Ruger Riojas strikes out 11 as No. 4 Texas beats No. 11 Alabama, 3-1
Riojas bounced back from two subpar starts and the Longhorns came through with some big hits late to clinch the series.
On a pitcher-friendly day at UFCU Disch-Falk Field on Saturday thanks to a late-spring cold front surging into Austin behind a north wind, senior right-hander Ruger Riojas struck out 11 in 5. 0 innings as the No. 4 Texas Longhorns clinched a series win against the No.
11 Alabama Crimson Tide with a 3-1 win. Texas fell behind when a leadoff walk and consecutive base hits against Riojas put the Longhorns in a 1-0 hole before the UTSA transfer recorded an out, but Riojas only allowed one more hit during the rest of his outing, which went 5. 0 innings and 99 pitches — Alabama didn’t have much success against Riojas, but were able to elevated his pitch count enough to force four innings of work from the Texas bullpen.
Riojas was dominant enough to record a rare four-strikeout inning in the fourth when a batter reached on a wild pitch after swinging and missing at strike three. just your casual four-strikeout inning 💪 #HookEm | @RugerRiojas_19 pic. twitter.
com/Vk9zLsocBk — Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) April 18, 2026 Although Riojas didn’t earn the win on Saturday, it was a bounce-back performance after allowing eight runs on six hits in three innings against South Carolina two weeks ago and five runs on five hits in five innings against Texas A&M last week. Out of the bullpen, junior left-hander Haiden Leffew earned his third win of the season in two innings of hitless relief, working around two walks by striking out three batters. Getting through the eighth required three pitchers — redshirt junior left-hander Ethan Walker, freshman right-hander Brett Crossland, and junior right-hander Thomas Burns — but a walk issued by Crossland against the only batter he faced was the only adversity the Horns had to face despite the pitching changes.