Texas accumulated a program record in strikeouts across a nine-inning game.
No. 4-ranked Texas Baseball gave the fans what they wanted to see at Disch-Falk Field on Friday in a top-10 matchup with No. 10 Mississippi State.
The Longhorns earned a 3-1 win in the first game of the series largely off the impressive pitching of lefty sophomore Dylan Volantis.
Texas' pitching staff matched the program record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game with 19. Volantis struck out 12 in his 6.0 innings of work, where he also allowed only three hits and no runs.
"I thought Dylan was outstanding," head coach Jim Schlossnagle said postgame. "I mean, what more can you say about him?"
This is the second time in the last two weeks that Texas has reached 19 punchouts in a nine-inning affair. Friday night's game against Alabama on April 18 tied the record set in 1988 against Southwestern Louisiana, according to Texas Athletics.
The Horns blanked the Bulldogs until the eighth inning, where Mississippi State's leadoff hitter Gehrig Frie hit a solo home run. Texas got its offense from a sacrifice groundout in the second inning, an RBI single in the fifth by Aiden Robbins, and a two-run single by freshman star Anthony Pack Jr. later in the frame.
Volantis and his career-high strikeout total moved him to a perfect 7-0 in decisions this season. He threw a season-high 107 pitches. Though the Horns got just five hits and were out-hit by one for the game, they came in crucial spots that maintained a lead as the pitching staff went to work. Sam Cozart came out of the bullpen in the ninth to slam the door for his seventh save of the season.
Texas improved to 34-9 overall and 14-7 in SEC play. Mississippi State fell to 35-11 (13-9 SEC).
With a win in Saturday afternoon's Game 2, Texas can claim its conference-leading seventh SEC series win.
The Horns host the Bulldogs at 2:30 p.m. CT in Austin on May 2, followed by the series finale on Sunday, May 3, at 1 p.m.
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