Texas A&M's skid continues with midweek loss to No. 21 Texas, 5-2

Game #25: No. 21 Texas 5, Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (15-10, 1-5), Texas (19-7, 3-0)
WP: Lebarron Johnson (3-1)
LP: Shane Sdao (0-1)
Save: Zane Morehouse (3)
Box Score

Death by paper cuts early. Death by free bases late.

Texas A&M's skid reached four games on Tuesday night as No. 21 Texas claimed the rivalry game, 5-2, at Blue Bell Park.

It is the Longhorns' first win in College Station since 2011 as the Aggies’ four-game streak over their archrivals ended. 

“If we can find the right group of strike-throwers, then it’s going to boil down to how far the veteran offensive players take us,” A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I still believe in those guys.”

Weak contact and infield singles ruled the evening for the visitors. Of their 15 hits, nine were of the infield variety.

Shane Sdao allowed back-to-back infield knocks in the first before Porter Brown — who spent three seasons playing for Schlossnagle at TCU — cashed in with a two-run double to left-center.

“I’m happy that Porter is having a great season,” Schlossnagle said. “He’s an awesome guy, a model young man. I just don’t like it happening against the Aggies.”

Two innings later, Texas added another on Dylan Campbell's RBI single to left. After four-straight weak base hits to begin the third, Ty Sexton relieved Sdao, who departed after allowing eight hits, most of which were bleeders.

“At the end of the day, usually however many free bases you give up is the number of runs the other team scores,” Sexton said. “I think that was the biggest part of our arms today was filling up the strike zone, letting too many guys get on base.”

Sdao struck out four and walked none.

Sexton delivered a positive outing and kept his club in the contest. At his best, Sexton got out of a bases-loaded jam in the third.

“It’s the same thing if I was going to go across the street and pitch at those little league fields. It’s still baseball,” Sexton said. “The atmosphere, it is Texas, it is a little bit bigger, but at the end of the day, you’re still playing a game. You still have to do a job.”

Sexton allowed just one hit in three scoreless innings, and Evan Aschenbeck also provided two scoreless frames behind him.

Meanwhile, Jace LaViolette provided an early run with a first-inning RBI single, and Jack Moss singled home a proximity marker in the sixth as Hunter Haas scored both runs.

Still, Texas threatened in seemingly every inning. In fact, A&M failed to record a single clean frame as the Longhorns stranded 15 runners.

“I felt really good about our pitching tonight, except, again, the free bases,” Schlossnagle said. “We gave up a lot of hits tonight, but I feel like we filled up the strike zone and did a nice job, with the exception of the eighth inning.”

In the eighth, A&M's inability to throw strikes reappeared.

Trailing 3-2 in the eighth, Eric Kennedy and Peyton Powell reached on seeing-eye singles as Schlossnagle pulled Brad Rudis after two at-bats and Will Johnston after one.

Robert Hogan walked Campbell and plunked Garret Guillemette to gift Texas an insurance run. Brown's RBI groundout off Brandyn Garcia made it 5-2 with the run charged to Rudis.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

In his first career start, Shane Sdao struck out four batters but gave up three runs on eight hits through two innings of work. 

Closer Zane Morehouse and Texas thwarted any potential comeback as A&M threatened in the final two frames but failed to find a timely hit.

LaViolette struck out as the potential tying run to end the eighth, and after getting two men on to begin the final stanza, Ryan Targac, Kaeden Kent and Kasen Wells went down as Morehouse earned the save.

“We put really good swings on the ball tonight, and they just didn’t fall,” A&M right fielder Brett Minnich said. “It happens. That’s the game of baseball. You’ve got to live through those days.”

Texas starter Lebarron Johnson picked up his third win despite allowing one run in three innings. A pre-decided short outing circumvented the five-inning requirement for the victory.

Morehouse was not the only top-tier arm utilized by David Pierce as Friday night starter Lucas Gordon appeared in the seventh.

“I was prepared to use (Nathan) Dettmer,” Schlossnagle said. “That doesn’t surprise me. This game means a lot to them too.”

If any positives are to be gleaned, it's the return of Minnich, who missed the previous 23 games with a broken thumb suffered on Opening Night.

“The original plan was six weeks, so that would put me at this weekend, but a little midweek game against them is always on the fun side,” Minnich said. “On the plus side of that, I was ready to go, so it just so happened to be against this team.”

Minnich finished 1-for-3 with a sixth-inning single and made a diving catch for the first out of the sixth.

Emblematic of the game, that grab was the final ball Texas hit to the outfield.

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

A positive sign for A&M’s struggling offense, Jack Moss continues to heat up after finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI. 

Marred by struggles at the plate, the Aggies are now buried in a four-game losing streak. And much of the struggling is being done by returning contributors in addition to youngsters.

Against Power 5 competition, veteran players Trevor Werner, Ryan Targac and Jordan Thompson are 7-for-70 with three RBIs and 36 strikeouts.

Werner and Targac were a combined 1-for-7 with four strikeouts on Tuesday. Thompson did not play.

However, while many of his fellow veterans are among those struggling, Minnich remains confident the offense will find its stride.

“They know who they are, and like we just talked about, those guys came into the season with a target on their back because they had a good year last year,” Minnich explained. “It doesn’t change. We all know that they’re great hitters. We have all the confidence in the world in them anytime they go up to the plate.

“It’s not a confidence thing. It’s not anything. You just got to not be emotionally tied to the result because they’re not finding the results right now, but they’re putting good swings on it. They’re having great at-bats. You just have to keep going.”

Schlossnagle seemed to imply that the leash on those vets remains long.

“I certainly think of other options, but the other options haven’t proven themselves worthy of getting at-bats either, to be honest with you, at least to this point,” Schlossnagle said. “I’m going to go with the guys that got us to where we were last year.”

A&M’s next opportunity to find themselves comes Friday night as Ole Miss, the defending national champions, ventures to Olsen Field.

Like A&M, the Rebels are currently scuffling, having lost three straight and all six of their conference matchups.

“Being the veteran guy in the locker room, you got to tell those guys that it’s just one game, whether it’s Texas or Texas Southern,” Minnich said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. We lost. You just got to rebound.”