San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Clemens’ three-run homer blasts Aggies
AUSTIN – Kody Clemens rounded third base and veered toward home plate, soaking in every step after launching a three-run home run over the right field wall, directly onto the scorching asphalt of adjacent Comal Street.
Then something delicious happened, something that added kindling to a fire that wants only to rage fiercer: The Texas second baseman turned to his right and triumphantly gazed into the Texas A&M dugout.
The moment accounted for only a few of those final 90 feet home, but its greater significance was felt by every Longhorn and Aggie watching Saturday’s NCAA tournament regional game between in-state nemeses. About 20 seconds later, Clemens emerged from the dugout for an early first-inning curtain call, flashing the horns up sign to the delight of every burnt-orange onlooker at Disch-Falk Field.
If the Aggies took offense to Clemens’ stare, they didn’t do much to show it on the diamond. Texas pummeled its longstanding rival, 8-3, to advance to Sunday night’s championship game.
Texas A&M will face Indiana at 2 p.m., with the winner advancing to face the Longhorns at 8 p.m.
Following Clemens’ blast and glare, Texas A&M coach Rob Childress exited his own dugout to consult with starter Mitchell Kilkenny, and the mound meeting seemed to settle the Aggies. For a couple innings.
Kilkenny cruised through the next two frames, and the Aggies eventually stole back a run after UT shortstop David Hamilton muffed a would-be inning-ending double play ball in the third, setting up Michael Helman’s run-scoring bunt single.
But Kilkenny couldn’t stay out of his own way for long. He served up a solo home run to D.J. Petrinsky in the fourth, and later walked in a run by hitting Zach Zubia with the bases loaded.
The Aggies threatened in the bottom half of the fourth, but Allonte Wingate grounded into an inning-ending 4-6-3 double play to facilitate starter Nolan Kingham’s escape from trouble.
And given his recent bout with a viral infection on top of 100-plus degree field temperatures, Kingham acquitted himself about as well as coach David Pierce could realistically have hoped for. There were moments of sluggishness, and he toiled through the later innings, clearly hindered by illness and grueling conditions, but he managed to overcome whatever adversity cropped up
The junior right-hander lasted 72⁄ innings, allowed
3 nine hits, struck out eight, walked one, and surrendered two earned runs. Josh Sawyer and Andy McGuire came on to record the final four outs.
Every batter in UT’s lineup recorded at least one hit save for Masen Hibbeler, and five collected at least a pair. It took five Texas A&M pitchers 209 combined pitches to get through the rout. Kingham, Sawyer, and McGuire combined to throw 113 .
By the time Clemens clubbed his second round-tripper of the game, a solo shot to lead off the sixth inning, the charged atmosphere from earlier had grown a bit muted. But when he again glanced toward. the opposing clubhouse on his way around third, the majority Longhorns crowd ate it up.
“What Kody is doing right now is pretty remarkable,” Pierce said. “But I think the thing that’s most impressive is he’s just having quality at-bats with a great disciplined approach, and he’s getting very good results.”
The Aggies added another run on Braden Shewmake’s sixth-inning RBI single, but that brief hint of resistance wasn’t to be sustained. With the way Texas A&M was playing, UT’s 8-2 lead might as well have been 80-2, and after six innings the maroon population starting dwindling substantially.
By the time McGuire recorded the game’s final out, nearly every fan remaining was loyal to Texas. But any Aggies lingering in the area would undoubtedly have heard the chants emanating from inside the formerly packed stadium, try as they might to out the ruckus.
“S-E-C, S-E-C, S-E-C!”