GOODBYE! Late outburst seals dominating win as Aggies down Horns

Press conference videos courtesy of Texas A&M Athletics

Game #12: No. 7 Texas A&M 9, No. 24 Texas 2
Records: Texas A&M (12-0), Texas (7-5)
WP: Evan Aschenbeck (1-0)
LP: Tanner Witt (0-1)
Box Score

AUSTIN, Texas — The University of Texas might be considered a first-rate academic institution.

But on Tuesday night, No. 24 Texas (7-5) was no match for two Ivy Leaguers and a kid from Stanford who have all found a new home in Aggieland.

In a tense rivalry matchup, No. 7 Texas A&M improved to 12-0 by downing the Longhorns 9-2 in front of a regular-season record crowd of 8,060 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

"Lot of Aggie fans here. I thought the environment was great," A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "I think we're showing we can win games in a variety of ways."

Seven of A&M's nine runs were driven in by the trio of Jackson Appel, Hayden Schott and Braden Montgomery.

Appel, a Penn transfer and Houston native that grew up an A&M fan, made himself comfortable in his first taste of this historic matchup.

The switch-hitting backstop hit an emphatic two-run blast that served as a knockout blow in a four-run seventh to put A&M up 7-2.

Jamie Maury

With Tuesday’s victory, the Aggies have now won five of the last six in the series, including three straight in Austin.

"That was a fun one. That was only my second at-bat righty this year," Appel said. "I got a pitch I could handle, and you know, good. We'll take it.

"I thought I got that one. I'm glad it went out because if it didn't, I was in trouble. I was not running too hard, so that would've been bad."

Appel finished 3-for-5 and is now hitting an even .400 on the year.

"I've played Jackson for the past couple years. I know how good of a ballplayer he is," Schott said. "It's just the start. He's such an elite human and an elite baseball player, so I'm excited to see what he does."

From a Quaker to a Lion, Schott also made his presence known.

The Columbia transfer's two-run single in the eighth closed out the scoring as Schott put the finishing touches on a 2-for-5 outing.

Scoring six in the final three frames only added onto an advantage A&M held since the opening moments.

"It was awesome," Schott said of the atmosphere. "I think our guys did a good job at thriving on it and just playing like it was any ballgame.

"Obviously, there's a rivalry there, but our guys did what we do, which is play good baseball, play sound baseball, and it was electric. I loved it."

There was plenty for an Aggie to love from the first inning on.

Just three batters into the contest, Montgomery — the All-American slugger from Stanford — lined a two-run homer over the right-field wall.

It was his third homer in four games, and he once again avenged a hit-by-pitch after Tanner Witt plunked Jace LaViolette in the first.

"That kid is special. He can hit the ball, we'll say that," Appel said of Montgomery's tone-setter. "That kid can hit."

Montgomery also enjoyed a multi-hit night, going 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored.

A&M led 2-0 until Texas finally scratched across an unearned run against Chris Cortez in the fourth.

Nevertheless, Schott responded with an RBI single in the fifth to reassume a two-run edge.

In a not-so-clean outing, Cortez battled through three-plus frames while walking four and striking out three.

Still, he did enough.

As did Evan Aschenbeck, who offered 3.2 innings of relief in which he surrendered just one run.

Jamie Maury

Finishing 2-for-3 with two walks, Braden Montgomery has extended his on-base streak to 40 straight games.

"You could tell three days rest off 55 pitches was a lot to ask," Schlossnagle said of his left-handed reliever. "To send him back out in the bottom of the seventh, we were trying to squeeze one more inning out of him."

Instead of Aschenbeck finishing that frame, Josh Stewart — a Texas transfer — punched out Jalin Flores to maintain A&M's five-run cushion.

Despite Longhorns reaching in all nine innings, Texas never got back in the ballgame as A&M pitching held strong.

In fact, there was little for a packed Disch-Falk to get excited about.

By the time Shane Sdao struck out six of the eight batters he faced to end the night, much of the burnt orange-clad crowd had left.

"Great showing from the 12th Man here," Appel said. "There were tons of Aggies here. You could really tell at the end when it started emptying out with the Longhorn fans."

What remained was a rejoicing Maroon faithful.

Rejoicing because the Aggies are 12-0.

Rejoicing even more because A&M just schooled its biggest rival.