Game Five

          By: Austin Ulmer

OMAHA, Neb.- The first game on Sunday featured an elimination bracket game between two teams with a bitter rivalry, the Texas Longhorns (47-22) and the Texas A&M Aggies (42-20) in front of a crowd of 24,056 people. 

It was a sweltering 93 degree day at Charles Schwab Field and, much like the weather, the Longhorns started out hot with an RBI single off the bat of designated hitter Austin Todd giving the Longhorns a 1-0 lead on the Aggies.

In the top of the second inning the Longhorns added another run to their lead when Douglas Hodo III drove in Dylan Campbell on a double down the left field line.  Campbell reached on a fielding error from Aggies third baseman Trevor Werner. The Longhorns then led 2-0.

But the Aggies would answer back when right fielder Brett Minnich launched a double to left field driving in the first Aggies run. The next batter, Jordan Thompson, hit an RBI single to even up the game 2-2, scoring Troy Claunch. The Aggie faithful, who before the tie had been nearly silent, began to erupt with chants and cheers, changing the momentum of the game. Trevor Werner, after an 12 pitch at-bat, gave the Aggies a two-run advantage hitting a single to left-center field, causing the Aggie fans to erupt with applause, and forcing the Longhorns to make a pitching change early, ending the day for starter Lucas Gordon (1.2 IP, 4H, 4ER, 1K).

A costly throwing error in the bottom of the third, from third baseman Skyler Messinger, went off the glove of first baseman Ivan Melendez, who proceeded to accidentally kick the ball into the dugout, forcing the runners to advance an extra base and extending the Aggies lead 5-2.

Jack Moss gave the Aggies more of a cushion in the bottom of the fourth inning, when Jack Moss got his first hit of the day driving in Jordan Thompson, making the score 6-2 and forcing the Longhorns to make their second pitching change of the day.  

The Longhorns third pitching change of the day came after the Aggies put two runners on in the bottom of the fifth. Relief pitcher Luke Harrison, on the second hitter he faced, walked in a run for the Aggies, then making the score 7-2. The Longhorns were able to get closer to getting out of the inning on a 6-4-3 double play, another run scored on the play, now an 8-2 game. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Aggies were able to pull off a double steal, scoring Ryan Targac from third base, increasing the Aggies lead, 9-2. 

The Aggies left a slim chance for the Longhorns to come back after Austin Bost drove in his 45th run on the year to make the score 10-2.

“I’m blessed to be able to play with this club”, said Aggies starting pitcher Micah Dallas, who held back the Longhorns offense during his time on the mound. The Longhorns had few answers at the plate for Dallas, who has previous experience in Omaha from his time at Texas Tech. 

“He was throwing his fastball down” Aggies Coach Jim Schlossnagle said about the success Dallas has had on the mound against the tough offensive opponent.  

“We had a good approach,” Longhorns second baseman Murphy Stehly said about the Longhorns offense. “It’s unfortunate we couldn’t come up with it today.” 

The Aggies, who defeated the Longhorns for the fourth game in a row, live on to play another game in the Men’s College World Series and will face the loser of Sunday’s game between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and Oklahoma Sooners game on Tuesday at 1 P.M. 

Game Six

By: Jacob Thimjon

The Oklahoma Sooners used an all-around performance at the plate, on the mound, and on the field in their 6-2 victory against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in Game Six of MCWS.

Sooner first baseman Blake Robertson electrified the Sooner faithful by catching a pop fly-out in foul territory and then fell over the first base dugout railing and into Notre Dame’s dugout to record the game’s first out on the first pitch of the game.

“That was a spectacular play,” Oklahoma starting pitcher Cade Horton said, “this defense behind me is incredible.”

Tanner Tredaway got the Sooners on the board in the bottom of the third inning, delivering a one-out run-batted-in single to center field that scored Sooner first-team All-Big 12 selection Peyton Graham, from third base to give Oklahoma an early 1-0 lead. Third baseman Wallace Clark extended the Sooner lead to 2-0 later in the inning, delivering his own RBI single to center field to score Tredaway.

The Sooners continued their offensive assault adding three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning after Clark reached base safely on a throwing error by Notre Dame first baseman Carter Putz that traveled into foul territory down the right-field line. The error scored Oklahoma catcher Jimmy Crooks who singled to begin the inning, and Tredaway, who reached on a single to left field earlier in the inning. Jackson Nicklaus scored the third run of the bottom of the fifth for the Sooners with an RBI single to left field that scored Clark from third base.

Notre Dame catcher David LaManna hit a two-run home run into the Oklahoma left-field bullpen; his third home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning, cutting the Sooner lead to 5-2.

The Sooners quickly responded their next turn at-bat after Tredaway delivered an RBI single to center field that scored right fielder John Spikerman.

The Notre Dame bullpen allowed six runs in 4 ⅔ innings of work after relieving starting pitcher Austin Temple.

“Nobody could really settle in consistently string sequences together to limit them. Notre Dame head coach Link Jarrett said. “We didn’t finish them off.”

Oklahoma’s Horton pitched six innings while only allowing two runs on five hits and recorded 11 strikeouts.

“He had a good fastball and good secondary stuff, and he was in the zone all day,” LaManna said of Horton’s pitching performance.

After relieving Horton, the Oklahoma bullpen pitched three shutout innings allowing just two hits to help seal Oklahoma’s 6-2 victory.

 With the win, Oklahoma (44-22) is one win away from advancing to the MCWS championship series.

“We want to prove people wrong and make a statement,” Tredaway said.

Notre Dame (41-16) will play the Texas A&M Aggies in an elimination game on Tuesday at 1 p.m to keep their hopes of a national championship alive.

“We just try and go 1-0 each and every day,” Putz said, “as long as we play our game, we can go out there and compete with anyone.”