The 12th man certainly felt the weight of Saturday’s Bryan-College Station regional showdown between Texas A&M and rival Texas at Blue Bell Park. Aggie bats, not so much.
However, Texas mistakes, from walks to errors, helped A&M earn a spot in the regional final with a 4-2, 11-inning victory that ended at exactly midnight.
Texas reliever Chase Lummus issued the second walk of the top of the 11th to catcher Jackson Appel, who loaded the bases for first baseman Ted Burton. After hard balls were scattered all over the field for Burton, with none falling, the senior dribbled the slowest of rollers down the third base line, staying clean. Longhorn third baseman Peyton Powell couldn’t handle the bunt, allowing a run to score. A wild pitch in the next at-bat added all the insurance the Aggies needed.
Before the Aggie crowd finished singing about the fires ravaging Austin, Longhorn first baseman Jared Thomas sent Ryan Prager’s first pitch over the left-center fence on a the opposite field line. In accordance with the NCAA’s regional order of oppositions, each school’s fight song was played before their first appearance on the field.
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It took some time for A&M (46-13) to respond, and Lebanon Johnson worked steadily through the first four innings. However, freshman Caden Sorrell kept his hands on a 96 mile per hour fastball from Johnson on the outside of the plate and hit it into the net in left field to tie the game at 1.
Despite a rough start, Aggie starter Ryan Prager worked efficiently for 6 1/3 innings, throwing 87 pitches in total. However, two of his four hits were solo home runs, the second coming off the bat of A&M transfer Kimble Schuessler in the bottom of the sixth.
While the Aggie bats remained largely inactive beyond Sorrell’s home run, the Aggies received a pair of gifts in the eighth from Longhorn shortstop Jalen Flores. Right fielder Braden Montgomery opened the inning by reaching for a throwing error by Flores, after the shortstop headed to his left to pick up a hard ball. Two outs later, Ali Camarillo reached another throwing error by Flores, forced by another hard grounder up the middle as catcher Jackson Appel stole second. This last error allowed Montgomery to score from third, tying the game at 2.
Appel thought he had won the game in the top of the ninth when he launched an inside ball and stopped to watch it fly into the thick summer air. What would have been a two-run shot almost any other night at Blue Bell Park ended up as a deep fly ball to right when the ball couldn’t cut through the saturated air.
Texas (36-23) had a chance in the bottom of the 10th, with Will Gasparino at third with two outs. The Longhorn center fielder reached for a leadoff walk, but was stranded 90 feet from home on a fly ball to right field.
Prager struck out seven early and walked four. Evan Aschenbeck started the seventh and earned the victory in 4 2/3 scoreless, hitless innings. He walked one and struck out one.
Andre Duplantier II of Texas took the loss in 1 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on one hit.
The Aggies advance to the regional final, which begins at 7 p.m. Sunday, facing the winner of the 2 p.m. elimination game between Texas and Louisiana.
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