By Steve Habel/Senior Editor
The aftereffects of the strain of travel to and back from Nebraska last weekend and the losing all three of the games to the Cornhuskers was evident and ultimately doomed 18th-ranked Texas Baseball in a 6-4, 10-inning loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Tuesday night before a crowd of 5,293 at Disch-Falk Field.
Texas found itself in a 3-0 hole after six and a half innings but rallied to tie the game in the ninth when Joe Baker’s RBI double scored Bret Boswell from second base.
But A&M-Corpus Christi jumped [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)]on Texas reliever Connor Mayes, the eighth Longhorns pitcher, for three runs in the 10th on a bases-loaded, fielder’s choice grounder by Justin Perales and a two-out, two-run bloop single to right field by Cody Clarke.
Texas (17-12) got one of the runs back in the bottom of the 10th when Connor Shaw brought home Ben Johnson from third base and was thwarted in any further comeback by a sterling running catch in deep left center field by A&M-Corpus Christi left fielder Jordan Lee.
The Longhorns have now lost four games in a row, a situation Texas coach Augie Garrido said was a result of getting away from the strategy of playing to win each inning rather than trying to make a comeback at the end of the game.
“We’re flawed in our execution and we are not competing in every at-bat and in every inning like we are supposed to be doing,” Garrido explained. “There’s no doubt that we were feeling the effects of the road trip to Nebraska because we didn’t even start playing hard until the seventh inning tonight.”
The Islanders (12-12) drew first blood when Lukas Hermanson’s two-out single in the third of Texas starter Kyle Johnston allowed Brandon Guilford to score from second base.
A&M-Corpus Christi added to its lead in the fifth as two Longhorns’ throwing errors pushed runners to second and third with one out. The Islanders then tried safety squeeze plays with the next two batters.
The first, with Tyler Ware hitting, scored Brett Burner. The second, with Hermanson laying down a bunt that was fielded by Texas first baseman Tres Barrera, was unsuccessful when Guilford was called out at the plate even though replays showed he beat the tag.
Lee pushed the Islanders’ advantage to 3-0 in the sixth with a leadoff home run over the right field fence. It was the first round-tripper of the year for Lee, who normally bats at the top of A&M-Corpus Christi’s lineup but was moved to the clean-up position for Tuesday’s game.
Lee’s home run was just the second by a visiting player this year at Disch-Falk Field and snapped a streak of 22 2/3 innings without an earned run by the Texas relief corps.
Texas cut its deficit to 3-2 in the seventh on two singles – the second of which, by Bret Boswell, scored Michael Cantu – two walks and two wild pitches. They got a runner to second in the eighth with two outs, but Cantu struck out looking to end the threat.
“I really wanted to push the fast-forward button when we got to the seventh inning because I knew Texas was going to eventually get it together,” A&M-Corpus Christi coach Scott Malone said. “We had some crucial at-bats in the 10th inning.”
Texas heads back to the road and to Big 12 Conference play against Oklahoma State for a three-game series beginning Friday night in Stillwater.
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