Game #42: No. 1 Texas 3, Texas A&M 2
Records: Texas A&M (24-18, 8-12), Texas (36-5, 18-2)
WP: Luke Harrison (4-0)
LP: Justin Lamkin (3-5)
Save: Dylan Volantis (11)
Box Score
AUSTIN — There are instigators, and there are retaliators.
Through two games at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, Gavin Kash — and the Aggies as a whole — have fallen into the second category.
As sports fans can attest, it's almost always the second guy who is punished.
For a war of words with the Texas dugout, Kash was ejected in the seventh inning of Texas A&M's 3-2 loss on Saturday afternoon.
"Ridiculous. That's what it was," Aggie skipper Michael Earley said. "It wasn't instigated by Kash at all. It was instigated by their centerfielder. Our coach heard it. Somehow, he just, out of nowhere, flies out to left field and starts talking to the dugout. I've never seen that before in my life."
With the defeat, A&M failed to retaliate for Friday's loss and has now dropped its first series since March.
With the ejection, Kash is suspended for Sunday's series finale, which begins at 3 p.m. CT.
Of course, the Aggie isn't the one who started the game's most emotional moment with A&M trailing 2-1.
After flying out to deep left field to end the top of the seventh, Kash was between first and second base when Texas center fielder Will Gasparino had words for him.
The two former teammates also have a history dating back to Kash's time at Texas.
Earley would not share what exactly Gasparino said.
"Because of that ejection, I lose the guy that I'm going to start at first base tomorrow, so that's a really tough thing in these games where the margins are so small," Earley said. "It's real unfortunate for him. I'll just leave it at that."
Once cooler heads prevailed, Texas tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh on Ethan Mendoza's RBI double, but — much like Kash — A&M attempted to respond.
This time, a continued lack of timely hitting held the Aggies back.
Like last night, they got the tying run aboard in both the eighth and the ninth.
However, they finished 0-for-8 with men in scoring position and 1-for-10 with runners on. For the weekend, A&M is 0-for-15 with RISP, while Texas is marginally better at 1-for-14.
"We're getting on base in the last two innings when it mattered," Earley said. "They've got really good pitchers, and we put pressure on them, but we just didn't come up with the big hit."
Terrence Kiel II and Jace LaViolette reached to begin the eighth. Right-handed fireballer Thomas Burns shut down that threat.
Kaeden Kent and Blake Binderup walked to open the ninth. After a sacrifice bunt, Dylan Volantis earned his second save in as many days despite surrendering an RBI groundout to Hayden Schott.
"I thought we hit some balls well, just we didn't get anything to drop," Earley said. "In order to get things to drop, you've got to hit more balls well. You lower your odds by not doing that consistently, so we've got to be better at that, but our guys did the same thing. It's a tight battle. We're just not coming out on top."
Failure to capitalize and the as-expected razor-thin margins were not the only symmetrical elements between the first two games of this rivalry weekend.
Like Ryan Prager and Ruger Riojas a night ago, left-handers Justin Lamkin and Luke Harrison dueled, and once again, the Aggie was saddled with a hard-luck loss.
Lamkin allowed just one earned run — a Mendoza homer in the third. That erased an 1-0 early A&M lead after Kiel doubled to open the ballgame and scored on Wyatt Henseler's sacrifice fly.
The second marker against Lamkin came in the sixth as a pair of walks and two costly errors gifted Texas a 2-1 lead as Jalin Flores came home when a Bear Harrison throw skirted away from Henseler.
"You've got to catch the ball at third base," Earley said. "He threw it towards the third base box a little bit, but you've got to catch the ball.
"Again, it's never the ninth inning. It's those plays in between."
Frustratingly, the Longhorns have played slightly cleaner, and as a result of holding the Aggies to just three runs in two games, the Austin nine has clinched the first Lone Star Showdown series since 2012.
Still, A&M's goals remain in focus, and taking Sunday's contest would represent a victory much more important than anything moral.
After all, the Aggies are still fighting for their postseason lives.
"Every loss stings," Earley said. "Every loss is like you're ripping my heart out of my chest, and all of these players, but we've got to come out back tomorrow. We've got to salvage this thing.
"You want to win every series, but we also have other goals and other plans, and we've got to come out, we've got to take care of business tomorrow. We know the situation we're in. I think you can see by the way we play. We're going to come out, give max effort tomorrow, and get it done."
