The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Texas A&M
No. 4 Baseball takes game one of Lone Star State Farm Showdown, 4-3, in 11 innings
04.16.2010 | Baseball
April 16, 2010
Box Score | Big 12 Standings | Quotes
AUSTIN, Texas -- Eleventh-inning heroics propelled the No. 4 Texas Longhorns to a 4-3 win over the Texas A&M Aggies in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Friday night at a soggy UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Texas designated hitter Russell Moldenhauer, started off the 11th inning with a single to right field. Pinch runner, Sam Stafford, advanced to second when Kyle Lusson faked a sacrifice bunt and shot a ground ball through right side of a charging infield, followed by a Kevin Lusson walk to load the bases. With two outs in the frame, Jonathan Walsh shot a grounder that deflected off of the Aggies' third baseman allowing Moldenhauer to score the winning run.
Apart from the late game offensive production, the pitching was dominant. Both starting pitchers combined for 19 strikeouts over 7.0 innings apiece. Texas A&M pitcher, Barret Loux allowed three runs on five hits and three walks with eight strikeouts, but was overshadowed by Texas' Taylor Jungmann who worked 7.0 scoreless innings giving up only two hits and two walks while striking out 11.
It marked the 10th consecutive win for the Longhorns and they improved to 8-3 on the year in one-run games.
Texas (28-7, 11-2 Big 12) drew first blood in the first when Tant Shepherd launched a solo home run over the left centerfield wall to give the Longhorns an early 1-0 advantage.
With Jungmann cruising, the Longhorns tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth when Moldenhauer singled to right and scored when Kevin Lusson launched a moon shot down the righfield line to stake the Horns to a 3-0 lead.
Texas A&M (20-12-1, 6-6-1 Big 12) jumped on the board in the eighth when Adam Smith led off with a double to the wall left centerfield off of reliever Chance Ruffin and came around to score on an Andrew Collazo single the middle to cut the Texas lead to 3-1.
The Aggies evened up the score in the ninth. Joe Patterson reached first on an error, then pinch runner Tyler Naquin advanced to third on a Matt Juengel double to left. Both came around to score when Smith doubled off the right field wall.
Stayton Thomas (3-0) earned the win working 1.2 scoreless innings allowing one hit and striking out one. Texas A&M's Shane Minks (1-1) was saddled with the loss allowing one unearned run on two hits and one walk.
Kevin Lusson led the offensive attack for the Longhorns going 1-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI. Shepherd went 3-for-5 with a solo home run. Smith paced the Aggies, going 2-for-5 with one run, two doubles and two RBI.
The Longhorns and Aggies continue the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Saturday at 5:35 pm in College Station.
Head Coach Augie Garrido
On tonight's game: I don't have expectations. It was a really interesting game. All the kinds of things that we have counted on all year long weren't the things that you could count on. That's why I don't have expectations. You look at [Chance] Ruffin and you realize he gave up three runs. [A&M] had a lot of survival instinct in those rallies. There were some well hit balls, some great at-bats and he had to really pitch like a champion to minimize the damage. We got into different situations on the offensive side. We were up against the wall due to the uncharacteristic error at short and a lot of it is that it plays faster when it's wet. The ball was hit very hard, and it snuck through Loy, which doesn't happen. All the things you can expect to happen, didn't happen. The unexpected is what won the game. [Kevin] Lusson's battle to hit the two run home run was the best individual battle at the plate by any player this year. Hopefully, he set a watermark for everyone to follow.
Third baseman Kevin Lusson
On playing Texas A&M: It was a good battle between two teams. We knew that coming in. A&M always plays Texas hard at any sport. They came back, they fought well in that last ninth inning, tied it up. But, we didn't give in and our pitchers did a great job to keep them scoreless and we finally found a way late in the game to finish.
Pitcher Taylor Jungmann
On his pitching performance tonight: It was wet. I went out there and threw strikes, and hit spots, not trying to throw too hard, just doing what I could to get a win.
On not getting the win: Everybody has a bad day. Chance didn't have his day today. We have guys in the bullpen that can pick him up. You saw that today where Hoby [Milner] and Stayton [Thomas] came in and did their job. Even if it's not your day, we've got guys that can back you up.
BIG 12 STANDINGS (thru 4/16)
Big 12 Overall
Texas 11-2-0 .846 28-7
Kansas State 7-3-0 .700 24-8
Texas A&M 6-6-1 .500 20-12-1
Texas Tech 6-6-0 .500 17-18
Oklahoma 5-5-0 .500 25-7
Baylor 5-6-0 .455 21-12
Missouri 4-6-0 .400 19-14
Nebraska 5-8-0 .385 18-16
Kansas 3-6-1 .350 20-14-1
Oklahoma State 3-7-0 .300 19-13
