Texas Baseball Beginning Road to Omaha Against Houston Christian

On the flip side, the Huskies are red-hot and riding plenty of momentum. They've won six straight games and come into this matchup fresh off winning their conference tournament to secure an auto bid into the postseason.

Fortunately for the loser of this one the regional round is a double elimination, which would give them a chance to keep their season alive on Saturday. That being said, they will look to avoid that fate as winning a regional from the loser's bracket is a difficult task.

How to watch/listen:

Friday May 30 at 1 p.m. CT - ESPN+/TexasSports.com/Audio

A look at Houston Christian's season -

It was an up and down regular season for the Huskies, as they enter the NCAA Tournament with a solid record of 32-23 and having won six straight. They claimed the Southland Conference Tournament title, which earned them an auto bid and a date with the Longhorns on Friday.

Houston Christian by the numbers:

• Record - 32-23

• Runs scored - 330

• Runs allowed - 339

• Team Avg. - .278

• Team Avg. against - .281

• Team ERA - 5.44

Houston Christian wins this game if...

It can take advantage of a Texas lineup that enters postseason ice cold. Yes, the Longhorns put up five runs against Tennessee Volunteers in their SEC Tournament loss. However, strikeouts were again a massive issue as they combined to rack up 18 strikeouts as a team -- including a pair of four strikeout performances from Rylan Galvan and Tommy Farmer IV.

That is exactly what the Huskies need to focus on if they want to avoid the loser's bracket in this regional. Forcing Texas into bad at-bats and continuing to pile up the strikeouts will give the Huskies lineup a chance to find their own footing against a strong pitching staff. If they can do just enough to silence the Longhorns bats then they have a shot at pulling off the upset.

Texas wins this game if...

It can find an early groove and get the offense firing on all cylinders. When the Longhorns are playing well at the plate they are a hard team for a pitcher to deal with. Against the Volunteers they chased SEC Pitcher of the Year Liam Doyle early, tagging him for four runs in just 3.2 innings.

They made him work, got deep into counts and produced multiple great at-bats. However, the flip side was also true as they did indeed strikeout 18 times and only score one more run the rest of the way against Tennessee. If the version of the Longhorns that chased Doyle shows up against the Huskies, then they have great odds at starting the Austin Regional off with a win.