2026 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 13, 2026

Jim Schlossnagle

Adrian Rodriguez

Dylan Volantis

Texas Longhorns

Postgame Press Conference

Georgia - 7, Texas - 1

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle and student-athletes Adrian Rodriguez and Dylan Volantis.

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: There was a delayed start but we did an awful heck of a job catching everybody up getting closer to bedtime with that game. Volchko did for sure.

I felt like there was two stories to that game. Number one, Volchko was awesome. Didn't walk a guy until the ninth inning and threw endless amount of strikes. I was actually super impressed in an era of baseball where there's strikeouts, and emotional things happen in the game, and I didn't see him once screaming at our team or do anything that some of the kids do these days. I thought he was super professional and was outstanding.

Then the other story of the game, from a defensive standpoint that's the worst game we've played the whole season which is super disappointing. On our end that's a very bad taste in our mouth. And we're certainly looking forward to a good day of practice tomorrow and getting back on the field on Monday to play better baseball because I don't know if it would have mattered considering Volchko was so awesome. But, yeah, that was not good on the part of the Longhorns.

Q. Dylan, tough start at the beginning. You were able to turn that thing around for four innings in the middle there. Talk about how you were able to flip that switch and get right back there and compete.

DYLAN VOLANTIS: What happened in the first, I told myself, go give the team a chance to win out there. Kept battling no matter what. Didn't care it was an 0-0 ball game in my head. No matter what the score is, just go out there and compete.

Q. How would you describe the kind of melt-down with two Carson errors and uncharacteristically hitting batters.

ADRIAN RODRIGUEZ: I mean that stuff happens. He's been phenomenal all year-round. For me that was the first time that's happened. I mean that happens. I already told him, no worries, man, but we're going to get that cleaned up.

Q. Behind you in the order, Ethan came up with the big hit to score the one run today. He also had another hit in the game. Just a statement on Ethan, what he's been battling through all season and how you thought he performed today?

ADRIAN RODRIGUEZ: Ethan is a competitor. I've been playing with him for two years. He's one of the guys that comes to the field every single day, does what he does. He's been a competitor his whole life.

I've been playing with him probably since high school days. So I've known him for a long time. That's just the way he is and that's the way he acts. And it just shows on the field every time because that's the way he is every day.

Q. Dylan, A-Rod had the diving play and you got rolling. You said something to him. Did that kind of feel like a turning point in your start?

DYLAN VOLANTIS: I mean, that play was pretty sick. It's always nice to have that as a pitcher. Just said thanks, man, thanks for having my back out there. It felt good. And as a pitcher, when that stuff happens, sometimes it does turn around like that, and that's what happened.

Q. Dylan, after the first inning where Carson had those mistakes, I saw him kind of wait and talk to you before you went into the dugout. Do you remember what he said to you?

DYLAN VOLANTIS: I believe it's just "my bad" and that's pretty much it.

Q. Adrian and Dylan, this is a murderous bracket you are in. What's the mentality going in now that you guys are playing in an elimination game?

ADRIAN RODRIGUEZ: We play every game the same. We play to a standard, not to the scoreboard. So it doesn't matter who's on the other side. We play our game. Today we didn't meet that standard. So we need to come back and have a good practice tomorrow and get back at it the next day.

DYLAN VOLANTIS: For sure, I mean all these teams -- this is Omaha -- all these teams are no joke. Just going out there and playing the game. That's all it is. It's playing to a standard, not the scoreboard. Just going out there, treating every game like it's tied and just give it your all.

Q. You obviously had some of the success against Volchko. What did you see from him as far as his best pitches and how he attacked the rest of your teammates?

ADRIAN RODRIGUEZ: As a lefty, I knew everything was coming into me. I needed to beat it to the spot. I was just going out there just competing and just playing the game like I usually do, just having fun. And the game can sometimes speed up on you. Maybe that happened to some of the guys, but I know that they can come back and recollect themselves and compete.

Q. Just looking back at Volchko, what did you see on film of him, what did you see maybe different from him tonight that allowed him to show a lot more command?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: I don't know his full season. We didn't play him -- how many starts has he gone through without walking three or four guys? He was dominating the strike one. It wasn't so much -- we weren't taking. His fastball is a very unique fastball. You know, 94, 97, with extreme cut. It's pretty much a slider. And then he throws the sweeper and usually you get him the two strikes and he'll yank some pitches.

He had his A game tonight. We didn't play Georgia. I don't know if he's had a better game than that. I don't know. The first batter of the game, somebody told me that we had a chance to get ball four there. Whether that changes things, I don't know.

But I think once he got through that first at-bat and punched out the side, he got a lot of confidence. He was outstanding. That's what happens when you're playing at this level against these great teams.

Q. Was Carson able to give you an explanation about what happened in the first inning? Did you talk to him at all about it?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: The first one just got away from him. It's an imperfect game played by imperfect people. He's an All-American player, going to be high draft pick. Heart and soul of our club. The first one, if you play 100 games, something like that can happen.

The second one, he didn't get to block it, and he was in a rush to try and throw it, and he slung it a little bit. And he had one later in the game where he played a lot better catch on it.

Carson's a great player. He's an unbelievable human. It's unfortunate that it happened in that game. I expect him to respond in an awesome way on Monday.

Q. We've noticed the last few weeks he's been lobbing them to first base after strikeouts. Is there a yip factor there why is he lobbing instead of firing them?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: He's been lobbing them, he's been lobbing them perfect. But that one he didn't. What did he do the next time? He had one where he came out and played good catch with it. Nobody feels worse than Carson. The guys, you know, we think the world of him. But yeah, it's a tough play to watch, for sure.

Q. Do you have an update on Ethan yet?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: I don't. I haven't talked to the trainer yet. He's been dealing with a shoulder issue all year, which hasn't affected his hitting at all. So maybe that particular swing it did. We have a day off tomorrow. So hopefully they can help him get back on the field.

Q. Obviously Volchko was awesome. Is there something that maybe you would like to see your lineup do to combat that a little bit?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: We knew exactly -- you knew where the ball's headed. Unless he catches one wrong, every ball goes his glove side. So it was the right-handers had to stay on the ball to right field. And the guys who had decent at-bats against him, I mean, Mendoza hit one that way. Robbins hit one to right field that way.

And then the lefties, you've got to get the bat out like Adrian did because the ball's -- everything's coming in to you. But it's way easier said than done to go stay in that batter's box when it's 90, it's coming in to you at 95, and that's in there where it's coming in to you sweeping.

And then he's got the overhand curveball that he only uses that against the lefties, mainly, and he obviously used that against Pack. So I mean they had a great plan and he perfectly executed it. That happens in this game. Unfortunately, it happened to us in the College World Series.

Q. At times were you wondering what else could go wrong? Casey has a rare error, and all the hit-by-pitches?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: I felt when we got it to 4-1 -- that's why I left Dylan in. I was going to take Dylan out in that inning but then we scored. Because you're thinking save him and if we're going to stay in this tournament for a while, we're going to need to bring him back.

But we scored the run. And Max and I were talking, I felt like that would have sent a really bad message to our team if we were kind of back in it. And, so, then it was matchup driven the rest of that, trying to get out of that inning. It was just match-up-driven trying to get a ball in the middle of the field.

Q. Just how dire would you say your situation is if you think it is?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: It's not the SEC Tournament, thank goodness. It is the College World Series tournament. So we get a day off. Ruger's pitched. I know we'll face, I guess Zane Adams probably for Alabama and he's a good pitcher. He beat us earlier in the year. He's from Texas.

I mean, we're not going to die, I don't think. So it's unfortunate to lose the game, but dire is a little deep there. It's a baseball game. We'll be all right.