No. 2 Texas travels to face No. 5 Auburn in big SEC series
The Horns match up against a similar Tigers team with an excellent pitching staff.
SAN MARCOS, TX - March 10: Texas Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle watches action during game between the Texas Longhorns and the Texas State Bobcats on March 10, 2026 at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, TX. (Photo by John Rivera/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images For the No. 2 Texas Longhorns, the adversity that head coach Jim Schlossnagle always expects has arrived, and more looms in SEC play as the Horns head to the Plains to face off against the No.
5 Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park in the team’s first road weekend series of the season. It started last Friday when Texas blew a four-run lead in the ninth inning against Ole Miss, ending the 16-game winning streak to open the 2026 campaign and causing the demise of Schlossnagle’s winning streak mustache, and raising questions about the late-inning effectiveness of junior right-hander Thomas Burns and graduate left-hander Cal Higgins. The adversity was compounded by freshman right-hander Michael Winter’s lack of availability due to sickness — a status that remains unchanged for the Auburn series — forcing pitching coach Max Weiner to move midweek starter Sam Cozart, the team’s burly breakout freshman, into the weekend bullpen.
That move left Texas without its effective Tuesday starter and contributed to a decisive four-run fourth inning in an embarrassing 6-1 midweek loss to Tarleton State in which the bats went silent for Schlossnagle’s team, which struck out 12 times and only recorded two hits. “Tarleton beat us in every phase of the game,” Schlossnagle said after the loss. “Doesn’t matter who you are, doesn’t matter the name on your jersey.
The difference in this sport is you have to go play the game, you have to throw strikes, you have to be competitive at the plate, and when you don’t do that, you’re going to lose. Period. ” Now Texas has to refocus for the biggest challenge of the season so far — facing off against a team that reminds Schlossnagle of the Longhorns and some of the other top teams he’s coached in Fort Worth and College Station at one of the best ballparks in the country.