The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 3 Baseball closes out State Farm Lone Star Showdown with 11-1 win over Texas A&M
05.22.2005 | Baseball
AUSTIN, Texas -- Freshman Kenn Kasparek (Weimar, Texas) tossed a career-best seven innings while the UT offense plated 11 runs on nine hits to lead No. 3 Texas (43-12, 16-10 Big 12) to an 11-1 victory over Texas A&M (30-25-1, 9-18 Big 12) in front of a crowd of 6,448 at Disch-Falk Field on Sunday, May 22. Of note, while the game was ended after seven innings due to the league's 10-run rule, the win gave the Longhorns a 2-1 series triumph over the Aggies.
UT grabbed the early lead in the bottom of the second when Nick Peoples (Round Rock, Texas) delivered a base hit with runners on first and second with one out that bounced over the center fielder's head to plate one run. Third baseman David Maroul (Benbrook, Texas) then followed with his third home run of the series to stake the Horns to a 4-0 lead. One inning later, a leadoff walk to Drew Stubbs (Atlanta, Texas) combined with a triple off the bat of Seth Johnston (Boerne, Texas) and a wild pitch to bring in a pair of scores to push Texas in front by a score of 6-0.
A&M used a leadoff walk followed by a ground-rule double from Austin Boggs and a groundout to scratch across a run in the top of the fourth, but Texas capitalized on four errors in the bottom of the frame with three base hits to plate three runs and break on top 9-1. Kasparek, meanwhile, faced the minimum over the next three frames to keep the Aggies' offense in check through seven. In the bottom of the seventh, Texas again put its offense to work by loading the bases on a single, a walk and a hit batter. Maroul then drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 10-1 before a wild pitch brought in a second score to establish a 10-run lead and end the finale by a score of 11-1 in favor the Longhorns. While Kasparek improved to 5-0 on the year with the victory as he allowed one run on three hits and struck out three during the complete-game effort, A&M starter Clayton Turner incurred the loss.
Headlining the Longhorns' offense on the day was Maroul, who drove in a career-best four for the second time in three games while scoring twice and tallying his eighth home run of the year, Johnston, who went 2-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI, and Peoples, who scored twice during a two-hit outing. On the other side of the ledger, A&M's attack was led by catcher Justin Pouk, who singled and drove in the Aggies' lone run on the afternoon.
The Longhorns now head to the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla., for the 2005 Phillips Big 12 Conference Tournament, which begins on Wednesday, May 25. Notably, the Horns will be the third seed in the tournament field and play against No. 6 seed Oklahoma State at 10 a.m. Central on Wednesday.
