Texas Pitcher Max Grubbs Entering Unfamiliar Territory in Friday Start vs. Louisiana

Max Grubbs Didn't Pitch in Last Year's Postseason Run, Now He is Starting in the First Game of the Longhorns Postseason, Taking on Louisiana in the College Station Regional.

Texas Longhorns pitcher Max Grubbs (38) throws a pitch during the game against Cal Poly at UFCU Disch Falk Field on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2024 in Austin. / Aaron E. Martinez/American-Statesman /

When Texas Baseball played Louisiana Lafayette to kick off last year's regionals, now-sophomore pitcher Max Grubbs had thrown just over four innings between the months of April and May. Grubbs wouldn’t even end up throwing a pitch in the postseason last year, but now he is slated to be the Friday starter for Texas ahead of its first game against the Ragin Cajuns in the College Station regional. 

Grubbs has been operating as the No. 1 starter for the Longhorns ever since the beginning of the Houston series on April 12th, where he gave up a rough five runs in five innings in a blowout loss. Since then, Grubbs has started in five games, posting a respectable 4.30 ERA in nearly 28 innings pitched against some of the best in the Big 12.

“Max (Grubbs) has been our first guy out (for) seven weeks or so,” head coach David Pierce said. “He’s committed to the strike zone, he’s really done great in that role.”

Grubbs barely pitched last season, but has now solidified himself as the best and most consistent starter for Texas. Grubbs works mostly in the bottom of the zone, with priority on keeping the ball in the zone and out of the sweet spot for power hitters to hit fly balls. 

“(I’ve been) really sticking to my strengths. Sinker, slider, really attacking people,” Grubbs said. “Sticking in the strike zone and making them beat me instead of giving up free bases.”

Texas enters regional play as the No. 3 seed in the College Station regional, and is set to face Louisiana on Friday, May 31 at 5 P.M. The winner of that game will face the winner of Texas A&M vs Grambling with a chance to get one step closer to a super regional berth. For a school of the caliber of Texas, it's rare that it enters as a true underdog in postseason baseball, but 2024 will feel a lot different in that aspect.

“The benefit is that the pressure isn’t on us, everyone’s expecting A&M to run through this no problem,” said senior third baseman Peyton Powell. “That takes the pressure off of us. We just get to go out there and play, stick to our plans and rally behind each other.” 

Texas won last year's matchup against Lousiana 4-2 at the Coral Gables regional off the back of stellar performances from former Longhorns Lucas Gordon and Dylan Campbell. But both of those players are no longer on the roster, and Grubbs will have to step up in place of the absent Gordon and a superior Lousiana squad

“There’s no way you can overlook a really good (Louisiana) Lafayette team,” Pierce said. “I think more than anything we try to build the environment and have our team understand what each team brings and the actual environment we’re going to be playing in, and just embrace that.”

Texas has a large task ahead of them, but with a rested Grubbs, Powell and Big 12 Player of the Year Max Belyeu, anything is possible for the new underdogs of postseason college baseball.