No. 11 Texas A&M Falls 6-4 on Rainy Night in Austin

Friday, May 20

Austin, Texas

6:00 PM

Texas A&M

37-18, 18-8

Texas

40-12, 19-7

Texas A&M

Texas

May 21, 2011 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Texas A&M Athletics

May 20, 2011

#4 Texas 6, #11 Texas A&M 4
May 20, 2011 • UFCU Disch Falk Field • Austin, Texas

Boxscore/Play-by-Play

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Texas A&M (37-18)	0	1	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	4	8	2
Texas (40-12)	0	0	1	0	0	3	1	1	X	6	12	0

Pitching	IP	H	R/ER	BB	SO
WP: Hoby Milner (6-3)	2.2	0	0/0	2	2
LP: Joaquin Hinojosa (2-2)	0.2	1	1/1	1	0
Sv: Corey Knebel (16)	0.2	1	1/1	1	0

A&M Batting	AB	H	R	RBI	HR
Adam Smith	3	2	2	1	1
Brandon Wood	4	2	0	2	0

AUSTIN, Texas - Texas left fielder Paul Montalbano followed a long-rain delay with an RBI single in bottom of seventh inning to break a 4-4 tie and lift No. 4 Texas to a 6-4 victory over the No. 11 Texas A&M baseball team Friday night at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

Despite the setback, Texas A&M (37-18, 18-8 Big 12) still has a chance to share the Big 12 title with the Longhorns (40-12, 19-7 Big 12) with a win during Saturday's regular season finale, which is slated for a 6 p.m. first pitch and will be televised live on FSN. Texas A&M will send junior right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling (11-2, 2.09 ERA) to the mound to face Texas lefty Sam Stafford (5-2, 1.79 ERA).

"We had a lot of shoulda, coulda, woulda tonight," Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress said. "Michael (Wacha) gave us a great start and we felt like he could get us through that inning (sixth). Our bullpen didn't pitch up to their ability tonight but you have to give Texas' hitters credit."

Early in the contest it was the Aggies who jumped on top as junior third baseman Adam Smith made the night's first impression on the scoreboard. The Spring, Texas, native connected on his fourth home run of the season, a solo shot off Texas starter Cole Green that bounced on top and over the wall in left field wall.

The Longhorns rallied back by putting pressure on Texas A&M starter Michael Wacha in the bottom of the third inning. During the frame, Texas got a single along with a pair of walks and eventually tied the game at 1-1 by scoring an unearned run on an Aggie throwing error.

Both teams got their offenses on track during the sixth inning when each squad was able to put up a three-spot on the scoreboard.

Rob Childress [mp3]

Adam Smith [mp3]

Texas A&M left fielder Brandon Wood began the scoring with a two-out, two-run single in the visitor's half of the inning before senior shortstop Kenny Jackson added a third Aggie run with a run-scoring single up the middle. The Longhorns countered by using five singles during the bottom half of the frame to chase Wacha and tie the game at 4-4.

Moments after the seventh inning stretch a lightning flash in the area cause umpires to delay the game and shortly thereafter rain began to fall at UFCU Disch Falk Field.

Following a one-hour, 28-minute delay, play resumed as the Aggies sent reliever Joaquin Hinojosa, who had gotten the last out of the bottom of the sixth, back to the mound.

The rain, however, did little to damper the momentum of the Longhorn hitters, as right fielder Mark Payton singled to lead off the frame but was erased after over sliding the bag at second on a throw by Tyler Naquin. Following a walk in the next at bat, Hinojosa was replaced on the mound by sophomore lefty Brandon Parrent.

Back-to-back singles greeted Parrent as the last of the two came off the bat of Montalbano and plated Tant Shepherd to put the Horns up for the first time in the contest.

The run was charged to Hinojosa (2-2) who was tagged with the loss, while Texas reliever Hoby Milner (6-3) worked 2.2 scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Senior Nick Fleece got the Aggies out of the seventh without further damage but allowed an RBI double to Payton in the bottom of the eight as the Horns extended the lead to 6-4.