Game #49: Missouri 4, Texas A&M 1
Records: Texas A&M (27-22, 10-16), Missouri (15-35, 2-24)
WP: Tony Neubeck (1-4)
LP: Justin Lamkin (3-7)
Save: Brock Lucas (1)
Box Score
A similar refrain of more pain.
For the last 15 innings, Texas A&M's offense has refrained from showing signs of coming to life, and the Aggies have now dropped back-to-back to cellar-dweller Missouri by losing 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.
"I don't want to discredit (Missouri). They did an excellent job," A&M head coach Michael Earley said. "I just didn't think we performed, right? Maybe it was what they were doing. I think it was more of what we were doing, but credit to them for keeping us off balance. Not a good day offensively, clearly."
Since the end of last night's third inning, the Aggies have accumulated just four hits — all of them singles. They mustered just two knocks on Saturday.
Facing a club with a staff ERA north of 9.00, A&M has made Mizzou look more than competent, and in return, Tiger pitching — the relievers in particular — has suffocated the Aggies this weekend.
"Just chasing too many pitches. Period," Earley said. "That was 100 percent the issue. Sometimes a chase gets looked at on strike three, but sometimes it's the chase in 1-0 or 0-1 that completely changes the count.
"We did a lot of that tonight, and that's not conducive to success and playing a complete game of baseball."
Mizzou held A&M hitless until Gavin Kash's leadoff single in the sixth. He was immediately erased on a 6-4-3 double play.
The only other Aggie hit was Wyatt Henseler's two-out single in the same frame, which moved Jace LaViolette into scoring position...making him the only Aggie to advance to second until the ninth.
A&M's lone run scored on a Jackson Lovich error with two outs in the final frame after Mizzou pitching loaded the bases on two walks and a hit-by-pitch.
Earley's lamentations of Friday evening were ignored as frustrations grew even larger on Saturday.
A&M struck out 12 times and worked just five walks against a staff averaging nearly nine free passes per nine innings.
Worse, the Tigers have out-hit the Aggies 23-9 through two games.
Indeed, one team is clearly desperate to win last night and again today. It just happens to be the one that entered the weekend 0-24 in conference play, not the one fighting for its postseason lives.
"There's no quitters in this locker room, and I'm not one," Earley said. "We're going to continue to grind until it's over because it is not over yet."
Missouri struck early, plating a pair in the top of the first. The Tigers added insurance runs off Caden McCoy in the eighth and ninth, the former coming unearned.
After that rocky opening frame, A&M starter Justin Lamkin seemed to settle in before a weather delay of nearly two hours shortened his start.
A reprieve that began at 2:52 p.m. in the bottom of the third and didn't end until 4:43 p.m. sucked any life and energy out of the Blue Bell Park crowd of 6,753.
Across the final six innings, the Aggies never gave those who braved the rain much reason to get excited.
"It's really frustrating for sure," Earley said. "We'll continue to work and get it cleaned up."
A&M's lone standout was right-handed reliever Brad Rudis, who picked up a career-high seven strikeouts across 4.1 scoreless innings on his senior day.
The Madisonville kid kept his club in it, but the offense never broke out of the doldrums.
"It was a really special day for me and my family," an emotional Rudis said. "It's probably the last outing I'll have here as an Aggie, and it was a really special day. Obviously, the game wasn't what we wanted, but tomorrow is a new day."
Any path to the postseason is now darker than the clouds that showered College Station on Saturday afternoon.
Needing to sweep Mizzou to feel good about their chances for an NCAA Tournament berth, the Aggies might fall victim to the opposite.
"We're not going to stop until they tell us we have to stop," Earley said. "We wanted to play well today. We just did not. All those guys care, and they want to play well. We are not quitting on this thing until it's over, and it ain't. It is not. It is not. It is not over until they tell us it is, and we've got plenty of baseball left to play."
Unfathomably, a catastrophe has occurred, and A&M must now salvage Sunday's contest to stave off any further humiliation.
Sunday's 1 p.m. home finale is now more about pride than the postseason.
