Notebook: Longhorns' Defense Sloppy, Bats Cold in Loss to Rival Aggies

The Longhorns cost themselves against the Aggies in devastating fashion.

Dustin Safranek-USA TODAY Sports

Losses happen in baseball all the time. That's just how sports go, as going undefeated is a tall task that not even history's most dominant teams have accomplished. Even factoring that in, though, some losses hurt a lot more than others.

That is where the Texas Longhorns (36-23) found themselves following a heartbreaker against their rivals, the Texas A&M Aggies (46-13). In what was a low scoring pitcher's duel, they held a tight 2-1 lead heading into the eighth inning.

It would all be downhill from there, unfortunately. A run in the eighth and eventually two runs in the 11th would be too much for the Longhorns to overcome as they dropped a winnable game to the Aggies 4-2 to be forced into the loser's bracket.

Now, here are three key takeaways from the Longhorns' crushing loss to the Aggies.

Rough night for Flores

Let's get this out of the way - this loss is 100 percent not only on Jalin Flores. You would be hard-pressed in baseball to find many losses that were the result of one singular player. That being said, it was not a great night at the ballpark for the Longhorns' shortstop.

First and foremost, the eighth inning. The Longhorns were clinging to a 2-1 lead over the Aggies, and then disaster struck for Flores. His first error came on the leadoff hitter, when he rushed a throw and sailed it wide.

Looking to get out of the inning, he fielded a grounder with two outs. Again, though, his throw sailed wide - allowing the Aggies to plate the tying run. It's hard not to look at this loss and wonder how different it would have looked had he not recorded two costly errors in the inning.

Bats go ice cold

As we said, however, this loss is not just on Flores. Rather, that bats going ice cold are a big reason that the Longhorns could not pull off the upset win. Across 11 innings of play they managed just two four hits, with two of those being solo home runs and the only source of runs for Texas.

Perhaps the biggest encapsulation of their futility at the plate in the loss came in the 10th. Will Gasparino got aboard to lead things off, and Dee Kennedy put down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to move him into scoring position with one out.

That brought Jared Thomas and the top of the lineup to the plate. Thomas grounded out to second, and Flores followed with a fly out to right on the first pitch which stranded Gasparino at third. And, well, the rest is history.

Pitching let down

One thing can be said for sure and that is this loss in no way falls on the pitching staff. Facing arguably their toughest test of the entire season, they delivered exactly what they needed to. Starting with Lebarron Johnson Jr. out of the gate, he put together a stellar outing - going five innings and allowing one run, striking out eight.

He was followed by Gage Boehm, who was his usual dominant self to the tune of four innings of one-run baseball. His run wasn't earned, though, but instead came on the aforementioned Flores error in the eighth.

After Boehm was Andre Duplantier II, who was ultimately charged with a pair of runs in the 11th. One came on a ball that Peyton Powell should have fielded to end the inning. Then a wild pitch from Chase Lummus scored the other. Regardless, though, holding a lineup of this caliber to four runs on five hits should have been enough.

What's next for Texas?

The Longhorns are facing a quick turnaround as they are right back in action tomorrow at 2 p.m. CT, looking to stave off elimination against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns.