Preview: Texas Baseball vs. Houston Christian

Who: No. 3 Texas Longhorns vs. Houston Christian Huskies
What: 12th game of the season for both teams
When: Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30 PM CT. 
Where: UFCU Disch-Falk Field (Austin, Texas)
TV/Streaming: SEC Network+
Radio: Longhorn Radio Network, Sirius XM 374
Radio Announcers: Craig Way (Play-by-play), Roger Wallace (Color Analyst)
Last Season: The Longhorns experienced their best season since 2010, storming to a 44-14 in their first season in the Southeastern Conference, but were dropped in their own regional to an upstart UTSA. Houston Christian finished 32-25 — a 14-game improvement from the previous season —capturing its second Southland Conference championship and advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history. The Huskies fell to Kansas State in the Austin Regional.
Series History: Texas leads the all-time series 10-0, dating back to 1969. The largest margin of victory came in February 2024, when the Longhorns defeated the Huskies 20-3. Houston Christian has yet to beat Texas, and the Longhorns will look to continue their 10-game winning streak against HCU at the Disch.

Meet the Coaches

Jim Schlossnagle, Texas: Schlossnagle enters his second season at Texas after arriving from Texas A&M, where he reestablished the Aggies as a national contender. One of the most respected coaches in college baseball, he’s totaled over 1,000 career wins across previous stops at UNLV, TCU and Texas A&M, the sixth-most Division I victories among active skippers. Schlossnagle is looking to guide the Longhorns back to Omaha after last season’s early regional exit.

Clay VanderLaan, HCU: Clayton VanderLaan enters his second season at Houston Christian, coming off a tremendous first-year campaign, posting a 32-25 record, capturing a Southland Conference title and claiming their second-ever NCAA regionals appearance. VanderLaan was named Houston Christian’s head baseball coach in June 2024 after spending three seasons as an assistant, helping develop six All-Southland Conference selections and the program’s first MLB Draft pick since 2018.

What to Know About the Huskies

Houston Christian enters 2026 on a far better note than it did a year ago, when VanderLaan’s first roster featured just seven returning players. This season, HCU returns 24 players from last year’s Southland Conference championship team and adds 17 transfers. 

The Huskies are coming off an emotional series win over Incarnate Word. HCU trailed by seven runs with nine outs remaining Sunday but stormed back for a walk-off 11-10 victory at Husky Field to clinch the series on opening weekend of conference play.

Senior outfielder Jack Walker leads the Huskies with 13 runs scored and two home runs. Walker went 3-for-4 on Sunday with three runs scored and three RBIs, including a 401-foot solo home run to right-center field — his second home run in as many days.

Reliever Ben Norton earned the win, tossing the eighth and ninth innings while allowing one earned run on three hits with two strikeouts and one walk. He improved to 2-0 on the season.