The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
No. 3 Baseball predicted to finish second in SEC preseason coaches poll
02.05.2026 | Baseball
Longhorns land co-league best five players on preseason All-SEC teams.
AUSTIN, Texas — Reigning Southeastern Conference regular season champion Texas was picked to finish second in the 2026 SEC baseball preseason coaches poll, the league office announced Thursday morning.
The Longhorns were one of four programs to receive a first-place vote to win the SEC title, alongside preseason favorite LSU, Mississippi State and Arkansas.
Meanwhile, Texas had a co-league-best five players named to the preseason All-SEC teams, headlined by first team selection Dylan Volantis. Volantis was joined by a quartet of second team honorees in Carson Tinney, Ethan Mendoza, Max Grubbs and Thomas Burns.
Volantis, who was tabbed the 2025 SEC Freshman of the Year and a First Team All-SEC pick, enters his sophomore season after a historic debut campaign. The 6-foot-6, 220-pound left-hander led freshmen nationally in WHIP (0.88) and saves (12) a year ago. Among Division I rookies, the Baseball America National Freshman of the Year also ranked second in ERA (1.94) and B/AVG (.185). Volantis' 11 saves in league play were the most by an SEC freshman ever, breaking a 22-year-old record held by Ole Miss' Steven Head. The consensus All-American tied for the 10th-most saves in the country.
A transfer from Notre Dame, Tinney paced all Power Four hitters in WRC+ (179) and wOBA (.535), while posting the third-highest OPS (1.251) in 2025. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound backstop led the Irish in 10 offensive categories, highlighted by a .348 average, 17 home runs and 53 RBI. Tinney garnered NCBWA District 5 Player of the Year distinction and finished as one of three finalists for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.
After arriving on The Forty Acres following a season at Arizona State, Mendoza paced the Longhorns in average (.333), hits, (75), triples (4) and multi-hit performances (25). The Bedford, Texas, native also compiled a co-team-best 15 stolen bases. Mendoza collected ABCA/Rawlings Central All-Region Second Team plaudits and earned a spot on the SEC Baseball All-Defensive Team.
A four-year Longhorn, Grubbs begins his senior campaign having worked as both a starter and reliever throughout his collegiate career. In 2025, the 6-foot-1, 220-pound right-hander appeared in 22 contests, making one start. Grubbs tallied a 6-2 ledger with a 2.84 ERA and five saves. He notched 61 strikeouts and issued 14 walks over 57 innings.
Among Texas hurlers (min. 25 inn.) a year ago, Burns posted a team-best 13.5 K/9. The hard-throwing righty punched out 40 batters across 26 2/3 frames, holding opposing hitters to a .184 average. In his first season in burnt orange, Burns mounted a 1-2 mark with a 3.71 ERA and four saves in 19 appearances. Last year, the Longhorns became the first team to win the SEC regular season crown in its first campaign since the league's inception in 1933.
Texas, which was tabbed eighth in the conference's preseason poll, won the league by two games. The Longhorns' 22-8 ledger in SEC action marked their best record in conference play since 2010.
Jim Schlossnagle's club opens its 2026 slate against UC Davis on Feb. 13. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
