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Texas falls in first game of the SEC Tournament to Arkansas, 8-1.

by: Evan Vieth05/23/26

Texas looked like a team that was thinking past the tournament game they were playing in, and it showed on the scoreboard.

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The Arkansas Razorbacks pretty effortlessly disposed of the Longhorns, taking home the 801 as the Texas bats failed to make much of an impact in Hoover.

The damage started early for Arkansas, specifically off the bat of one man: Camden Kozeal.

Texas started Cody Howard, his first of the season, in an effort to collect information on some of the team’s secondary arms. While Howard did his job in the respect of pounding the strike zone and not falling behind in counts, the results just did not cut it.

Howard plunked the first batter of the game on a 1-2 count, worked Kozeal to an 0-2, then gave up an opposite-field shot for the first two runs of the game.

Arkansas would add another in the first, and when Kozeal was done with his second at-bat of the game in the second inning, Texas was in a 6-1 hole. Kozeal’s second hit was a blast to dead center, one of the hardest hit homers you’ll ever see in the SEC tournament.

Texas was able to get eight total arms in this game, and saw four combined scoreless innings from Luke Harrison and Dylan Volantis in relief, both a strong sign of their confidence level going into regional play, as well as knowing they can handle the prospect of coming in as a reliever if needed in the postseason.

The bats, on the other hand, showed few signs of life outside of Casey Borba, who hit two missiles up the middle for hits in this game, one that took Arkansas starter Hunter Dietz out of the game in the first inning, when Texas scored its only run. Borba would have half of the team’s four total hits

Arkansas used three of its most prominent arms, including their Friday and Saturday starters, and one pitch continued to hurt this Texas order: sliders out of the righty arms.

Going inside to lefties and outside to righties, the Longhorns continuously swung over the ball, often out of the zone, and saw players like Aiden Robbins strike out three times. It was noted in the broadcast that Texas was the SEC’s best hitting team against fastballs, but they won’t see many in the postseason if they can’t defend against these breaking pitches.

The Horns struck out 14 times to just four walks, despite not having to worry about Dietz for most of the game.

In fact, Dietz’s first inning was the only time Texas threatened, putting just two more runners in scoring position throughout the day.

The top three stars of Robbbins, Carson Tinney and Anthony Pack went 0/11 with just one walk, and the Horns didn’t see great returns from bats like Robbins, Ethan Mendoza and Dariyan Pendergrass, all of whom entered the tournament with some health concerns.

It’s onto the regional for Texas, who now will have a lot of rest leading into next weekend’s games. Texas should still be one of the Top 8 National Seeds come Selection Monday on the 25th at 11 A.M.

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