2026 MEN'S COLLEGE WORLD SERIES

June 16, 2026

Jim Schlossnagle

Carson Tinney

Luke Harrison

Texas Longhorns

Postgame Press Conference

Georgia - 2, Texas - 0

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Texas head coach Jim Schlossnagle and student-athletes Luke Harrison and Carson Tinney.

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Congratulations to Georgia. They played really well. I thought the starting pitcher for them did a great job. We didn't execute our approach against them very well, but he did a great job. We just couldn't get the big hit.

I thought Luke was obviously outstanding. Sam was outstanding. The ball bounces didn't go our way tonight. But really proud of our team and the season we had, finishing in Omaha. And looking forward to being back.

Q. Carson, on the tag, on that pop fly, did you put that tag where you wanted it to with him sliding into your mitt? Or did you wish you would have put it out on his hand?

CARSON TINNEY: I think that I did what I was trying to do, get the ball and put it on him as quick as I could. I think there are different ways I could have gone about that. But I think I did what I was trying to do.

Q. Luke, I talked to Coach Weiner on Thursday, and he said that this staff was anchored by you, and you're on his Mount Rushmore of favorite pitchers to work with and favorite players to have coached. What does it mean to get that high regard from Coach Weiner and to have worked with him these last few years?

LUKE HARRISON: I mean, Max has been very, very influential in my life. I'm very grateful for everything he's done for me and just believing in me at times when I didn't believe in myself.

As far as the leadership stuff goes, I just try to set a good example for the younger guys, as the older guy in the room and the guy who's been a Longhorn for five years. That's my job is to show them what it's like to be a Longhorn. And I'll never get to wear this uniform again, but I'll be a Longhorn for the rest of my life.

Q. Carson, what was their starter able to do to keep you guys off the base paths?

CARSON TINNEY: I think that he just did a good job of using his pitches to his advantage. I thought we swung at some pitches we shouldn't have. And it made him have a successful night.

Q. Luke, what did it mean for you to get back here under this kind of new regime, new guys, and kind of be the first group to get back here with the new setup?

LUKE HARRISON: Yeah, I mean, I told the guys earlier this year that if we don't go to Omaha, my time as a Longhorn is a failure. And I'm glad that we made it and were able to come and compete here.

And you get here and you get a bunch of good teams playing baseball together, and you just kind of go and let the chips fall where they may. A couple of things didn't go our way, but very proud of this team and how far we've come to get here, and everything it took from shaking the lineup up, to the pitching, which was rock solid all year, it felt like.

Bitter ending, but I'll remember this time with a smile forever.

Q. Luke, was this probably your best game as a Longhorn, did you feel? You were racking up so many strikeouts, what was the key to that tonight?

LUKE HARRISON: I think just the moment. It was big. But I knew that all I had to do was go give it everything I got. And I really felt like I gave every ounce of what I had today. And obviously the results were solid, but weren't able to come out with a win.

But very proud of the way I competed personally today. And that's something that when I look back and realize that I went out with my best game, I can be grateful for that.

Q. Luke, as someone who has seen some ups and downs during your time at Texas, where do you see this program at as you prepare to move on to this next stage of your life?

LUKE HARRISON: I see it as just getting started. Coach Schloss and the whole staff, I have a ton of belief in them. And I'm very proud that I can leave the program and know that it's in a great spot to succeed in the future.

You look at the young players we have on our team and the guys that we're bringing in, there's no doubt that the standard will continue to get raised.

And we talk about wanting to leave the program better than you found it. And I feel like I did that.

Q. Carson, you only spent one year in the burnt orange coming here out of the portal. What has it meant to you to wear those colors?

CARSON TINNEY: It's meant everything to me. Everything I've done and spent over the last year that I've been at Texas has poured into this team. And I can't express how grateful I am to be a Longhorn and to wear these five letters across my chest every single day.

Being able to play with these guys has been an absolute pleasure. And the coaches, their buy-in to me and they changed my life. I never anticipated to come out of Texas with just the head space that I have now.

But I truly believe that the coaching staff here changed my life. I'm so grateful for them and the opportunity that they gave to me to be a Longhorn. And it's a dream come true for myself and my family. And I'm just extremely grateful.

Q. Just your perspective on the play in center field and the subsequent review as well as maybe the ramifications of reviewing what is a catch and what isn't a catch in baseball?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Well, I think all catch/non-catches should be reviewed, whether that's in the infield or outfield. I think that's something we can change. I obviously -- you can't go out and argue. There really wasn't anything to argue. I don't know, what did they say on TV -- they didn't survive the catch or something like that, basically?

When I saw the replay, I could see where it could go both ways pretty much. But that's just the breaks. We had that and you had the little bleeder through the right side. It wasn't our night.

We pitched and played defense well enough to win this game, we just didn't execute well on offense. And Georgia's pitching was outstanding.

Q. How big did you feel like that first inning was when maybe you had Dylan on the ropes a little bit? And just kind of the struggles of your top three hitters?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, I think we had -- Vigue, is that how you say it? Most of his starts he kind of opens for them. If he gets it going, then they'll leave him in there a little bit. They had the bullpen up and rolling in the first inning. And we had a good guy at the plate in Mendoza -- uses the right side of the field really well. He just chased the pitch off the plate.

We talk about two-out hitting. We scored eight runs with two outs yesterday. And if we get a bleeder to fall in there, then maybe it's a different ball game, and certainly they would have gone to the bullpen quicker, I know.

But then we let them get confident and then he started making better pitches, and we kept chasing out of the strike zone. Yeah, in these games with two great teams, it's those little moments that change it.

Q. How is it different, I guess, what does it mean to build on an Omaha showing given the current landscape of college baseball where there's so much turnover, rosters are so different year to year? How do you build on that now, maybe opposed to previously?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, I mean we've got to get home fast. We've got a lot of work to do this week. It's very challenging, as you've heard. I know Coach Van Horn talk about it, I believe. And I experienced it in A&M in 2022, when you're doing Zooms with guys the entire time you're in Omaha; you don't really get to enjoy it as much as you'd like. But you're doing Zooms and you're just trying to get people to hold off making decisions.

However, when you're the team like we were last year, we're trying to get Tinney and Robbins to make a decision before everybody else got home. So maybe we can change the portal window to help that, I don't know. It's a way bigger question.

But you try to build on it. You'd think that the kids that are at home, whether they be draft picks or high school potential draft picks, or whether they be portal players, you'd think they'd want to play for the teams that are in the College World Series, a place like Texas. But it's just a timing issue.

But I know this -- college baseball's an amazing place. You know I've been doing this 36 years, this is the golden age of college baseball. I don't know how you can watch the College World Series and the regionals and the super regional and look at the excitement on the campuses and the investment from, obviously, places like Texas and the SEC schools, but Troy and West Virginia. I mean, how can you not want to be a part of that?

And, you know, disrespect to professional baseball, I've never spent a day in professional baseball, but college athletics and the spirit around college baseball right now, in my experience, I've seen programs cut and no scholarships. And now we have extra scholarship money and people are building stadiums. And places like West Virginia are drawing such grade crowds.

It's such a great sport, and how somebody would not want to be a part of that, it just amazes me. Kudos to all the administrations at all the schools that are investing in college baseball.

Q. What did you say to your guys after the game?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: I haven't got to talk to them yet. It's important for me to kind of gather myself and figure out what I want to say. And I want to make sure they hear what I say.

You go around, you hug the guys, and they're super emotional -- Tinney, specifically, was super emotional. But that's OK. It just means it means a lot to them. It means a lot to me, too.

I haven't had a chance to meet with them but I'll get with them a little bit on the bus before we get to the hotel. And then I'll save some comments for when we get home tomorrow and get a chance to talk to him with a little more level head.

Q. Kind of a technical question about when you challenge the tag-up and then the tag at the plate. Are you able to challenge more than one aspect of a play with a challenge? Or do you have to wait for one outcome and then use a second one for the other part?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, you'll have to ask the umpire, because I went out. I knew I only had one challenge left. But I also knew I wanted to appeal -- in most of the plays, like it's a 4-6-3 double play, I think they're supposed to review all aspects of the play. Then when I went out there during the interview, that's what I was asking, like, is that part of it? And they said no.

How we ended up with a third review, I don't know. But, I mean, I've been working with Billy (phonetic), the home plate umpire, and Mark (phonetic), the third base umpire, for a really long time. And if they would have said no, you can't, I would have said okay.

I mean, that's the price you spend on the challenging the hit-by-pitch in the first inning. But apparently there was -- they, during that, they called back to the people back here, the umpires back. And they said we would be able to do it. That's why I was out there for so long because I'm certainly going to challenge everything they'll let me challenge.

Had it been the eighth inning, then the umpires get to do it. But it wasn't. So thankfully we got the challenge three times.

Q. Going forward, what do you want to see from some of your freshmen -- Anthony, Sam? What kind of steps do you want them to take as you guys look to build off this run?

JIM SCHLOSSNAGLE: Yeah, I think they've got to -- everybody's got some physical things they have to heal from. Anthony's going to maybe try out for Team USA.

But I think the biggest thing they needed to take from the year is just to learn from the leadership that they got from -- especially on the pitching side. I think Sam's more than he's very self aware of that. And he ended up being a big part of the leadership on our pitching staff this year, he's certainly going to take over that next year.

But I think Anthony needs to use his voice, and A-Rod needs to use their voice. And they need to remember this feeling, what it means to be at Texas, what it means to be in Omaha, and the fact that we're still, that now our season's over and we didn't accomplish the ultimate thing, which is winning the national title. So it moves on them.

So next fall, they need to use their voice to help us get back here. And they'll have to help us get some players this summer, too.