This week was met with equal parts excitement and urgency within the Texas Longhorns' baseball program.

On one hand, there was reason to be positive. A 40-13 season has landed Texas a No. 6 overall seed and host rights, potentially giving the Longhorns home-field advantage throughout the path to the College World Series in Omaha.

However, the manner in which the Horns' SEC Tournament appearance ended last week left a lot to be desired. It was a kick in the mouth that is sure to shock the team awake upon entering the Austin Regional this weekend.

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Texas hosts Holy Cross, UC Santa Barbara and Tarleton State at UFCU Disch-Falk Field beginning on May 29.

Head coach Jim Schlossnagle took time to acknowledge the true significance of the accomplishment of being a top-eight national seed in the NCAA tournament.

"It's like Christmas morning to me, and I know we're at Texas and we're supposed to, you know - Texas is supposed to do this and that and the other, but look at the programs whose names didn't come up there," he said. "So I never take this day for granted."

The players are equally as excited to play again in front of the home crowd.

"It’s awesome being able to play postseason baseball in Austin," said Casey Borba. "There’s nothing like that."

Texas' proficiency on the national stage is no secret on the diamond. This is the Longhorns' NCAA-record 65th appearance in the bracket, and it's the 39th time they'll host the Regionals. Texas holds a 53-60-1 (.721) record in regional play, including an 110-33-1 (.783) mark when those games are at home.

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Texas was upset by Arkansas 8-1 in the single-elimination SEC Tournament in Hoover, Ala. last week. Schloss didn't mince his words when recalling the game.

"That was embarrassing," the coach said. "Our players were pretty disgusted by it. I was super disgusted by it. I understand what we had to do and how we had to do it, but I don't like watching other teams play in a tournament that we could still be in."

Texas was held to just four hits and allowed six runs after the first two innings.

As a response, Schlossnagle has sent a message through the pre-regional practice regime that he hopes invigorates urgency into the team's spirit.

"Those guys are going to feel it," Schlossnagle said. "I want them to feel it. We have a lot to play for.

"Yeah, we're gonna err on the side of work. The saying, 'nothing works unless you do,' that's the one we're living by right now."

"It may not be full-scale baseball with base-running and stuff like that," he added about the week's plans. "But it's going to be live pitching versus live hitting. We've rested plenty, our players admittedly miss playing baseball, and when you only play one game in two weeks, that's not a good thing. So we need to mimic the game and mimic kind of our week, you know, play Sunday, play Tuesday, have our Wednesday practice - kind of the way you hear a football coach talk - to prepare for the weekend."

The regional begins with Texas facing Holy Cross at 12 p.m. CT on Friday, May 29 in Austin.