The Texas Longhorns (36-22) came into the College Station Regional as the No. 3 seed thanks to a disappointing showing in the Big 12 Tournament in Arlington. Going 0-2 did them no favors, and as a result, they were placed in a tough regional.

It didn’t get any easier when they drew the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (40-19) as the No. 2 seed, featuring one of the best offenses in the nation. That didn’t faze them, though, as they came out and handled business in dominant fashion to the tune of a 12-5 blowout win.

Now here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns’ win over the Ragin’ Cajuns.

Grubbs delivered

Coming into Friday’s game against the Ragin’ Cajuns, the Longhorns sorely needed Grubbs to deliver a strong performance and shut down a potent lineup. Well, he did just that as he gave his team a much-needed solid outing. He gave up an early pair of solo home runs but buckled down after that.

Aside from those two mistake pitches, Grubbs only gave up two other runs in his five innings of work. Striking out four, the starter worked himself out of a couple of jams to leave in line for the win. And thanks to the offense’s performance, he got the win to push Texas into the winner’s bracket.

Offense showed out

Of course, it helps your starter when the offense takes them to an early 10-2 lead. That is exactly what the Longhorns did for Grubbs as they came out firing on all cylinders. Trailing 2-0 entering the fourth, they put up three runs to give Texas the lead.

The true show came one inning later in the fifth, however. Keeping the bats red hot, the Longhorns exploded for a whopping seven runs. Four of those came on one swing, with Jalin Flores launching a grand slam (his third of the season) to break the game open. They eventually tacked on two more runs, cruising to the 12-5 victory.

Saving Boehm

While the Longhorns have been inconsistent at times out of the bullpen this season, they have had a stable of reliable arms. Chief among them were Andre Duplantier II and Gage Boehm, with the former seeing action in the win over Louisiana. He gave Texas a solid 2.2 innings of shutout baseball, striking out four and giving up just one hit.

Meanwhile, Boehm was not needed in this win as it was never close after the fifth inning. For Texas, that is almost as big of a win as the win itself. A proven commodity in the later innings, Boehm’s ability to shut down opponents in tight games has been massive for the Longhorns.

Having him fresh if needed against Texas A&M on Saturday evening is a bonus for the Longhorns and something that could be the difference between a win and a loss.

What’s next for Texas?

After another strong showing in a regional opener under David Pierce, the Longhorns are in the winner’s bracket. They will take on the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday night at 8 p.m. CT for a shot at the regional final.

The Texas Supreme Court unanimously rejected a challenge to the state’s abortion laws Friday. The issue at hand was whether Texas’s civil abortion law prohibiting abortion unless a woman is facing a life threatening condition violated the state constitution.

The case, which is known as Zurawski v. Texas, was brought by 22 patients and physicians, represented by The Center for Reproductive Rights. Texas passed its abortion laws in 2021, and currently prohibits an abortion unless it is deemed life saving. The plaintiffs in this case, many whom women who suffered from serious complications during their pregnancy, and Dr. Damla Karsan, challenged the authority of the Human Life Protection Act. Under this act, a physician has the legal right to proceed with the abortion if the woman is suffering from a life threatening physical condition. Death does not have to be imminent, however. It has been argued that the medical exception to the law was unclear.

In the opinion presented by the court, Justice Bland did not grant much clarity,

Under the Human Life Protection Act, a woman with a life-threatening physical condition and her physician have the legal authority to proceed with an abortion to save the woman’s life or major bodily function, in the exercise of reasonable medical judgment and with the woman’s informed consent.

The Supreme Court ruled that Dr. Karson did not demonstrate that the Human Life Protection Act was narrower than the Texas Constitution. Therefore, they vacated the trial court’s order for an injunction on the law.

This case follows a case by Texas Supreme Court in late 2023. In this case, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that a woman who had been suffering from a non-viable pregnancy, was not eligible for the medical exception. After the plaintiff was in and out of the hospital, she ultimately went to another state to receive the abortion.

The opinion issued by the court has been criticized by supporters of abortion rights. Representative Colin Allred, who is also running for Senate, released a press release addressing the opinion:

To force someone to carry out a nonviable pregnancy – at risk to her own life – is outrageous. This decision allows Texas’ extreme abortion ban to continue to endanger women and deny them the health care they need. We are here because of Texas’ extreme abortion ban, which Ted Cruz proudly supports and called ‘perfectly reasonable.’ 

After Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a federal right to an abortion, was overturned in 2022, multiple cases have arose concerning whether medical exceptions to abortion bans apply. While this is one of the first cases decided,  many others are currently pending in several other states, as well as the US Supreme Court.

The central U.S. faces more rounds of thunderstorms on Friday and into the weekend that once again may unleash damaging winds, hail and possible tornadoes across the storm-weary region, much of which is still reeling from weeks of severe weather that spun up deadly twisters and inflicted immense damage.

Over 25 million people from southern Texas and New Mexico to Kansas and Colorado were at risk from the storms, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Among the dangerous conditions were high winds, hail larger than 2 inches in diameter and, in west Texas, an isolated tornado. The cities in the storm’s crosshairs include Midland, Odessa, Austin and Houston.

“There’s still plenty of uncertainty as to where exactly storms will initiate and be most impactful,” the weather service noted.

Early Friday morning, meteorologists issued flood and thunderstorm advisories across central and eastern Texas as some rivers approached their flood stage. The weather service placed parts of the Mississippi Valley under flash flood advisories citing the rolling storms forecast to develop over the area.

Through the afternoon on Friday, a slew of thunderstorms will spread across Texas and into western Louisiana, the weather service said. Some hours later, another round of storms will develop and move into parts of Arkansas and southern Missouri while isolated large hail and severe wind gusts strike the central High Plains.

You’re not imagining it: There have been a lot of tornadoes this spring. Here’s why.

Storms to batter Plains through the weekend; respite on the horizon

Over the weekend, the most powerful storms will progressively move north, eventually bringing severe conditions to the Upper Plains and parts of the Midwest.

On Saturday, storms are forecast to develop across the central and southern High Plains before organizing into clusters and spreading from eastern Texas to South Dakota. The storms pose risks for severe wind, hail and “perhaps a couple of brief tornadoes,” particularly in Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, New Mexico and eastern Texas.

Meanwhile, another complex of storms could break out into the central Gulf Coast, dumping excessive rain over much of Mississippi and Alabama.

On Sunday, the storm clusters are expected to center over the Upper Plains, mostly impacting the Dakotas, Nebraska and much of Minnesota. Next week, bad weather is forecast to stay along the northern U.S. and the Midwest, bringing a much-needed reprieve to Texas and the southern Plains.

National weather radar