Texas baseball falls at Central Florida, is eliminated from Big 12 regular-season race

Even though a few laps remain, the race for the Big 12 championship has ended for Texas baseball.

Texas was unable to complete its comeback on Saturday in Orlando, a 5-4 loss to Central Florida that, combined with Oklahoma's two wins over Baylor, eliminated the Longhorns from contention for the Big 12 regular-season championship.

Oklahoma (32-17, 21-6) can wrap up the Big 12 title outright with its next conference win or the next conference loss by Oklahoma State (34-16, 17-9). Texas (31-20, 16-10) and West Virginia (30-19, 16-10) are tied for third place. The Longhorns have four games left on their schedule, including a three-game series with Kansas next weekend. Texas won a share of the Big 12 championship in 2023.

Saturday's loss was the first for Texas this season in a game started by left-handed pitcher Ace Whitehead. The Longhorns had been 7-0 in the junior's starts; he entered Saturday with a 4-0 record and a 3.73 ERA.

Fueled by a three-run home run and an unearned run, Central Florida jumped on Whitehead and built a 4-0 lead by the end of the fourth inning. Texas pulled to within 4-3 on Kimble Schuessler's solo homer and plated another teammate with a triple, but the Knights added an insurance run in the eighth inning.

Jalin Flores homered to lead off the final frame, but UCF (31-16, 12-13) retired the final three Texas batters. Central Florida pitcher Dominic Castellano ended both the game and a 13-pitch battle with Schuessler on a strikeout.

Texas and UCF will close out their first-ever series at noon Sunday. Florida native Lebarron Johnson Jr. (2-4, 5.82) will pitch for UT.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas baseball team eliminated from Big 12 championship contention