Aggies fall to UTSA in midweek clash at Blue Bell Park

Game #33: UTSA 5, Texas A&M 1
Records: Texas A&M (20-13, 5-7), UTSA (25-8, 9-2)
WP: Ulises Quiroga (5-1)
LP: Troy Wansing (2-2)
Box Score

A lethargic midweek loss. 

Despite a recent charge by the Texas A&M bats, the hitting cooled off on Tuesday night as the Aggies fell to UTSA at Blue Bell Park, 5-1. 

“I warned our team of this yesterday, which maybe that was too much for them,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “Probably shouldn't have said a word. I don't know if today’s college player pays attention to the value of every game, and I tried to warn them of it.” 

Although Schlossnagle warned the Aggies, it wouldn’t matter in the end. 

A&M was quickly down 5-0 after three innings and struggled to string hits together to get back in it. Starter Troy Wansing lasted just 1.2 innings, yielding one earned run on five hits. While left-hander Evan Achenbeck has been a staple out of the bullpen for the Aggies, he didn’t have his best stuff on Tuesday, allowing three runs to score on three hits and two walks. 

The Maroon & White went a combined 4-for-30 at the plate, striking out six times while only drawing a pair of walks. 

“We were just trying to play our brand of baseball, and obviously we didn't have that early on,” Trevor Werner said. “Kinda pulled the guys aside and said, ‘This is not like Aggie baseball.’ At that point, they had scored five runs, so we just kinda told ourselves we were going to play to our standard and do all we can do. We cut down the free bases after that point but we came up short.”

The only run by the Aggies came in the bottom of the ninth on Hunter Haas’ RBI groundout. Before the ninth, A&M failed to get a player in scoring position. 

Schlossnagle shuffled the lineup entering the game by moving Werner to the leadoff spot — something the Aggies did 20 times last season — while moving Haas and Austin Bost to third and fifth in the order, respectively. 

“Just trying to mix it up a little bit and see if we can get the guys who weren’t hitting with guys in scoring position up with runners in scoring position more,” Schlossnagle said. “That didn’t turn out the greatest … Probably won’t do that again.”

On a positive note, the Aggies received some quality outings out of the bullpen from right-handed pitching, something they have been searching for all season. In total, Aggie pitching struck out 14 Roadrunners.

Sophomore Josh Stewart went 2.1 innings, allowing no runs on one hit and no walks while fanning three batters. USC transfer Carson Lambert threw 1.1 innings, giving up no runs on one hit and one walk and striking out two hitters. 

Despite not being a perennial powerhouse, UTSA is now 25-8 on the season and continues to make a strong case for an NCAA tournament bid. The Aggies would have liked to claim a high-RPI victory, but they don’t plan to dwell on one game as they resume Southeastern Conference play. 

“They just beat us in every phase,” Schlossnagle said. “Way more concerned about how we respond and play on Thursday. This is over with.”

The Aggies will welcome Missouri on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT for the first of a three-game set.