The Texas Longhorns vs. Texas A&M rivalry is always heated, but it’s especially true in baseball after UT hired away the Aggies’ head coach Jim Schlossnagle.

The move has really changed the fortunes of the two programs. The Aggies, who were in the national title series last year under Schloss, have gone from preseason No. 1 to unranked in just a couple months. Meanwhile, Texas is risen to the top spot in all of college baseball.

Which is why this weekend’s series means more than the normal Horns-Aggies meeting. It’s also the rivals’ first meeting in the SEC. It’s so far so good for the No. 1 Longhorns.

UT wins game 1 of the series 2-1 powered by a home run by right fielder Tommy Farmer IV and an RBI double by Jayden Duplantier.

Duplantier’s double opened the scoring on the night, sending Farmer home in the bottom of the third inning. The game stayed 1-0 until the seventh inning when Farmer hit his bomb into the Aggies bullpen in left field.

The Aggies clawed back a run in the top of the eighth when Ben Royo scored on an error at first. But Longhorns closer Dylan Volantis held firm in the ninth inning to secure the win.

The rivals will meeting again Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. CT at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Follow us on X/Twitter at @LonghornsWire.

This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: No. 1 Texas tops Aggies 2-1 in Game 1 of grudge match series