AUSTIN – Austin Homan stood on third base representing the tying run for Texas A&M in the top of the ninth with Braden Shewmake, who walked to the plate 3-for-3 on the night, due to bat with two outs.
Unfortunately for A&M, Shewmake was unable to produce when the Aggies needed it most, grounding out to short and stranding Homan 90 feet from extending the game as A&M fell short to Texas, 4-3.
Truly though, it was a slew of four early errors from A&M and fortunate plays from Texas down the stretch that aided the Longhorns (13-6) in earning a 4-3 win over the Aggies (14-4) at Disch-Falk Field Tuesday night.
“We didn’t do enough tonight to deserve to win,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “At the end of the day, we grab a lead, we give up a lead-off walk and then we start a snowball fight with the bunts and same the next inning. On the board we have four errors, made five.”
The Aggies cut into the Horns’ lead in the eighth, plating two to make it a one-run contest. The first three batters got on to load the bases before pinch-hitter Cam Blake drew a walk, bringing in Logan Foster. On the next at-bat, Tim Lichty, who also pinch hit, produced a fielder’s choice to third, plating Shewmake and limited the outs to just one at second.
“Cam Blake’s a very good hitter, good approach, Tim Lichty as well,” Childress said of their at-bats. “Haven’t had a lot of opportunities for either one of those guys, but they certainly had some tough at-bats for us. Got a 3-2 count walk, put a ball in play with two strikes to score a run and stay out of a double play.”
With Joel Davis representing the tying run at third with one out, Nick Choruby laid down a bunt down the first base line, but Davis did not get a great jump and was thrown out at the plate by a charging Texas first baseman Kacy Clemens. The out halted the Aggies’ attack and left Texas up one.
“Coach [Pierce] put on a play where I’m looking for a safety squeeze,” Clemens recalled of the play. “Right when the pitcher kicked up, I looked home and [Davis] squared to bunt and I was hauling to get the ball and was lucky I made a play on it and Michael [Cantu] was there to catch a good toss and that was obviously a big out.”
A&M broke the scoreless stalemate in the fourth, as Braden Shewmake strutted home from third after Texas starting pitcher Nick Kennedy balked.
Shewmake reached with a one-out double that ricocheted just fair off the right field fence. Shewmake should have been out on the next play trying to advance on a grounder to short, but Texas third baseman Ryan Reynolds bobbled the tag and dropped the ball as Shewmake slid into the bag making him safe.
“That was a bad read on my part, to be honest,” Shewmake said on the play at third. “I probably shouldn’t have gone, but it ended up working out. I think I got the [ball] with my hand or elbow.”
Just when things were promising for the Aggies, however, the circus came to town.
Clemens laced a single up the middle in the bottom half of the fourth, scoring David Hamilton from second to tie the game. On the next at-bat, Austin Todd laid down a bunt down the third base line, but Jorge Gutierrez threw the ball wide of Davis at first, sending it into right field foul ground, allowing Clemens to score on the error.
The Horns extended their lead four batters later as Michael McCann sent a grounder through the left side of the infield, scoring Todd from second and gave Texas a 3-1 lead headed to the fifth.
Texas added to its lead in the fifth, as Travis Jones reached on a lead-off single and came around to score after stealing second and advancing the next 180 feet on a pair of A&M errors.
“I just think we lost focus there for an inning. It wasn’t one person, it was everybody,” Shewmake said of A&M’s disastrous defensive fourth and fifth innings. “Everybody kind of lost focus there for a minute, you can’t blame that on one person. We’ve got to do a better job taking care of the ball.”
Although the mid-week loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Aggies, Shewmake added that A&M should be ready to reload and learn from its mistakes when Kentucky comes to town this weekend to open SEC play.
“I think everybody is going to come out ready to roll on Friday in our conference opener,” Shewmake concluded. “I think we’ll take care of business.”