Royse (9-4) earned the victory and his coach’s praise for holding the explosive Wildcats to one run and three hits in five and a third innings. – Photo by Joe Alexander

But with runners at first and second base and UTSA leading by five runs, the Idaho native fanned sluggers Seth Dardar and Keegan O’Connor to end the threat. O’Connor had 16 home runs this year and Dardar 12.

Royse, from Katy Cinco Ranch, worked his way out of major trouble in the fourth inning. At the time, the Roadrunners led 2-0, and Kansas State loaded the bases with no outs. The Wildcats ultimately produced only one run out of the situation on a sacrifice fly by freshman AJ Evasco.

Royse retired Kansas State veteran David Bishop on an outfield fly ball to end it.

“Zach Royse was the difference,” Hallmark said. “It’s fantastic. One of the better pitched games of the whole season against a team that can really hit. Obviously the three-run homer was really big, too. I’m just proud of the team. Zach was fabulous.”

UTSA entered the NCAA playoffs coming off a record-setting regular season during which they established a number of firsts. Maybe most importantly, they qualified for the national tournament without even having to win a conference tournament for an automatic bid. They did it by rolling through the regular season, topping 40 wins for the first time, along the way to a 44-win regular season.

In the AAC, they dominated from start to finish, establishing the best record in conference history at 23-4. Even after going 2-2 and getting bounced out of the conference tournament, the Roadrunners would not be denied. Perhaps bolstered by all of it, including wins over Texas A&M and Texas, they beat yet another team from a power conference — in an NCAA setting, no less.

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark in the NCAA baseball tournament regional against Kansas State. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

UTSA coach Pat Hallmark has led the Roadrunners to an NCAA victory for the first time. The win lifted UTSA to 45-13 on the season. – Photo by Joe Alexander

“I’m just so happy for the team and the 29 other guys that suit up every game with us,” Taussig said. “We celebrate for them. Super happy for coach. All of them, coach (Ryan) Aguayo, coach Hallmark, coach (Zach) Butler, they took a chance on me and told me this was the plan. One game isn’t all we had in mind. But you got to start somewhere. I’m just real happy for the team.”

Taussig, one of the team’s hottest offensive players in April and May, credited Aguayo for scouting reports that allow him to swing freely on pitches that he anticipates.

He said he was looking for a changeup elevated in the strike zone from Kansas State reliever Ty Ruhl, who had just entered the game in place of starter Jacob Frost.

“I was looking for the changeup up (in the zone) and I got it first pitch,” he said. “Coach Hallmark always tells us the first pitch is the best one to hit and I was ready to go. I got my best pass off. Controlled what I can control. Bat speed … and I got the results.”

Saturday’s schedule

Losers’ bracket: HCU vs. Kansas State, 2 p.m.
Winners’ bracket: UTSA vs. Texas, 8 p.m.

Seeding, records

1 – Texas (43-12)
2 – UTSA (45-13)
3 – Kansas State (31-25)
4 – HCU (32-24)

Notable

The Texas Longhorns and the UTSA Roadrunners are 1-0 in the double-elimination, Austin Regional. Both the Kansas State Wildcats and the HCU Huskies are 0-1.

Quotable

What does it mean to get the program’s first NCAA victory? Said Coach Pat Hallmark, “I don’t know. I’m trying to get three wins, to be honest with you. That’s what I told the guys when the game ended. I said, ‘Be happy. Enjoy it. Enjoy the moment.’ But we’re here to get three wins.”

Three wins would make the Roadrunners the regional champions. Each of 16 regional champs around the nation will move on next week to play in a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional. The winners of the eight super regionals will advance to the Men’s College World Series.

James Taussig three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig connects on what would be a three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. – Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig follows through on his home-run swing. – Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth inning. UTSA beat Kansas State 10-2 on Friday, May 30, 2025, in the NCAA baseball tournament Austin Regional. - Photo by Joe Alexander

James Taussig reacts when he knows his drive has cleared the wall in right field. It was his 10th homer of the season and his sixth since April 25. – Photo by Joe Alexander

Austin Regional is expected to be played as scheduled after storm damage at UFCU Disch-Falk Field

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

AUSTIN — The weather turned wild on Wednesday night at the University of Texas. A storm that packed wind estimated at 70 mph, according to a local media outlet, knocked down a portion of the centerfield fence at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

At first glance, it looked like a situation that could affect this weekend’s NCAA Austin Regional baseball tournament. Officials, however, cautioned fans not to worry.

“Still scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Friday,” a University of Texas school spokesman said, alluding to the time for the first pitch to be thrown in a game pitting the Texas Longhorns and the Houston Christian University Huskies.

A second game will follow at 6 p.m. between the Kansas State Wildcats and the UTSA Roadrunners.

NCAA baseball: Kansas State aims for a second straight regional surprise

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

Here’s my second story on teams playing in the NCAA Austin Regional. In an earlier dispatch, we looked at the fourth-seeded Houston Christian Huskies. Now we’re breaking down the No. 3 Kansas State Wildcats, with the two seed UTSA Roadrunners and the No. 1 Texas Longhorns to come.

Kansas State Wildcats

Record: 31-24

Record in conference: 17-13, sixth in the Big 12

Seed in the Austin Regional: Third

Regional opener: Kansas State plays No. 2 UTSA Friday at 6 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

NCAA baseball history, highlights: The Wildcats are making their sixth NCAA appearance and their second straight. Last year, they reached the super regional round after entering the Fayetteville Regional as a No. 3 seed. They swept three straight games, including a victory over Arkansas, to reach the Charlottesville Super Regional. There, they lost two straight to Virginia.

Journey to the Austin Regional: The Wildcats had an up and down ride. They swept three pre-conference games from Arkansas, Michigan and TCU at a classic in Arlington, started Big 12 play with an 8-1 record and then lost series down the stretch to Oklahoma State, Kansas and Cincinnati. The Wildcats were 18-3 at home, 7-18 on the road and 6-3 on neutral sites.

The coach: Pete Hughes has won 851 games in his career. His head coaching career began in 1997-98 in San Antonio at Trinity University, where he was 52-30 in two seasons. He went on to coach in Division I at Boston College, Virginia Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas State. Hughes is in his seventh season at K-State.

An offense with pop: The Wildcats ranked 24th in the nation with 92 home runs this year.

Southpaw city: Kansas State’s three main starters and one of its top relievers are lefthanders. Jacob Frost, Lincoln Sheffield and Michael Quevedo have combined for 42 starts. Six-foot-four Adam Arther (2.22 ERA) is a weapon out of the bullpen.

Top players: Outfielder Maximus Martin and outfielder/catcher Keegan O’Connor made all Big 12 second-team. Freshman outfielder AJ Evasco was an all freshman honoree. Home run threats include O’Connor with 16, Martin (14), Seth Dardar (12) and Dee Kennedy (11). Martin leads with a .332 average, followed by Dardar (.326), O’Connor (.323) and Evasco (.306).

Pitching struggles: The Wildcats have yielded 73 earned runs in 87 innings in May for an ERA of 7.55.

Next up: The UTSA Roadrunners

UTSA baseball is headed to Austin for the NCAA tournament

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By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay

The UTSA Roadrunners will play in the Austin Regional in the NCAA baseball tournament and will face the Kansas State Wildcats on opening day Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, according to the bracket released Monday.

The Texas Longhorns are the hosts in the regional and the No. 2 overall seed in the 64-team tournament. As the regional No. 1, the Longhorns will open with the four-seed Houston Christian Huskies.

The Roadrunners are seeded second in the region, taking on the No. 3 Wildcats of the Big 12. On Friday, the Longhorns will play the Huskies at 1 p.m. The Roadrunners and the Wildcats will play at 6 p.m. Both games are on ESPN +.

For UTSA, it is the program’s first NCAA regional appearance in 12 years and fourth overall. Facing Kansas State, UTSA will be looking for its first victory in NCAA competition. The team bowed out with 0-2 records in its previous three trips.

Records

(Regional seed, school, records, conference finish)
1) Texas 42-12, 22-8, first in the Southeastern Conference
2) UTSA 44-13, 23-4, first in the American Athletic Conference
3) Kansas State 31-24, 17-13 sixth in the Big 12
4) Houston Christian 32-23, 17-13, sixth in the Southland Conference

Notable

The Roadrunners are playing in an NCAA regional for only the fourth time since the program’s inception in 1992, with the other three in 1994, 2005 and 2013.

This is UTSA’s first regional appearance after receiving an at-large bid, with the other three coming as a conference tournament winner with an automatic bid.

In the Roadrunners’ first regional, under Coach Jimmy Shankle, they played in Austin in the NCAA Central Region as the fifth seed, where they lost the first game to No. 19 Nevada 11-8 and fell to Arkansas State 10-5.

In 2005, with a team coached by Sherman Corbett, UTSA competed in the Waco Regional as the fourth seed, taking on No. 6 Baylor in the first game and losing 8-3. The Roadrunners were then eliminated in the second game against Stanford, falling 6-2.

In UTSA’s most recent regional appearance, the Roadrunners competed in the Corvallis Regional in 2013 under Jason Marshall as the fourth seed, where they fell 5-4 to No. 3 Oregon State and 6-1 to Texas A&M.

UTSA’s coach Pat Hallmark is the architect of this year’s team that set the school record for victories in a season. Hallmark, a Houston native, is in his sixth year as head coach of the Roadrunners.

Quotable

“We’re excited and ready to go to work,” Hallmark said. “That’s really the reaction. I’m antsy to get back (in the office) in RACE and pull up some video and start scouting.”

Asked if he thinks this was a “reward bid” for the team’s body of work with a two seed and a game close to home, Hallmark said he doesn’t know.

“Quite frankly, I’m not sure and uh, I don’t care,” he said laughing. “We got a tough regional like they all are. So, again, we’re just eager and hungry to go to work and prepare so we give ourselves a best chance to win on Friday.”

Coming out of the AAC tournament, Hallmark said he guessed that the NCAA committee would send UTSA to a regional in the state of Texas or in the western United States.

He said having his team prepare to play in Austin has some advantages, such as being able to stay one more night in San Antonio before traveling to Austin to practice on Thursday.

Traveling to the West Coast, he said, would have meant the team would need to leave Wednesday. Regardless, he said, the all three of his potential competitors are “really” good.

“I don’t know what regional I’d prefer,” he said. “I’ve been asked that a few times. But logistically, with travel, it’s nice. We can go up Thursday now. That’s what I’d like to do. You know, we practice Thursday at their field … So it’s another night the kids get to sleep in their own bed. We get a full practice here on Wednesday.

“Right now we need to make a few minor adjustments offensively. So there’s some things that will help, being this close to the ballpark.”

Texas Longhorns continue to search for consistency

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Inconsistency continues to plague the Texas Longhorns leading into a Saturday afternoon home game against Oklahoma State.

When the Longhorns tip off against the Cowboys at noon, the Longhorns will try to gain some traction after having lost seven of their last 11.

Their latest stumble?

Well, let’s just say the Kansas State Wildcats thoroughly enjoyed themselves Tuesday night in downing the ‘Horns 71-64 in Austin.

Big 12-leading Kansas State shot 54.9 percent from the floor and held Texas to 25 points in the second half.

Maddening stuff for Longhorns fans after watching their team chalk up non-conference victories over Arkansas, North Carolina and Purdue in November and December.

On the strength of its non-conference schedule and some solid efforts during that stretch, forecasters still believe Texas is an NCAA Tournament team.

But how many more times can it afford to score 61 points at home and still be regarded as worthy of an NCAA at-large bid?

Records

Kansas State 19-5, 9-2
Texas 14-11 6-6

Kansas State smothers 14th-ranked Texas Tech, 58-45

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Guard Barry Brown Jr. scored 15 points, and the Kansas State Wildcats won their fifth straight game by smothering the 14th-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders, 58-45, Tuesday night in Manhattan.

In handing the Red Raiders their third straight loss in the Big 12, Wildcats forward Dean Wade added 13 points and four rebounds in his fourth game back from a foot injury.

Kansas State’s team defense was relentless, holding Texas Tech to its lowest point total of the season. The Red Raiders shot 32.7 percent from the field. Jarrett Culver led Texas Tech with 17 points and 7 rebounds.

In the first meeting of the two teams in Lubbock on Jan. 5, Texas Tech claimed a 63-57 victory, with Davide Moretti scoring 19 and Matt Mooney 14. On the other end of the floor, the Red Raiders held the Wildcats to 33.3 percent shooting.

In the rematch, Kansas State nearly reversed the outcome. The Wildcats held Moretti to six points and Mooney scored only two on 1 of 9 shooting.

Records

Texas Tech 15-4, 4-3
Kansas State 15-4, 5-2

Notable

With Wade out of the lineup, Kansas State lost its first two Big 12 games this season. K-State has now won five in a row against West Virginia, Iowa State, Oklahoma, TCU and Texas Tech.

On the other hand, Texas Tech won its first four, only to lose its last three to Iowa State (68-64), Baylor (73-62) and Kansas State.

Both teams reached the Round of Eight in the NCAA Tournament last year.

Shooting woes

Texas Tech was shooting 47.1 percent from the field as a team coming into Manhattan.

But the Red Raiders have been struggling to put the ball in the hoop lately. In their last three games, they shot:

1) 26 of 63 for 41.3 percent at home vs. Iowa State
2) 21 of 45 (46.7) on the road at Baylor.
3) 16 of 49 (32.7) on the road at Kansas State.

Kansas registers 70-56 road victory at K-State

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The seventh-ranked Kansas Jayhawks limited Kansas State to 32.3 percent shooting Monday night and held on to sole possession of the lead in the Big 12 men’s basketball race with a 70-56 road victory.

Guard Svi Mykhailiuk hit five 3-pointers and scored 22 to lead the Jayhawks, who improved to 18-4 and 7-2 in conference.

Coming into their home arena with a chance to tie for the conference lead, the Wildcats lost to the rival Jayhawks for the second time this season and fell to 16-6 and 5-4.

Kansas coach Bill Self pointed out a few statistical oddities in his team’s 40-27 burst to the first-half lead.

“If you’re going to be up 13 on the road, have 12 turnovers and go 6 for 13 from the foul line, you wouldn’t think that would be the case,” Self told the Associated Press. “Somehow we were able to keep the lead and win both halves.”

Wildcats forward Dean Wade had 20 points and eight rebounds but guard Barry Brown, the team’s leading scorer, struggled with 4 for 16 shooting.

Averaging 17.3 points coming in, Brown finished with nine as K-State’s four-game winning streak came to an end.

Kansas beat Kansas State 73-72 in Lawrence on Jan. 3.

“I told the guys we had to play better than we did in Lawrence, because they’re a great road team,” Kansas State coach Bruce Weber said. “They have good poise. They understand each other, their roles. I expected them to come at us and they did.”

Kansas guards Devonte’ Graham and Malik Newman both posted double doubles to aid the Jayhawks.

Graham had 16 points and 11 assists. Newman came alive offensively in the second half and finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Big 12 race

Kansas leads at 7-2. Texas Tech, Oklahoma and West Virginia trail at 5-3. Kansas State is 5-4 and Texas 4-4.

Kansas leads Big 12 basketball race by two games

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The first-place Kansas Jayhawks might be hard to catch in the Big 12 basketball race if they can win at Oklahoma Tuesday night.

Kansas will take a two-game lead in the loss column on four different ball clubs leading into a game against OU at the Lloyd Noble Center.

West Virginia trailed Kansas by a game until Monday night, when it got beat 82-73 at TCU.

Now, Kansas (16-3, 6-1) leads by a game and a half and two in the loss column over both West Virginia (16-4, 5-3) and surging Kansas State.

Kansas State (15-5, 5-3) won on the road Monday night, knocking off Baylor, 90-83.

OU (14-4, 4-3) and Texas Tech (15-4, 4-3) both are two full games back with a little more than a third of the conference schedule in the books.

In Fort Worth, TCU started its day getting dropped from the AP Top 25 rankings.

But it finished with authority, recording a victory at home over a Top 10 team for the first time in nearly five years.

Guard Alex Robinson produced 17 points, nine assists and seven rebounds to lead the Frogs, who are playing without injured standout Jaylen Fisher.

Fisher was lost for the season last week after right knee surgery.

West Virginia came into Fort Worth on a roll, having blown out Texas 86-51 at home on Saturday, only to follow it up with a 33 percent shooting performance at TCU.

Jevon Carter had 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds for the Mountaineers.