AUSTIN, Texas (KBTX) – When Texas A&M and Texas meet on any athletic plane, there is plenty of fight from both sides.
Texas fights on one side. Farmers fight on the other.
In a stroke of irony, it was Texas’ Tommy Farmer IV that delivered the knockout blow for the top-ranked Longhorns in a 2-1 victory over the Aggies in the first meeting of the two programs in Southeastern Conference play Friday.
Farmer brought an anxious Longhorn (35-5, 17-2) crowd to their feet when he launched a hung breaking ball by Weston Moss into the Aggie bullpen in left field, giving the Longhorns a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh. It was his first career home run.
In a conference slate that has seen the Aggies (24-17, 8-11) battle in offensive showdowns, the series opener represented one of the first Friday night fights the Aggies have faced in recent history. And, as is the case in any fight, plenty of bad blood carried over into the most anticipated series of the season.
The eyes of former A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle fell upon his old squad for the first time as he manned his new post, the top step of the Longhorn dugout. Minutes before the first pitch was thrown by Longhorn starter Ruger Riojas, making his first Friday start of the season, Schlossnagle extended a warm hand to his former hitting coach Michael Earley, patting the current Aggie skipper on the forearm as he shook his hand. Earley took the gesture with his traditional stoic demeanor.
For Schlossnagle, who took the Texas job a day after the Aggies lost in the final game of the College World Series, the series-opener was marked with emotion.
“I’m full of emotion,” Schlossnagle said. “I mean, I’ve got to coach the team and I can coach the team in the moment, but when you’re sitting there and, you know, Jace [LaViolette] walks over in his first at-bat and we make eye contact — or Cade [Sorrell]. I care deeply about those guys. I had to make a professional choice. Had nothing to do with the players there or the players here. It had everything to do with things that I’ve talked about.”
Nervous anticipation gave way to the flow of the game as Riojas delivered a first-pitch strike to Aggie leadoff hitter Terrence Kiel II in front of the sixth-largest crowd in Disch-Faulk Field history — 7,942.
Both teams traded early body blows, as neither could break through defenses.
Aggie starter Ryan Prager looked every bit A&M’s prizefighter on the mound, bouncing back from his last six starts, where he gave up four or more runs in each. A steady dose of changeups dropping through the muggy air kept Longhorn hitters off balance through his 5 2/3 innings of work. Out of the 22 batters Prager faced, he dealt 18 a first-pitch strike.
“It was better,” Prager said of his stuff. “I don’t know if I can put a full grade on it, because I think part of the stuff is the competitiveness. I thought that was really good, not letting the one in the third dictate the rest of the outing.”
The Longhorns drew that first blood in the bottom of the third. Farmer led off the inning on a hard-hit line drive that bounced off the top of Aggie third baseman Wyatt Henseler’s glove for a single. Two batters later, Texas’ nine-hole hitter Jayden Duplantier doubled to left center, bringing Farmer home.
It was Prager’s lone blemish in giving up six hits, walking one and striking out three.
“I knew who he is and that’s who he was tonight, running his fastball 88 to 90 up in the zone,” Schlossnagle said of Prager. “His fastball up and his off-speed pitches down. To this point and in the last couple months, it hasn’t been that. It’s been lower velocity and people has been getting good swings on him. But, when it’s an A&M-Texas game, the great ones rise to the occasion.”
The Aggies left a runner on base in each of the first three innings and then two in the fifth, but couldn’t get that deciding blow to level the score.
Earley went to his key bullpen arm, Moss, in the sixth, managing his pitch count so he could be available again later in the series. However, Texas’ knockout blow came with an out in the seventh on the first pitch that Farmer saw from Moss.
After the sophomore was pulled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, having thrown 25 pitches, SEC Network cameras caught Prager talking at length with Moss.
“He maybe didn’t feel the best,” Prager said of Moss. “He’s been going through some stuff and just letting him know that he did a great job, and he has nothing to be disappointed about. Maybe there was a defensive miscue that he can’t control, and we just have to be able to move on, because he’s been elite for us and he’s going to be elite for us, and we’re probably going to need him here either tomorrow or on Sunday.”
Moss will be available for another outing in the next two days, Earley said.
A&M took the game the distance by taking advantage of a Texas defensive miscue by A&M transfer Kimble Schuessler. Henseler launched a towering pop-up to the right of the pitcher’s mound that Schuessler overran and couldn’t nab with a diving catch backward. The error allowed Ben Royo to score from second.
Royo was A&M’s offensive spark through the game, completing a 4-for-4 night at the plate with a double that set up the Aggies’ lone run.
“Obviously, feeling good and seeing the ball well, trying to slow the game down,” Royo said. “It’s a big game and a big series. Just trying to slow it down and being it well.”
Prager (2-3) was handed the loss, while Riojas (8-1) took the win. The senior moved into the Friday position after previous ace Jared Spencer was lost for the season due to injury this week. Longhorn closer Dylan Volantis earned his 10th save of the season, though he threw 40 pitches Friday.
After the game, A&M’s players congregated in right field to meet, while the Longhorns poured onto the field to give handshakes to their victorious teammates. Schlossnagle, who wasn’t able to chat with many of his former players, said he was able to give a knowing hat-tip to Prager as he exited the dugout.
The next round of the battle begins Saturday at 3 p.m. when Aggie left-hander Justin Lamkin (3-4, 4.13 ERA) squares off against lefty Luke Harrison (3-0, 2.98 ERA) for the Longhorns.
“We’re going to be in a dog fight for three days,” head coach Michael Earley said after the game. “We’ve got to regroup after today, come back out, and even this thing tomorrow.”
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