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Texas Baseball Climbs D1Baseball's Rankings Following LSU Series Win

Originally posted on Texas Longhorns on SI
By Connor Zimmerlee | Last updated Mar 24, 2025 10:05 AM ET

When the Texas Longhorns (19-3, 5-1) started their five-game homestand last week, they were riding an impressive 17-game winning streak. Spirits were high in Austin as they welcomed the UTSA Roadrunners to UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

And then they lost that midweek battle 8-7 in extra innings. While that was disappointing, they were set to bounce back with their first SEC home series against the then-No. 2 LSU Tigers. Unfortunately, they got off to a rough start in that one as well and dropped the opener, 8-2.

That's where Texas' mini two-game losing skid came to an end, however. In game two the Longhorns and Tigers went back-and-forth in an offensive slugfest, with Texas ultimately coming out on top with an 11-7 victory to even the series.

Then on Sunday it was all Longhorns from first pitch. The combination of Ruger Riojas and Dylan Volantis on the mound combined with four RBI from Max Belyeu powered them to an impressive 6-2 win, and the series win.

As a result of their strong showing against the Tigers at home, they again continued to climb up the D1Baseball top 25 rankings. They leapfrogged the Tigers, who dropped from No. 2 to No. 8, and moved up one spot to take over the No. 7 ranking.

Moving up was always going to be the likely outcome if Texas picked up a series win over LSU, the question was how high. Some may argue that it should have been a higher leap but the rest of the top 10 had similarly successful weeks and all moved up one spot as a result.

Ultimately, though, rankings at this point in the season don't mean too much. One or two bad weekends of play can see you plummet down while all it takes to skyrocket back up is a weekend or two of strong baseball.

For now the Longhorns are content with their spot in top 10. All they need to do is keep winning and proving themselves to be a true contender in the SEC.

They continue their season on Tuesday night with the conclusion of their homestand against Sam Houston and then hit the road for a conference series against Missouri.

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

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