Texas baseball has big opportunity at UCF to improve RPI, seeding for Big 12 tourney

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas baseball is hoping to ride the momentum of a big series win over Oklahoma State into Orlando for a 3-game set against Central Florida.

Texas (30-19, 15-9 Big 12) is tied for second in the conference with Oklahoma State and West Virginia, and going into the series against the Knights on Friday, a win will help not only their league standings but also their postseason resumè.

D1Baseball.com projects the Longhorns as a No. 2 seed in the Fayetteville Regional, an improvement over earlier projections saying they'd be a No. 3 seed. With an RPI of 51, mainly due to bad midweek losses to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (RPI 205) and UT-Rio Grande Valley (RPI 221), the Longhorns aren't getting the respect from computers as they are from people. Texas returned to the Baseball America rankings at No. 25 this week and has four more conference wins than the Knights, but UCF holds a much higher RPI than Texas at 32.

That simply means any win against UCF, especially on the road, will help Texas improve its rating and presumably its NCAA tournament seeding. There are six games plus the conference tournament left to play before the national tournament, and the Longhorns will need all of those opportunities to impress the selection committee to get the best possible regional matchup.

Texas head coach David Pierce loves this time of year.

"It's a great time in college baseball right now to have the opportunity to compete and still be in the race," he said. "This is a good spot to play, great weather, and the kids are ready to get after it."

Sophomore Jared Thomas enters the series as the Big 12 leader in hits with 72, followed by teammate Jalin Flores with 68, and sophomore Max Belyeu leads the conference with 17 home runs. Flores has 16.

Texas and UCF begin the series at 5 p.m. Friday