A&M suffers walk-off loss to Arkansas in second round of SEC Tournament
Press conference video courtesy of the Southeastern Conference
Game #57: #2 Arkansas 6, #10 Texas A&M 5 (11 innings)
Records: Texas A&M (33-24, 14-16), Arkansas (40-15, 20-10)
WP: Will McEntire (7-3)
LP: Ty Sexton (1-3)
Box Score
Like on the highway, with too much traffic, a wreck is bound to happen.
A four-run pile-up occurred in the seventh inning of Texas A&M's 6-5 extra-inning loss to No. 4 Arkansas at the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Wednesday afternoon.
Sure, Kendall Diggs' 11th-inning, walk-off homer was the decisive blow, but it was Jared Wegner's go-ahead grand slam four innings prior that flipped the ballgame upside down.
"Good ballgame," A&M head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "Stinks to lose it, but we'll be back tomorrow."
In a game started by Nathan Dettmer, Shane Sdao was fantastic in a lengthy relief appearance.
However, the freshman left-handed eventually ran out of gas to begin an ill-fated seventh.
With the Aggies leading 4-1, Sdao walked the leadoff hitter Parker Rowland before Diggs reached via catcher's interference.
After a career-long 4.0-plus innings and 77 pitches, Schlossnagle hooked Sdao, replacing him with Brandyn Garcia, who promptly walked Jace Bohrofen after getting ahead 0-2.
That loaded the bases. That set the stage for Wegner's no-doubter to left.
"I thought two really sound teams played well,” Schlossnagle said. “I thought that Sdao for us and (Zack) Morris for them did a great job.
"Just kind of the middle innings felt like they were being played underwater. Everything was just kind of slow. Then obviously we set the table, and Wegner got the big hit."
Still, Schlossnagle beamed about Sdao's outing.
"He's a strike thrower. He's now found a breaking ball that can keep people off his fastball," Schlossnagle said. "We don't have a lot of pitching depth. I think our depth got better today, and that's kind of the silver lining of the loss."
Before and after that big blow, A&M pitching flirted with trouble throughout the afternoon.
Arkansas seemingly had men on base in every inning.
Only twice did A&M retire the side in order. A&M walked at least one man in seven of the 11 stanzas, tallying 11 free passes (eight walks and three hit-by-pitches).
"We set the table for them a lot in the early innings," Schlossnagle said. "They just played very sound baseball. They're balanced through the order. They can beat you in a lot of ways."
The Razorbacks stranded 11 and hit into three double plays.
Again, A&M struck early, scoring three runs off starter Cody Adcock in the third thanks to Jack Moss' RBI groundout and Trevor Werner's two-run double.
However, after Adcock gave way to Zack Morris in that inning, A&M mustered just two runs against Arkansas relief.
Ryan Targac's solo blast in the fourth made it 4-0. It was the only run Morris surrendered as he stymied the Aggies for five innings.
Austin Bost's game-extending homer to lead off the ninth was the only run Will McEntire allowed in his four innings of work. It tied the contest, 5-5.
"They're good every single year. National contenders every year," Bost said of the Razorbacks. "It's fun to play them because that's what you're here for. You're here to play the best competition. It was a great game. We just didn't come out on top today."
Relief pitching shined on both sides.
Had it not been for Morris' brilliance, Sdao's stint might have made headlines.
Had A&M found a run in extras, Ty Sexton's 10th-inning defense might have drawn Houdini comparisons.
Yet, it was a self-inflicted crash that could have been avoided that pits the Aggies in an elimination game against South Carolina on Thursday morning.
And maybe the Hoover rush-hour traffic will clear up before the 9:30 a.m. CT first pitch.