Texas starts season as baseball's No. 1 team, but can the Longhorns end it that way, too?

Texas shortstop Trey Faltine won't let himself forget that the Longhorns did not win a national championship last season.

The Longhorns came close. Texas reached the College World Series and even won three games in Omaha. But a 4-3 loss to Mississippi State kept them from reaching the championship series.

Texas, now the No. 1 team in the country, opens its 2022 season this weekend against Rice at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. Some wounds haven't healed over the last eight months, though. Faltine recently revealed that the screen saver on his phone is a photo of Mississippi State celebrating its win while he dejectedly watched.

Texas outfielder Douglas Hodo III wouldn't go as far as to say that he uses his phone to remind him of the CWS loss, but he admitted that the feelings tied to that loss still linger. The same goes for reliever Aaron Nixon.

Not all of the Longhorns have coped in the same way. Texas coach David Pierce has shared a story of finding his wife, Susan, crying in the hotel room after the season-ending loss and telling her that the team should have no regrets. Pitcher Tanner Witt's mentality was to flush the memory of the Mississippi State game by the next day.

"I really moved on pretty quickly," fellow pitcher Pete Hansen said. "There's really nothing you can do about it. I knew I'd get the chance to come back next year and get my revenge on them, so I kind of flipped that page pretty quickly and looked forward to the next year of getting back there and beating them and whoever's in our way."

More:Texas pitcher Pete Hansen discusses preseason hype, personal growth and 1983 comparisons

Like Hansen, many expect the Longhorns to beat whoever's in their way this season; Texas is No. 1 in the preseason polls published by D1Baseball, Baseball America and USA Today.

Despite losing six players to the MLB draft, the roster is still stocked with experience. Six returnees recorded at least 180 at-bats last year. Sixth-year outfielder Austin Todd had his 2021 season cut short by a shoulder injury, but he has played in 157 games. The Longhorns also added infielder Skyler Messinger, who led Kansas with his .324 batting average last season.

Then there's the pitching.

Hansen will be the team's opening-day starter. Over his first two years, he has compiled an 11-1 record and a 1.58 ERA. In January, the Big 12 honored him as the conference's preseason pitcher of the year.

Tristan Stevens will start on Saturday after winning a conference-high 11 games last season. Witt is making the move from the bullpen to the weekend rotation. And after saving nine games as a freshman, Nixon has returned to the back end of the bullpen.

"You look at the team from top to bottom, there's some sixth-years, there's some new guys, there's some guys that have been to Omaha," Hodo said. "I think that blend of different personalities, different work ethics and experience has really combined well. I think it's just the perfect recipe for a good season."

Texas opened the 2021 season with an ill-fated appearance at the College Baseball Showdown tournament. The Longhorns went 0-3 in Arlington and were beaten by three different SEC teams.

Pierce told reporters this week that he prefers opening at home. The Longhorns' first guests in 2022 will be a Rice team that went 23-29-1 last year.

The Owls, though, have a new coach in former major league outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. One of the team's 17 newcomers is Thomas Burbank, the former Texas pitcher who will start on Sunday opposite Witt.

"It's going to be an interesting weekend because we don't know much about them," Pierce said. "There's a lot of unknown of how they're going to play the game, their philosophy, just their approach ... in our scouting, it's been a little difficult pinpointing some things (with Rice). We'll probably focus a little bit more on us."

Texas vs. Rice

6:30 p.m. Friday, 2:30 Saturday, 1 Sunday, UFCU Disch-Falk Field, LHN, 104.9

Probable pitching matchups: Friday — Texas LHP Pete Hansen (9-1, 1.88 ERA in 2021) vs. Rice RHP Cooper Chandler; Saturday —  Texas RHP Tristan Stevens (11-3, 3.31) vs. Rice LHP Brandon Deskins (3-4, 3.88); Sunday — Texas RHP Tanner Witt (5-0, 3.16) vs. Rice LHP Thomas Burbank