A&M defeats Texas in 11 innings

The top-seeded Aggies defeated the third-seeded Longhorns 4-2 in the winner’s bracket of the College Station Regional on Saturday night.

The Aggies, the designated visitor on their home field, scored two runs in the top of the 11th on Ted Burton’s infield single down the third base line that UT third baseman Peyton Powell had trouble saving. decide how to play with the bases loaded. . The ball eventually bounced away from Powell after hitting the base and between his legs, and Kaeden Kent scored from third.

A&M then added an insurance run on a wild pitch by Texas reliever Chase Lummus, and A&M reliever Evan Aschenbeck retired the Longhorns in order in the bottom of the 11th.

“There are a lot of happy Aggies around here,” Aschenbeck told ESPN as giddy Aggies linked arms to the Aggie War Hymn on the field and fans who didn’t leave a packed park celebrated in the stands.

The Longhorns (36-23) will face Louisiana (41-19), which eliminated Grambling (26-28) earlier Saturday, at 2 p.m. Sunday in an elimination game. The Aggies (46-13) will wait for the winner of Sunday’s early game for a 7 p.m. drink that could potentially be a title game.

The Aggies will need to win one more game to advance to a super regional, while the much more rested Longhorns and Cajuns will need to win three more games to advance.

Texas starter Lebarron Johnson Jr. allowed just one run in five innings and A&M starter Ryan Prager allowed two runs in 6⅓ innings, but the strong duo was already old news when the contest ended right at midnight.

Grambling returns to Louisiana after losing both of its games in the regional in its third all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament. If the Aggies lose Sunday night’s game against Texas or Louisiana, the final regional title game will be Monday at a time to be determined.