No. 20 Baseball Drops 12-4 Decision To No. 9 Texas A&M
The No. 20 Texas Longhorns fell victim to five errors and five hit batsmen in a 12-4 loss to the No. 9 Texas A&M Aggies in Big 12 Conference baseball action on Saturday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Texas A&M (31-12, 11-6 Big 12) got on the scoreboard first with a pair of runs in the second inning. After Matt Juengel grounded out, Chance Bolcerek singled and advanced to second when Troy Stein was hit by a pitch. Blake Allemand singled to load the bases with one out. Bolcerek scored on a groundout to shortstop by Krey Bratsen. Stein came around to score on an error by third baseman Erich Weiss to give Texas A&M a 2-0 lead.
The Aggies cushioned their lead with three runs in the top of the fourth inning. Leading off the inning, Stein reached base on an error by Weiss and advanced to second on a sac bunt by Allemand. Bratsen's single to left field pushed Stein across for the 3-0 lead. Bratsen was caught stealing second base but Mikey Reynolds singled and stole second base. Scott Arthur bounced a grounder back to the mound but Longhorns' starter Parker French mishandled the ball for one error and was errant on his late throw to first to allow Reynolds to score and put Arthur on second. Another fielding error by Weiss on a grounder by Naquin put Arthur on third and he stole home to give Texas A&M a 5-0 lead.
Texas (24-16, 11-6 Big 12) finally got on the board with a homer over the rightfield fence by Jonathan Walsh to begin the bottom of the fourth, trimming the lead to 5-1.
In the top of the fifth inning, Texas A&M scored another run to keep a five-run lead. Brandon Wood was hit by a pitch and moved to third after Stein doubled to the left field line. Wood scored the sixth run after Allemand grounded out toward short.
The Longhorns mounted a rally in the bottom of the fifth. A single by Jordan Etier and double by Payton put a pair of runners in scoring position. Marlow grounded out to allow Etier to score and Payton to advance to third. With two outs, Weiss hit a single to center field bringing Payton home and narrowing the gap to a 6-3.
Texas A&M increased the lead to 8-3 with a two-run single by Allemand. In the ninth they tacked on four more runs with a two-run single by Arthur and two-run home run by Naquin to give the Aggies a 12-3 lead.
French (5-2) was saddled with the loss for Texas, yielding five runs, one earned, on four hits in 3.2 innings.
Ross Stripling (7-2) earned the win for Texas A&M, allowing three runs on nine hits while striking out four over 8.0 innings.
For the Longhorns, Etier was 3-for-4 with two runs, two singles and one home run. Walsh was 2-for-4 with one single and one home run.
Arthur was 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBIs for the Aggies. Stein went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two runs. Allemand went 2-for-4 with three RBI.
With today's victory, the Aggies baseball team earned a point for the Lone Star State Farm Showdown cutting the Longhorns lead to 9-5.
The Longhorns will look to get back on the winning track against the Aggies on Sunday. First pitch on Longhorn Network is scheduled for 2:07 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
