After this past weekend, Texas might not want to return to Houston anytime soon.

Granted, the Longhorns don’t have a choice. Texas has a three-game series at Houston that begins on April 12. By then, UT will hope that its 0-for-3 showing over the past few days at the Astros Foundation College Classic will be a distant memory.

During its appearances at Minute Maid Park, Texas lost 6-3 to No. 3 LSU, 11-10 to Texas State and 14-11 to No. 9 Vanderbilt.

What does this all mean? Maybe nothing. Texas has gone 3-12 over the past five seasons at these early-season showcases hosted by the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros. In two of the previous four years, UT still reached the College World Series.

But should Texas be concerned about its future? At those showcases, Texas is just 3-10 against Southeastern Conference teams. Texas is joining the SEC this summer.

Including its appearances at the events in Arlington and Houston, Texas is 13-18 against SEC teams since 2020. The Longhorns have faced Alabama, Arkansas, LSU, Mississippi State, Missouri, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. Texas is also 5-6 in that span against Oklahoma, which is also making the move to the SEC.

A look back: Texas went 1-3

Feb 27: Texas 15, St. John's 4. A grand slam by Jalin Flores — his second grand slam of the season — was the biggest highlight in a midweek rout at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

March 1: LSU 6, Texas 3: Texas ace Lebarron Johnson Jr. was unable to keep pace with LSU's Luke Holman on the mound. The Longhorns struck out 20 times against three Tigers pitchers.

March 2: Texas State 11, Texas 10: In the first of three games between these teams this season, UT fought back from an early 6-0 deficit before blowing a 10-9 lead in the ninth inning.

March 3: Vanderbilt 14, Texas 11. Texas held an 11-3 lead after four innings Sunday, but starting pitcher Cody Howard and a beleaguered bullpen could not close out the Commodores.

Pitching problems for Texas

Ahead of the Astros Foundation College Classic, Texas was coming off a weekend series in which it did not allow a run against Cal Poly. The Longhorns had last posted a shutout of the entirety of a three-game series in 2002.

Flash forward a week and Texas gave up 31 runs and 37 hits against stiffer competition. Since 26 of those runs were earned, Texas posted a 9.00 ERA over the weekend.

During the Cal Poly series, Texas needed only eight pitchers and each of its starters lasted at least five innings. Over UT’s three games at Minute Maid Park, 15 different Longhorns threw. None of the Texas starters got out of the fifth inning, and the team’s bullpen blew late leads in the Texas State and Vanderbilt games.

As of Monday, Texas ranks 31st nationally with its 3.69 ERA.

Notable number: 9

Texas hit nine home runs at Houston’s big league ballpark this weekend. Those nine homers were spread out between Flores, Kimble Schuessler, Max Belyeu, Porter Brown and Jack O’Dowd. Brown homered three times in Houston and both O’Dowd and Schuessler went deep twice.

The nine home runs accounted for 28.1% of UT’s hits over the weekend. Texas scored 54.2% of its runs on those nine swings.

What does this mean?

Despite the bad showing in Houston, Texas is still ranked. The Longhorns, however, are holding on for dear life in the D1Baseball poll.

On Monday, UT fell to the No. 24 spot in the aforementioned poll. Texas (7-4) was ranked 15th last week.

Up next? Ranked rivals

The Longhorns will have a chance to redeem themselves this week, but it won't be easy. Texas will host No. 7 Texas A&M on Tuesday before it opens Big 12 play with a three-game series at No. 17 Texas Tech. A&M currently leads the country with its 1.45 ERA. Texas Tech is scoring a Division I-high 13.8 runs per game.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Longhorns baseball team struggles against LSU, Texas State, Vanderbilt