April 7, 2009
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - No. 15 Texas A&M saw its five-game home win streak snapped on Tuesday night with a 9-2 loss to Houston before 3,630 fans at Olsen Field.
The Aggies fell to 20-12 with the loss, while the Cougars won their seventh in a row and improved to 14-17.
Houston got on the board with an unearned run in the first. Center fielder Zak Presley hit a chopper to Aggie pitcher Chad Sherman, whose throw to first was wide and allowed Presley to go all the way to third base. He would score moments later on a wild pitch to stake the Cougars to a 1-0 lead.
Cougar catcher Chris Wallace made the Aggies pay for two walks in the third, as he launched his sixth home run of the year to center field. The two-out, three-run shot extended Houston's lead to 4-0.
The Cougars would tack on single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings and two more in the eighth to take a 9-0 lead into the final frame, where A&M scored runs on an error and a pinch-hit RBI single by Dylan Petrich.
Freshman Adam Smith had a pair of hits to lead the Aggies as he extended his season-best hit streak to six games.
Sherman (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing two hits and four runs (three earned) in three innings of work. He walked two and struck out three.
U of H starter Mo Wiley (2-1) scattered three hits and fanned six in 5 1/3 innings of shutout baseball. He walked two Aggies on the night.
Texas A&M (20-12, 7-5) now heads to Manhattan to open up a key Big 12 series against the Kansas State Wildcats (24-8, 5-4). The series will begin one day earlier than usual due to Easter. Game one is scheduled for Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Tointon Stadium on the KSU campus. Fans can listen to the game on WTAW-AM 1620 or worldwide free of charge on radioaggieland.com and aggieathletics.com.