Horns up streak to 6, snap Aggies’ run at 5
AUSTIN — Texas first baseman Kacy Clemens had waited all offseason for Tuesday night’s game against Texas A&M. So he tried speeding up time Tuesday afternoon by getting a little rest.
“I tried to take a nap,” Clemens said, smiling. “But I couldn’t sleep, I was so fired up to get to the field.”
Clemens carried that fire on to the field and played multiple roles in the Longhorns’ 4-3 victory over the No. 22 Aggies. Afterward, the teams shook hands on the Disch-Falk Field diamond, a much different scene than a year ago at A&M’s Blue Bell Park.
“They didn’t throw the horns down,” Clemens said of why late Tuesday night was so civil.
He then offered up the UT hand sign and added, “The horns go this way.”
In any case, the Horns are headed the right way, with their sixth consecutive victory at the expense of a former conference rival.
“It’s not just another Tuesday night (game),” firstyear UT coach David Pierce
said. “You’re kidding yourself if you think it is.”
SEC member A&M, which hasn’t competed in the Big 12 in nearly five years, played its first game on UT’s home field since April 29, 2012. The Longhorns and Aggies now play one midweek contest a season on alternating fields, after playing 368 games as Southwest Conference and Big 12 rivals.
A&M won last year in College Station on a ninthinning home run, prompting the “horns down” from an Aggie or two that Clemens referenced. Each team entered Tuesday’s game with five-game win streaks, and each begins conference play this weekend at home. The Longhorns (13-6) take on Texas Tech starting Friday, and the Aggies (14-4) face Kentucky the same day.
One of Tuesday’s biggest plays occurred in the top of the eighth with an A&M runner on third, when Nick Choruby dropped down a bunt along the first-base line that a charging Clemens scooped up and threw home. He just nipped Joel Davis, who represented the tying run, after the Aggies already had scored two runs in the inning.
Pierce had signaled for Clemens to charge from first before the pitch.
“He executed it perfectly,” Pierce said.
Cole Bedford then popped out to end the inning. Clemens, son of former UT and major league star Roger Clemens, and Travis Jones led the Longhorns with two hits each.
Meanwhile, UT starter Nick Kennedy, son of former A&M strength coach Dave Kennedy, allowed one run on two hits over five innings, with a career high in pitches (80) and tying a career high for strikeouts (six). The Aggies hurt themselves early with four errors in the first five innings, including two by third baseman Jorge Gutierrez.
“At the end of the night, they fielded the bunts and we didn’t,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “We didn’t do enough to deserve to win.”
The teams have played five times as nonconference opponents since A&M exited the Big 12, including an NCAA tournament regional at Rice three years ago, with UT holding a 3-2 advantage.