Shades of Gusball.

Shades of Ivan Melendez ball, too, while we’re at it.

However you shade it, both styles worked to perfection.

The potent Texas offense did it all Friday night. The Longhorns played small ball, which legendary UT coach Cliff Gustafson popularized. They played long ball as the celebrated all-time slugger Melendez did with his 32 mammoth home runs two years ago.

The lethal combination led to 10 runs over two middle innings and a monstrous explosion overall for a 12-5 blowout win over Louisiana at Blue Bell Park in the Friday night opener of the College Station Regional.

“There’s no magic dust,” Texas coach David Pierce said. “It’s just been something that the formula has been right. The guys have been really locked in.”

Yeah, I’d say the formula of 15 hits, five of them for extra bases, is a successful blueprint for any team. A lot of teams used the deep fly as a formula on the first day of the NCAA Tournament.

Six teams won with walk-offs Friday.

Texas? It won with a blastoff.

Hard to believe the Longhorns trailed 2-0 after three innings.

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While 4 seeds such as Evansville, Grand Canyon and UConn pulled stunners and others pressed 1 seeds Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina and Clemson to the limits, the Longhorns came in as an undistinguished, unranked 3 seed and ripped Louisiana for big innings and yet another grand slam from Mr. Slam himself, Jalin Flores.

This Texas team has been somewhat reminiscent of the 2022 bunch, at least in the hit department. That club reached the College World Series for the second year in a row and set a school record for home runs with 128. No outfield wall was safe when Melendez & Co. came to bat.

And while this team might not quite have a slugger on the same level as Melendez, it has knocked 109 out of the yard, the second most ever by a Longhorn team. And most have come from the four highly dangerous hitters at the top, a foursome with serious pop and 12 home runs apiece or more.

Heck, Flores hit his third grand slam of the year and has 19 long balls on the year. He’s been as clutch as any Horn.

“There are certain guys that really want to be in that spot and certain guys who shy away and pass on that,” Pierce said. “I think he relishes being in that spot.”

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But why should the postseason be any different from the regular season? These Longhorns can bang with the best of them. They almost batted around in three consecutive innings.

Max Grubbs gave a workmanlike performance on the mound for Texas, but this is still a college baseball team that can play with the best of them. And sometimes lose to the worst of them.

But it’s definitely a ballclub that rides with big lumber and soft gloves.

So now bring on the Aggies for Saturday night fireworks.

These two offenses could feature all kind of outbursts. Hey, both the Aggies and Longhorns had seven-run innings in their Saturday wins. A&M got its outburst in the second inning and coasted to an 8-0 win over Grambling. The Longhorns’ eruption came in the fifth inning and effectively buried the Cajuns, who managed just one run in the last four innings against the very effective Andre Duplantier II and Cade O’Hara.

Let’s get this reemerging SEC rivalry recharged. Why put it off until the fall? November is too far away.

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This is a series certainly slanted in the burnt orange direction. I mean, the Longhorns have won 115 more times than they’ve lost to their maroon brethren, though the Aggies pounded the Horns 9-2 at the Disch in March and eliminated Texas from the College World Series in 2022.

“Yeah, it's a big rivalry,” Flores said. “I think every game that we play is important to us, but it's going to be a fun environment. They're a solid team, but I feel like once we pitch and play defense, we're going to hang with those guys and give the crowd what they want to see.”

What they’ll see is a separation game that will put the winner in prime position for the right to play for a super regional berth Sunday. The loser Saturday night will have to navigate the treacherous road and win three straight games with depleted pitching.

But Grubbs and the two relievers were enough to contain the Cajuns and save Texas closer Gage Boehm for the Aggie contest.

“We’re pretty fresh in the bullpen,” Pierce said.

Say what you want about Texas pitching — and a whole lot has been said — the Longhorns have an overpowering offense up and down their batting order.

More: Former Aggie Kimble Schuessler leads UT baseball team into regional battle with Texas A&M

While the heavy hitters are stacked at the top with Jared Thomas, Flores, Peyton Powell and Big 12 player of the year Max Belyeu, it was the bottom of the order that did the majority of the damage.

The last five in the lineup pounded out nine hits, drove in seven runs and scored nine. They were busy campers.

Kimble Schuessler, the ex-Aggie, produced a terrific outing with two doubles, a bunt single and three runs, and Dee Kennedy, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, drove in three runs, two on a pivotal single through the left side.

Equally important was the production from senior Porter Brown, who has been in a seasonlong slump. His two hits raised his batting average to only .220, but maybe he’s finding some confidence.

Even Powell can be excused for his hitless night in six plate appearances. He was the lone Texas starter without a hit, but he more than atoned by providing all-star defense with some excellent glovework.

Hey, with all this hitting, somebody’s still got to play defense.

Longhorns baseball, softball online

Get results and analysis of the Texas-Texas A&M baseball game and the UT-Florida softball game Saturday night at hookem.com.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Longhorns bludgeon Ragin' Cajuns in baseball regional opener