How Texas must attack a potential double-header of elimination games in the Austin Regional.

The Longhorns have put themselves in a hole similar to seven of the 15 other national seeds in this year’s NCAA baseball tournament, dropping to the loser’s bracket in their own regional. Last night’s loss to UTSA means Texas will need three straight wins to advance further in the postseason, starting with a win over Kansas State in the matinee and followed by a win over UTSA in primetime.

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Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle has made it clear through both his words to the media and his actions that each game, inning, at-bat, and even pitch is the most important one. The foot will always be on the gas pedal.

That’s why RHP Ruger Riojas, Texas’ No. 2 starter with Jared Spencer out, is taking the mound for the first of a potential doubleheader. Who would pitch if Texas beats Kansas State? That’s a problem for four hours from now.

You’d have to assume a team like the No. 2 Longhorns believes they can get through this tricky day and give themselves a chance tomorrow night to take down the Roadrunners for a second game in a row. There are definitely some factors in Texas’ favor.

Firstly, last night’s loss was about as disastrous as possible. The bats overall did a great job of getting on base and even flashed both gap power and over-the-fence power, but terrible situational hitting and a disastrous day in the field allowed UTSA to pounce on each advantage and overcome the Longhorns.

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Schlossnagle has already moved Adrian Rodriguez away from second base and into left field for Game 1 today. Rodriguez had an error and a few fumbled plays yesterday that could’ve been avoided if Ethan Mendoza had been in the field. He will be today.

Offensively, Schlossnagle has not changed the starting nine but has moved CF Will Gasparino down to the nine-spot in the order. Gasparino is now six for his last 40 ABs dating back to the beginning of the Arkansas series, and his inability to properly read the strike zone and put the ball in play has become a nuisance to the Texas lineup. Though he continues to start, as he is still fantastic defensively, it’s obvious that his leash is short at the moment.

One thing that plays into Texas’ favor is that they have the volume of arms to survive 18 innings of pitching today. Hudson Hamilton and Grayson Saunier both threw over 50 pitches on Friday, and Luke Harrison hucked 72 yesterday, but the other nine pitchers Texas usually calls on should be available.

Riojas can start Game 1, and Max Grubbs may be able to start Game 2, as he only threw 21 pitches last night. Relievers Thomas Burns and Dylan Volantis will also be available, though Volantis will likely be capped at one inning of work in each game. That still leaves natural starters like Kade Bing and Jason Flores, who may be tasked with throwing four or more innings at some point in the next two games, as well as relievers like Andre Duplantier II, Cody Howard, and Ethan Walker. With that depth, they can find a way to win three games.

Texas should be able to take down Kansas State, though we said that about UTSA last night. The Wildcats were uncompetitive against the Roadrunners and nearly blew a lead late against Houston Christian in the first game of the loser’s bracket. They’re throwing out Tanner Duke, someone who didn’t start weekend games for them this year. He was good in non-conference play and recently against Cincinnati, but he hasn’t faced a team at the level of Texas yet. Their offense is balanced, but if Riojas can contain their 3-4-5 spots in the lineup, Texas can take them down.

The perfect formula today would work as follows:

Riojas gives Texas five innings, Howard gives them another two, and Duplantier handles the final two as Texas comfortably wins against Kansas State with an offensive awakening.

In Game 2, Texas throws out Bing or Flores to start but quickly leans into Grubbs. Walker can pitch situationally, Burns can take a bulk of the later innings, and Volantis would convert a save. Again, the bats and gloves would have to do their jobs.

This would leave tomorrow’s game with the ability to start the other of Flores or Bing. From there, it gets sketchy, as you just don’t know how ready any of the top four bullpen arms will be at that point. However, Texas needs to worry about getting there first, and UTSA will face similar problems if that does in fact happen.

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A lot went wrong yesterday, but today’s a new day. If anything, it may be a good thing that Texas is playing so much baseball in a short span. These players got to the field yesterday around 4 p.m. and will potentially have played three games in 30 hours. All they can do is focus on baseball right now. You’d hope that gives them a sense of urgency.