Unable to win a title during the regular season, No. 24 Texas chases other championships

As it always does, Texas entered this baseball season in the pursuit of five championships.

First, the Longhorns wanted to secure the Big 12's regular-season title. Then they wanted to be the last team standing at the conference tournament. And there are championships at the NCAA regionals and super regionals. And the biggest championship, of course, is won in Omaha.

Texas failed in its pursuit of that first championship on the list. The Longhorns finished the regular season in third place in the Big 12, three games behind Big 12 champion Oklahoma.

"We've already let one of the big five championships get away from us," UT first baseman Jared Thomas said recently.

But as Thomas astutely noted, "we've still got four in front of us." That means that Texas will start another championship chase at the Big 12 Tournament this week. Then, it's time for the NCAAs.

Seeded third, Texas opens its Big 12 Tournament run against 10th-seeded Texas Tech on Tuesday. The showdown at Arlington's Globe Life Field comes more than two months after Texas won two of the three games the teams played in Lubbock.

"I think we're clicking on all cylinders right now. We're getting hot at the right time," said UT catcher Kimble Schuessler, whose team is ranked 24th in the D1Baseball poll this week. "I like our chances in Arlington and wherever we end up (in the NCAA Tournament)."

Changes for the Big 12 Tournament

Tuesday will mark the 23rd appearance by Texas in the Big 12 Tournament. The bracket, though, will have a different look this year.

Since 1999, the tournament has usually featured eight teams. But with the addition of Cincinnati, BYU, Houston and Central Florida's baseball teams to the conference, the bracket was expanded to 10 teams.

As in past years, part of the tournament will use a double-elimination format. The bracket, though, is a little tough to follow. For example, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State received first-round byes as the top two seeds. But if Texas beats Texas Tech on Tuesday, the Longhorns will take Wednesday off while Oklahoma and Oklahoma State play their yet-to-be-determined foes. Teams can survive an early loss, but the losers of Friday's semifinals will be eliminated regardless of what their record in Arlington is, and the championship round on Saturday is also a one-game series.

"We're just going to go out there and compete at our highest level and trust each other and play hard," Texas coach David Pierce said. "So many times, this game just beats you down. It's a difficult, mental game that you feel like you've got everything working for you and you have no success. I want our guys to free up like we've been talking a lot about, just being loose and locked in. So can we be loose, have some fun, but have that little edge about us when we're in the box and we're on the mound and just continue to grow and hopefully we can have some success in that tournament."

Texas is going out with a bang

The Big 12 Tournament also is the final stop on Texas' farewell tour of the conference. With just this competition to go, the Big 12 has awarded 29 regular-season and tournament championships during the 2023-24 school year. Thanks to the rowing program's win Sunday, Texas has won 15 of those titles.

Back in August, Texas soccer coach Angela Kelly told reporters that "We'd like to win and get out, if you will, as this is our departing year in the Big 12. (Chris Del Conte) hasn't been shy in saying we'd like to give the president a present of 20 conference titles and then say 'good luck' (to the Big 12)." A few months later, Texas won the championship at the Big 12 soccer tournament.

Texas won't hit that goal of 20 championships, but that is just semantics in a conference where no other athletic department has won more than four. Texas has made its point, and a championship won by the baseball team would be the proverbial cherry on top. The baseball team also would be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

A member of the Big 12 since its first season in 1997, Texas is a five-time champion of this tournament. No team has won more. Those titles, though, were won awhile ago: 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2015. Since Pierce took over ahead of the 2017 season, UT has reached the championship game twice.

"I'd just like to win one of them. That would be nice," he said.

Texas is led by outfielder Max Belyeu, who on Monday became the fifth Longhorn to win the Big 12's player of the year award. Eleven of Belyeu's 17 homers were hit in conference play, and the sophomore's Big 12-only numbers also included a .384 batting average, 35 RBIs and 29 runs scored.

Belyeu was joined on the first team of the all-conference honor roll by Thomas, shortstop Jalin Flores and relief pitcher Gage Boehm. Third baseman Peyton Powell was voted onto the second team by the conference's coaches.

Big 12 Tournament

Tuesday-Saturday, Globe Life Field in Arlington

Tuesday's games — (Game 1) Kansas State vs. Kansas, 9 a.m., ESPN+; (2) West Virginia vs. TCU, 12:30 p.m., ESPN+; (3) Cincinnati vs. Central Florida, 4 p.m., ESPN+; (4) Texas vs. Texas Tech, 7:30 p.m., ESPN+, 1300

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas travels to Arlington for final Big 12 baseball competition