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Texas Baseball Ace Jared Spencer Shut Down With Injury

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Connor Zimmerlee | Last updated Apr 24, 2025 11:30 AM ET

As the regular season continues down the back stretch, the No. 1 Texas Longhorns have been plagued by the injury bug. Having already lost Max Belyeu for potentially the rest of the season, they suffered another big blow when Jared Spencer left the Auburn game early.

On Thursday morning coach Jim Schlossngale spoke with The Morning Kickoff Show and offered an update on the health of the Longhorns' staff ace, who has officially been ruled out for the Texas A&M series.

"Jared is going to visit medical people today and try and figure out what the best long-term decision is for him," he said. "He's not going to pitch anytime soon, unless we get some awesome news."

Spencer, who has been the Longhorns' Friday night guy all season long, initially left the series opener against Auburn after just 43 pitches in 2.2 innings of work. Initial reports were that he was sore after dealing with a short rest, however that no longer appears to be the case.

For the Longhorns, though, this is undeniably a big blow to a team already dealing with a litany of injury issues -- especially having already dealt with the loss of arguably their best player in Belyeu. However, they must embrace the next man up mentality.

This means a shuffling of the rotation, with Ruger Riojas sliding from his usual Sunday slot into the Friday role. Typical Saturday starter Luke Harrison will remain in that role while as it currently stands, Schlossnagle mentioned freshman Jason Flores as a potential option for the Sunday spot.

There's never really a "good" time for injuries, but there are worse times than others -- a lesson the Longhorns are learning. With the regular season winding down they'll have to navigate a tough home stretch in SEC play, and do so having suffered another injury setback.

This article first appeared on Texas Longhorns on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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