No. 1 Texas sweeps Lone Star Showdown series over Texas A&M with another 1-run win

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Adrian Rodriguez hit a solo home run in the eighth inning, and Texas turned a double play to end a 6-5 win Sunday and complete a 3-game sweep over rival Texas A&M at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.

The No. 1 Longhorns won every game by one run, doing so with timely hitting and terrific relief pitching. After Dylan Volantis earned saves in the first two games to clinch a series win, it was Max Grubbs’ turn Sunday to slam the door on the Aggies. Grubbs threw four pitches for his fifth save, coaxing Aggies shortstop Kaeden Kent to hit into a double play to end the game. First baseman Kimble Schuessler, who started his college career for Texas A&M, started the twin killing.

Rodriguez’s homer looked like a harmless fly ball off his bat, but it got into a stiff breeze blowing out to left field and kept going. With an exit velocity of 97 mph and a launch angle of 46 degrees, it travelled 345 feet, landing in the left-field bullpen to give the Longhorns the lead.

It was his third hit of the game, the second extra-base hit after his RBI double in the third inning. Typically a switch hitter, he’s playing through a hand injury that forces him to only hit from the left side. All of his hits came off left-handed pitching when he’d usually swing from the right side.

He said he’s seeing the ball better against lefties while hitting from the left side, but it’s still “a work in progress.”

“I tried to treat it like my dad throwing me BP in the backyard,” he said. “I was trying to stay through the ball and being able to time the fastball.”

Rodriguez also made a terrific diving catch in left field, and after starting the year at third base, he’ll play anywhere the team needs him to.

“The coaches knew I could play almost any position on the field,” he said. “It helps when you have the best coaching staff in the country that gives me all the resources to get better. I played some outfield growing up, so it’s not new to me.”

The first two games of the series were defined by terrific starting pitching on both sides. The finale, however, was about bullpens. Texas starter Jason Flores lasted just an inning before Andre Duplantier ate up 5.2 innings in relief. Duplantier faced 23 hitters and got 13 outs via fly balls, throwing 68 pitches with 45 for strikes, and he knew the Longhorns would have to empty the tank to beat the Aggies for a third time.

“We had to leave it all out there for the boys,” he said. “However we were going to do it, we were going to use the whole team.”

With starting pitcher Jared Spencer lost for the season with a shoulder injury, Longhorns head coach Jim Schlossnagle told Duplantier that he would play a huge role in this series.

“To have his experience to bring in the ballgame, what a luxury that is,” Schlossnagle said.

The Aggies jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one inning, and after the Longhorns tied it in the third, Texas A&M tacked on two more in the fourth on a Wyatt Henseler double. The seesaw kept going with the Longhorns taking the lead in the sixth behind a Rylan Galvan 2-run single and Schuessler scoring on a wild pitch, but the Aggies tied it at 5-5 with a Caden Sorrell solo home run in the seventh.

It was the first conference series between the Lone Star Showdown rivals since 2012, and the fans were, of course, fired up. Texas set an attendance record for a 3-game series, packing 23,680 into the Disch over the weekend. On the ESPN broadcast, Aggies pitcher Ryan Prager said the atmosphere was comparable to when the teams met last year in the College Station Regional during the NCAA tournament. Schlossnagle thought the same.

“They were both amazing,” he said. “This is like a Major League Baseball playoff crowd. The fans here know how to cheer.”

Texas (37-5, 19-2 SEC) hosts Prairie View A&M at 6:30 p.m Tuesday before heading to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to take on the No. 5 Razorbacks.

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