Texas sweeps No. 3 Georgia in Austin

Published 6:17 pm Monday, April 7, 2025

San Antonio Express-News (TNS)

AUSTIN — Dylan Volantis made the most of his moment Sunday afternoon.

But the freshman pitcher missed his teammate’s.

He did hear about Rylan Galvan’s mammoth, walk-off, solo home run off the top of the video board behind right-center field wall to beat third-ranked Georgia 4-3 in the 10th inning, however, but wasn’t in the celebratory dugout at the time.

“Actually, that was the one time I went to the bathroom,” the rookie left-hander said, shaking his head. “I literally went up to go pee. And right when I got in the bathroom, I heard loud cheering, and I missed it.”

Hey, he did need to relieve Texas starter Ruger Riojas earlier in the game to combine on a four-hitter, so why not himself. He came on after Nolan McCarthy’s solo homer knotted the game at 3-3 and shut down a Bulldog team that padded its enormous home run total with two more deep shots Sunday to give them 87 on the season.

“Volantis was outstanding, and just really proud of Rylan,” Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He’s such a great defensive catcher, and he’s really kind of coming into his own as an offensive player.”

For sure, the fifth-ranked Longhorns needed the heroics of both because Volantis’ four shutout innings with eight strikeouts in 14 batters and Galvan’s 10th homer of the year held a slugging Georgia team at bay.

Volantis has been so critical to this team’s success that he got the last four outs of Friday’s 5-1 win, was up in the bullpen during Saturday’s 7-4 win and then threw four near-perfect innings on a crisp, chilly Sunday, giving up just one hit in each of his two appearances.

“Yeah, I’m a little tired,” he said after pushing his record to 3-0 with the win. “I felt great today being able to pitch twice in one weekend. I’ve definitely adapted to that, and I went out there, feeling amazing.”

In keeping with tradition, Galvan flung his helmet across the diamond and partially disrobed after his home run trot, shedding his jersey to ignite the announced crowd of 6,974.

He playfully asked reporters if they enjoyed his swing or his shirtless look and offered, “I liked my swing a lot better.”

When asked when he might shed his jersey, Schlossnagle laughed and cracked, “I have been working out. But, no, nobody wants to see that. … But nobody had better rip their jersey. Those don’t grow on trees. (Chris) Del Conte keeps us on a budget.”

Their handiwork assured Texas of its third sweep in four victorious series this season — and second series win over a top five team — and kept it in first place in the SEC with an impressive 11-1 record.

Galvan probably deserved a bigger audience and Volantis’ presence in the dugout for Texas’ first walk-off homer since Garret Guillemette’s against Texas Tech in March 2023 since the junior catcher from Sinton has also been a perfect backstop for the pitcher who is already cementing his status as one of the top freshman players in all of college baseball.

“He’ll have to live with that,” Galvan joked of Volantis’ absence during his moment.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Volantis said.

Bathroom humor aside, Texas has to be considered a serious contender for an SEC championship in its first year in the league after sweeping Mississippi State and Missouri on the road and Georgia at the Disch and taking two of three here from then-No. 1 LSU.

“Hey, we’ve got good players,” said Schlossnagle, whose club was picked to finish eighth in the SEC by D1Baseball.com and by the league coaches. “Obviously it’s awesome. I respect the league so much. My own personality won’t allow me to get too fired up about it, but we’ll certainly take it. That’s an Omaha club over there (in the visitors’ dugout) and says a lot about the character of our players, and they deserve to celebrate.”

Considering Texas has raced to a 26-4 record and continues to pound its opposition without Big 12 player of the year and leading hitter Max Belyeu (surgery for a broken thumb) and .326 hitter Adrian Rodriguez (out with a hand injury but could return this weekend), the team’s sudden rise to the top has been incredible.

Few expected the dominance of the Longhorn pitching staff this season because it included so many new starters. But pitching coach Max Weiner has groomed a bullpen that didn’t give up a run in the series, struck out 38 Georgia batters in three games and walked just 10 with no bigger star than Volantis.

Texas needed a comeback for its 11th such win after falling behind for the second day in a row. The Longhorns took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on the strength of a wind-aided, two-run homer by Jalin Flores over the right-center field fence, his eighth of the year and 30th of his career to tie him with slugger Zach Zubia and All-American John Langerhans for 10th place all-time in school history.

But Georgia tied it on Nolan McCarthy’s solo shot in the seventh and signaled the return of Volantis to the mound.

Relying mostly on a devastating 80-mph curve ball that kept the Bulldog batters guessing, the 6-6, 212-pound left-hander lowered his astounding ERA to 0.95 after allowing just a single earned run in his last 10 outings spanning 26 1/3 innings.

He’s thrown just over 28 innings this season after tossing 65 innings as a senior at his California high school last season and the staff figures to monitor his workload closely, given the rigors and pressure of SEC play and the need for him to be at his best in June. Only 11 freshman pitchers threw as many as 30 innings last year, and just two reached the 50-inning mark.

“I mean, he’s like calm, cool and collected,” Galvan said of his battery mate. “It’s crazy. I’ve never seen a freshman like that come in and no moment is too big for him.”

Unless, of course, nature calls at a certain moment.

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