Extra Luck: Texas A&M Scrapes By Texas 4-2 in 11 Innings to Advance to NCAA Regional Final

After another shaky start from their pitcher, the Texas A&M Aggies managed to do enough to advance to the NCAA Tournament Regional Final and remain undefeated over their rivals.

June 1, 2024; College Station, TX, USA; Texas Longhorns pitcher Lebarron Johnson Jr (57) throws against Texas A&M Aggies utility Gavin Grahovac (9) during the second round in the NCAA baseball College Station Regional at Olsen Field College Station. / Dustin Safranek-USA TODAY Sports

The bats of the Texas A&M Aggies fell mostly silent on Saturday night, but made noise when it counted in their 4-2 victory over the Texas Longhorns in the NCAA Regional semifinal game at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Entering their biggest game of the year — as far as sentiment goes — coach Jim Schlossnagle knew what it was going to take to knock off a competitive Texas Longhorns squad, and not mincing words, declared it opposite of what his team had been showing.

Losing the SEC Tournament in two straight games was one reason for the Aggies' end-of-year concerns, but with the neutral site in Hoover, Alabama hanging over their heads, they chalked it up to not being at home. That was set to change when Texas A&M hosted a regional.

At least, that's what it had hoped for.

The Aggies aren't out of the mud yet, but they've managed to punch their ticket to the regional final after scraping by their rivals to remain undefeated in the NCAA Tournament. A win is a win, but that doesn't mean it was pretty.

Texas A&M struck out 15 times and only notched five hits on the night, which makes them almost lucky to have played a game as close as it was. But, such goes a rivalry game.

Right from the start, it seemed like it might be a long day for the Aggies. The biggest gripe of Jim Schlossnagle following his squad's Game 1 victory over Grambling State was the quality of start from Tanner Jones, who was shaky for his third straight appearance.

"I thought (he) was pretty mediocre, to be honest with you," the coach said.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, Jones wasn't set to appear Saturday, but the starting woes still continued. Second-team All-SEC Ryan Prager hit the mound first for Texas A&M but gave up a home run to left-center field as his team fell behind on the first pitch of the game.

Texas A&M went to the top of the second inning — being deemed the away team with the NCAA Tournament's neutral-site rules — looking to respond, but instead recorded three straight outs to give the offense back to Texas.

The game remained 1-0 in favor of the Longhorns all the way through the fourth inning, but a home run from All-SEC Freshman Caden Sorrell gave the Aggies a game-tying run to keep themselves alive. That was, until Texas came back with another home run in the bottom of the sixth inning.

With the second allowed deep shot, Prager was retired in favor of Evan Aschenbeck and the Aggies successfully survived the inning with a chance to tie it up once more. That they did, though it wasn't by their own volition.

In the top of the eighth, two errors on routine throws to first from the Longhorns allowed both Braden Montgomery and Ali Camarillo to reach base safely, the latter of which scored Montgomery to tie the game at two runs a piece. Then, it was again the Longhorns' turn.

Nothing came of Texas' at-bat in the bottom of the eighth, nor the bottom of the ninth, but a similar outcome for the Aggies in the top of the ninth — despite landing two runners on base — meant that extra innings were in order.

That's where the game was decided.

The top and bottom of the 10th inning were uneventful, but the 11th put it away. After the Aggies scored another pair of runs in their half of the 11th, it came time for Texas' batters to do the same. Long story short, they couldn't.

Aschenbeck dealt a ground ball that ended in the hands of Texas A&M's first baseman as the Longhorns' luck ran out. The Aggies secured a 4-2 home victory to advance to the regional final and remain undefeated.

Now, Schlossnagle and company await the winner of the Louisiana-Texas matchup Sunday evening at 7 p.m. CST