BON Roundtable: Can Texas reach Omaha?

Texas Baseball is coming off a strong weekend, winning all three games in the Austin Regional to advance to the Supers against East Carolina. Do you feel more confident in the Horns to get past East Carolina and make a run to Omaha? Or were they helped out by playing Air Force twice and avoiding Dallas Baptist?

Daniel Seahorn (@DanielSeahorn) - I’m certainly feeling better than I did a couple of months ago when it looked like this team wasn’t going to have the arms to make a deep postseason run. The offense has been there all year, but the pitching staff having a strong performance in the regional was encouraging to see for sure. ECU poses a stiffer test in a very hostile environment, so it will be interesting to see if this momentum carries over to Greenville this weekend.

Curry Shoff (@) - I think Texas is talented enough to win this series easily. And if it was in Austin or a neutral site, I wouldn’t be worried. But ECU — a school that loves baseball and is hosting its first ever super regional for its first ever trip to Omaha — will be an atmosphere this team has likely never experienced. Texas will need to get up a lot and early to neutralize the crowd.

Cameron Parker (@camerondparker) - A little bit of both. It wasn’t the most challenging regional but we saw that last year and the Longhorns were a few plays away from reaching the CWS Final. The biggest test will be this weekend against an East Carolina team that is for real. The Pirates have a better bullpen than the Longhorns but if Pierce can get the same efforts we saw last week from guys not named Hansen or Gordon, then I like their chances. But, if Hansen or Gordon struggles, it will be up to the Texas bats. By far the most interesting Super Regional series this weekend.

Prediction for the series?

Daniel - 2-1 Longhorns. This Texas team can score on anyone and returned a lot of experience from a team that went on a deep postseason run last year. If the pitching is settling in then I think they will be able to overcome the Pirates on the road and head to Omaha.

Curry - 2-1 Texas. The offense wins the day in Greenville.

Cameron - Pirates in 3.

Texas Softball fell short of their first National Championship, losing to the juggernaut that is Oklahoma in the Women’s College World Series. But the Longhorns had an impressive run in the postseason, upsetting No. 4 Arkansas, No. 5 UCLA, and No. 7 Oklahoma State. All while being the first unseeded program to reach the WCWS Championship. Can you think of any other program in Texas Athletics to embark on a similar run? Or is this year’s Softball squad the most impressive you’ve seen?

Daniel - Nothing that comes to mind when immediately for me within the Longhorn realm of things. This kind of run reminded me of the 2008 Fresno State team that went on the Cinderella run to Omaha to win it all, except in this scenario the clock struck midnight in the championship series for the Longhorns.

Curry - Probably not. This team is extremely fun to root for and I feel bad it took me this long to tune in. Hopefully Texas can fill some gaps to compete with Oklahoma moving forward but it was a really exciting journey nonetheless.

Cameron - You can’t really compare it to a Mid-Major school making a deep run in March Madness like George Mason or Loyola-Chicago because it’s Texas but NCAA Softball has a BIG talent discrepancy and we saw that in the WCWS Final. I would compare it to the Texas Women’s Basketball run to the Elite 8 under Schaefer two years ago but the Horns didn’t upset the same teams Softball did this season. Either way, I don’t think we’ve seen a run like this recently in Texas Athletics and I’m excited to be a Softball stan from now on.

This week, Xavier Worthy showed Texas fans a sneak peek of Quinn Ewers’ Aston Martin via a NIL agreement. Bijan Robinson drives around in a Lamborghini and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud reached a NIL agreement with Bentley. This leaves the question: if you could have a NIL agreement with any car company, what would it be?

Daniel - I’ve never been too keen on having luxurious cars, so I’d personally probably want something with Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram so that I could get something under the Mopar brand. I’ve always been a big American muscle guy (dream car is a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T), so if I could get myself a Hellcat and dope pickup truck then I’d probably be pretty happy.

Curry - Probably a regular truck or SUV. I’m not much of a car guy. I’d be more excited about the Raising Cane’s NIL opportunity. Give me a used Ford Explorer and unlimited Caniac or Box combos and I’ll play for your team forever.

Cameron - I would first like to say the two responses above me are crazy. First, you’re in college and second, it’s the age of social media. Give me a Rolls Royce or Ferrari. Something stupid that I wouldn’t buy normally. Especially if you’re getting the car for free.