No. 2 Texas holds on against No. 5 Auburn for 7-6 win
The bullpen for the Longhorns avoided another late-inning meltdown, but only narrowly.
After a second straight late-inning Friday meltdown in SEC play, the No. 2 Texas Longhorns needed to find a way to close out an important road victory against the No. 5 Auburn Tigers at Plainsman Park on Saturday.
It wasn’t easy in the 7-6 win, as a pitching staff considered historically elite by a credible observer like Baylor head coach Mitch Thompson, a longtime assistant for the Bears and Central Texas junior college head coach, once again showed significant cracks to heighten the long-term concerns about the upside of head coach Jim Schlossnagle’s team. Taking a 7-2 lead into the seventh inning, the Horns stuck with senior right-hander Max Grubbs after the Texas bullpen stalwart took over for redshirt senior left-hander Luke Harrison to record the final out in the sixth inning. Grubbs was close to cruising through the seventh after retiring the first two batters on eight pitches before hanging an 0-1 breaking ball that turned into a 420-foot home run.
To the moon! 🌙 @ChrisRembertt got every bit of that one! pic.
twitter. com/k0eccNoSYv — Auburn Baseball (@AuburnBaseball) March 22, 2026 A nine-pitch at bat resulted in a full-count walk and a 2-1 single put runners on first and second as Schlossnagle turned to freshman right-hander Brett Crossland, who got ahead of the next two batters, but gave up consecutive 1-2 singles through the right side to score two more runs. In the eighth inning, freshman right-hander Sam Cozart receive a high-leverage opportunity, hitting the leadoff batter on his second pitch before bouncing back to record two outs.