A 2-1 advantage heading into the seventh inning didn’t hold up for the Texas Longhorns as the No. 3 seed in the College Station Regional against the No. 3 national seed Texas A&M Aggies as two errors by shortstop Jalin Flores and a poor effort by left-hander Chase Lummus in the 11th doomed the Longhorns to a 4-2 extra-inning loss on Saturday at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Texas A&M tied the game in the seventh thanks to the Flores miscues and then took the lead in the 11th off Lummus when third baseman Peyton Powell couldn’t field a cued ball skewing back into the field of play with the bases loaded and two outs. When Lummus threw a wild pitch against the subsequent batter, the Aggies took the decisive lead.
Opting for power over command in starting right-hander Lebarron Johnson Jr. over left-hander Ace Whitehead, Texas head coach David Pierce and the postseason environment at Blue Bell coaxed improved command from the hard-throwing Johnson reminiscent of his remarkable performance last year against Miami in the Coral Gables Regional — it cost Johnson some pitch load, but he struck out four without allowing a hit through the first three innings, retiring seven straight batters.
After the strong start from Johnson, first baseman Jared Thomas left off the bottom of the first with an opposite-field home run to give the Longhorns an early lead on the first pitch he saw
Texas A&M didn’t record a hit until super star right fielder Braden Montgomery beat the shift on a 3-2 count with a ground ball to the second base side of the bag with one out in the fourth. A walk by Johnson put some pressure on the Texas pitcher for the first time, but he rose to the moment with runners on first and second and one out, inducing a fly ball to left-center field and then striking out designated hitter Hayden Schott on a splitter in the dirt on a 2-2 count.
Texas A&M was able to break through against Johnson with one out in the fifth when left fielder Caden Sorrell got ahead 3-0 before sending a 3-1 fastball opposite field to tie the game at 1-1. An error by third baseman Peyton Powell failing to deliver an accurate throw to Thomas threatened to send Johson’s outing into a free fall. Catcher Rylan Galvan wasn’t able to throw out the base stealer, putting a runner on second with one out. After inducing a fly out to Thomas at first base, Johnson walked the next batter, an 0-2 wild pitch to Montgomery moved up the runners. Going fastball on 2-2, Johnson froze Montgomery on the inside corner, maintaining the tie with the punchout.
Unfortunately for Texas, left-hander Ryan Prager found his rhythm after Thomas jumped his first pitch, only allowing one other hit through five innings. Changing speeds and getting the most out of a fastball that rarely reached 90 mph, but often had difficult arm-side run, Prager kept the Aggies in the game with a strong performance.
Meanwhile, Pierce sent right-hander Gage Boehm, the team’s closer, into the game to start the sixth, ending Johnson’s outing with a line of five innings pitched with one run allowed on two hits and eight strikeouts with three walks, a superlative effort with the exception of the high pitch count at 103 total before departing, an average of 4.9 pitches per batter.
Boehm allowed a one-out walk and a 3-2, two-out single to put runners at first and third for the Aggies, testing the arm of Longhorns right fielder Max Belyeu, whose throw was off line. On a 2-2 pitch against the home-run hitter Sorrell, Boehm buried a rare, 12-6 curveball that sent the A&M hitter down swinging.
With Prager rolling, the first two batters for Texas in the sixth went down, but designated hitter Kimble Schuessler came through against his former team, hitting a breaking ball down into the left-field bleachers for a sole home run and a 2-1 Longhorns lead.
Efficient in the seventh, Boehm set down the side in order, including the final two outs against the top of the A&M order.
Texas was finally able to chase Prager in the seventh inning when Galvan drew a leadoff walk and center fielder Will Gasparino advanced Galvan to second with a sacrifice bunt. Galvan was stranded at third when Thomas got under a fly ball that died in the wind at Olsen Field short of the warning track in right field for the third out.
Two throwing errors by Flores to put a runner on first and allowed the game-tying run from third with two outs after Boehm looked close to getting out of the inning when the previous batter failed to get into the batter’s box in time on an 0-2 count and was ruled out.
Flores wasn’t able to redeem himself to lead off the next frame, hitting a routine fly to center field as Texas went down meekly in the eighth.
The game remained tied heading into the top of the 11th, when Texas right-hander Andre Duplantier started to lose effectiveness in his second inning, allowing a leadoff single up the middle and a one-out walk to Texas A&M center fielder Jace LaViollette, producing the game-winning plays by the Aggies.
Texas faces a rematch against Louisiana at 2 p.m. Central on with a network designation to be determined.