Big First Inning Sinks Longhorns as Texas A&M Clinches Lone Star Showdown

All season, when the Texas Longhorns failed to pull out a Friday night win, Luke Harrison had been there to stop the bleeding on Saturday.

The formula felt automatic — drop game 1, then reset behind an ace-level start from Harrison. He delivered that kind of performance three times already this season, against Ole Miss, Auburn and South Carolina.

That same Harrison magic was not present Saturday, when Texas A&M erupted for eight runs against the left-hander. The Aggies built a seven-run lead that never came close to shrinking in an 11-4 win that clinched the Lone Star Showdown series and handed Texas its first SEC series loss of the season.

An hour-and-40-minute rain delay in the perilous bottom of the first only deepened the damage.

Harrison knocked out early as Aggies strike fast

Texas Longhorns pitcher Luke Harrison stares into the box before throwing a pitch. | University of Texas Athletics

After Friday night’s emotional opener, one would figure the Longhorns would be more resilient to the deafening Blue Bell Park environment.

Inning one looked promising enough.

Ethan Mendoza ripped a double off the wall after Texas A&M center fielder Caden Sorrell couldn’t bring it in at the fence. Mendoza later moved to third on a Carson Tinney flyout and scored the game’s first run on a Boston Kellner error.

But subsequent innings proved the Longhorns indeed could not overcome the suffocating atmosphere.

Texas A&M opened the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles off Harrison, then Nico Partida delivered a two-run double with the bases loaded. Then the rain came, and a 98-minute subsequent delay followed.

When play resumed, Bear Harrison added a two-run double, Gavin Grahovac followed with a three-run triple, and Sorrell capped the outburst with an RBI double as Texas A&M stacked hit after hit in an eight-run frame.

Harrison was pulled after recording just two outs, charged with a career-high eight earned runs on 44 pitches. It marked the first time in his Texas tenure he had allowed more than four earned runs in a weekend start.

He entered the day with a 2.72 ERA. He left with it sitting at 4.33.

"When a pitcher's on, he's going to be competitive against any offense," head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "But when he's not, that's going to bloody you pretty quick."

Bullpen settles, but damage already done

Texas pitcher Max Grubbs (38) throws a pitch in game two of the Big 12 baseball. | Chase Seabolt/For the Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Max Grubbs entered in relief but was tagged for another run on a Kellner sacrifice fly.

Brody Walls quieted the storm for a short while, allowing just one hit across 3 2/3 innings. But even he could not keep the Aggies at bay, allowing a two-run home run by Sorrell in the sixth. By then, the game had long since tilted out of reach.

Aiden Robbins did his part to keep Texas alive, launching two solo home runs — his 15th of the season and third multi-homer game in SEC play. Josh Livingston also went deep, but the lineup never produced sustained pressure.

But after the horrid first inning, there was simply nothing the Longhorns could do, even against an Aggie bullpen that has been inconsistent in conference play.

Texas will try to avoid its first sweep at the hands of Texas A&M since 1991 when the series concludes Sunday at 1 p.m. CT at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park in College Station.

"When you pray for the opportunity to be good at responding to adversity, then you get opportunities to do it," Schlossnagle said. "That's what a baseball season brings. And so I asked (the team) to go find out what their response is. And they certainly have the tools to be able to go do that."

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