Aggies shut out No. 5 Longhorns in midweek rivalry matchup, 2-0

Game #27: Texas A&M 2, No. 5 Texas 0
Records: Texas A&M (18-9), Texas (17-8)
WP: Nathan Dettmer (3-1)
LP: Pete Hansen (2-1)
Save: Chandler Jozwiak (3)
Box score

Sawed. Off.

Texas A&M baseball defeated their fiercest rival, shutting out the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns, 2-0, on Tuesday night at Olsen Field. Nathan Dettmer dazzled across seven scoreless innings before Chandler Jozwiak slammed the door and ended the night with an emphatic horns down.

"It felt amazing," Dettmer said of the win. "It's so surreal. Getting the call that I was going to start against UT was crazy."

Dettmer — who grew up a Texas fan — was brilliant in the best start of his young career. The freshman's low-90s fastball and nasty curveball kept Texas hitters off-balance throughout and ultimately prevailed in a pitcher's duel with Pete Hansen.

"I just tuned everything out and just pitched as I've been doing for pretty much my whole life," Dettmer said.

Dettmer allowed just three hits while walking two and striking out six over his seven innings of work. In the process of beating his childhood team, Dettmer lowered his ERA from 1.37 to 1.08.

"It was an unbelievable performance," said Texas A&M head coach Rob Childress. "We're watching him grow up right before our eyes. The moment was not too big for him."

The Aggies got their starter just enough run support. Logan Britt opened the scoring with a solo blast in the fourth, which gave the A&M dugout and Dettmer the momentum.

"That was insane," Dettmer said of Britt's homer. "Guys were yelling, and I couldn't even hear myself think."

Mikey Hoehner led off the seventh with some insurance, crushing a no-doubt home run to left and staking the Aggies to a 2-0 lead.

"We brought the juice tonight," Hoehner said. "Guys were completely locked into the game. We had 38 guys who would do anything to win this game tonight."

With Dettmer at 104 pitches, Childress elected to go with Chandler Jozwiak in the eighth. The lefty from Brenham worked a 1-2-3 frame and had some words for the Texas dugout as he figured he wouldn't be getting the ball for the ninth.

"I thought I was done," Jozwiak said. "I'm not going back out, so I can talk a little mess now. No cuss words involved, just kind of told them it was pretty much over."

However, Jozwiak returned for the final stanza, and after allowing a two-out base hit to Silas Ardoin, "Joz" induced a game-ending ground out to seal the victory and earn his third save of the season.

"I threw a perfect game in high school, and I think this tops it," Jozwiak said. "Getting that final out over UT, a rivalry, and being able to throw the horns down on the field; that was an amazing feeling."

Jamie Maury, TexAgs

Texas A&M is now 4-0 against Texas at Olsen Field since joining the SEC. 

The Aggies have now won three of their last four with the win and carry much-needed momentum into the weekend. This stretch of positive results has come after the Maroon & White called a team meeting following a 2-1 loss to Rice.

"Every year, we've had a team meeting," Jozwiak said. "Every team does it, especially the good ones. We had ours last week, and it's helped us. We've figured out what we need to do to be better."

As things begin to move in the right direction, the Aggies must turn their attention to an all-important SEC series with the Missouri Tigers. After taking two of three from Georgia last weekend, the Aggies are close to digging out of an 0-3 start to conference play.

"One thing we talked about postgame was all about taking this momentum to Missouri and going and killing them with our love for the game," Childress said.

First pitch of Thursday night's series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. CT from Taylor Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.