No. 14 Texas A&M commits five errors in 7-4 loss to UTSA on Tuesday

Game #11: UTSA 7, No. 14 Texas A&M 4
Records: Texas A&M (6-5, 0-0), UTSA (12-3)
WP: Robert Orloski (4-0)
LP: Weston Moss (1-1)
Save: Braylon Owens (1)
Box Score

It's like watching Looney Tunes.

In this episode, Aggie Coyote tried to catch the Road Runner but ultimately lost out.

Unlike the cartoons, there's nothing funny about No. 14 Texas A&M's 7-4 loss to the aptly-named UTSA Roadrunners on Tuesday night at Blue Bell Park.

There was no comedy at the ballpark. Just a comedy of... well, you know.

"We're not performing. We're not making plays. It's clear as day," A&M skipper Michael Earley lamented. "I would deem most of those, from what I remember, as routine plays. We're not doing it. We're not doing it.

"You're never going to win a baseball game like that. I don't know if 'disappointing' is the word."

Perhaps Earley was searching for a term with the strength of Acme Dynamite.

If free passes are walks, hit batters and errors, then five of UTSA's seven runs were gifted first base.

Aggie pitching plunked four batters and walked four more. Aggie defense committed five errors, leading to two unearned runs.

A&M has now committed 20 errors in 11 games. They are fielding .948, which will rank in the bottom 50 nationally out of 299 Division I clubs.

Gavin Kash was guilty of two in left field, including an Aaron Judge-esque drop. Matthew Bergevin was guilty of one, and arguably another, at first base. Wyatt Henseler was charged with an error on a tough play in the second, while second baseman Sawyer Farr booted a routine roller in the sixth.

"We're hammering these guys ground balls. We're trying to put them in situations and make it as game-like as possible and being pretty tough on 'em," Earley said. "It's a mental hurdle you've got to get over, just like any time you're struggling offensively.

"I felt good in the progress and the progression we're making offensively, and now we got to do that defensively, and we're not, and that's my fault."

The defensive miscues helped erase an early — and short-lived — 2-0 lead as UTSA scored one, two and four run(s) in the third, fourth and fifth innings, respectively.

As A&M's top offensive performer, Kaeden Kent went 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs driven in, but even he made a blunder on the basepaths while trying to stretch a sixth-inning RBI single into a double.

In truth, A&M outhit UTSA 8-6 but left nine men on base.

"Offensively, I feel like we're going," Earley said. "I don't hate what we did today. I don't love it, but I don't think that's the reason we lost the game."

Certainly not. The other phases — pitching and defense — and seven unanswered UTSA runs were enough to bury the Aggies.

Will Huffman, TexAgs

Caden McCoy allowed just one hit across three scoreless innings while striking out three and walking two.

True, the deficit could have been worse. The visitors stranded 10 runners, at least one in every inning after Weston Moss' 1-2-3 first.

Left-handed freshman Caden McCoy's three scoreless innings of relief are what kept the Aggies within reach, but the Maroon & White had already beaten themselves.

"We've shown that we can play with anyone but also get beat by anyone, and that's baseball," Earley said. "The games that we're losing, the other team is not making the same amount of mistakes that we're making... The free bases, they just killed us."

A&M has now dropped five of six games. Its non-conference resume is abhorrent, and that's with SEC play looming just five games away.

The line "it's still early" is running out of life. The 55-game marathon will reach its quarterpole this weekend.

"You've got to believe you're a good team because no one drew this up; no team draws this up," Earley said. "We’ve got to do it and play a nine-inning baseball game, like a clean nine-inning game, and we're just making mistakes, myself included, that are not things that are going to help you win."

Currently, it appears A&M's season is hurdling toward a cliff.

But, if Looney Toons taught us anything, gravity doesn't take you to rock bottom right away.

Just don't look down. Or at the box score.

"These guys are good, and we're going to be good," Earley said. "As much as it might be hard to see right now, the belief from me has not gone away, and it never will, and I don't think the belief in that locker room has gone away either."

After all, Wile E. Coyote continues to believe he will one day catch the Road Runner.