COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 22-ranked Louisiana kept its NCAA postseason hopes alive in an elimination game on Sunday with a 10-2 win over Texas, but No. 3-ranked Texas A&M slugged five home runs and pulled away in the Bryan-College Station Regional championship with a 9-4 win at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
Louisiana, which reached the NCAA Regional championship for the first time since 2016 and recorded a historic season which included the Sun Belt Conference regular-season title end and its third consecutive berth in the postseason, saw its season end at 42-20 overall.
No. 22 LOUISIANA 10, TEXAS 2 (Elimination Game)
Louisiana used timely two-out hitting against the Longhorns (36-24), scoring all 10 of its runs and highlighted by a seven-run frame in the eighth inning.
The Ragin’ Cajuns built a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Duncan Pastore’s RBI single to plate Caleb Stelly before Lee Amedee broke a 1-1 contest in the third when his two-out single to center off Texas starter Ace Whitehead (4-2) scored Trey LaFleur.
Freshman Chase Morgan (5-3) pitched 5.1 innings and scattered seven hits while inducing inning-ending double plays in the first and second innings. The left-hander allowed a pair of hits in both of the opening frames but got Max Belyeu to ground into a 4-6-3 double play in the first before Jared Thomas’ 4-6-3 double play in the second ended a Longhorn threat.
LP Langevin kept Texas at bay after relieving Morgan in the sixth and struck out Dee Kennedy to end the inning after the Longhorns put runners on the corners.
Louisiana would break the game open in the eighth after reliever Charlie Hurley got a pair of outs after Kyle DeBarge led off the inning with a single. John Taylor would start the rally with an opposite-field single to score DeBarge before Pastore followed with a single to put a pair of runners on.
Jose Torres then belted his third homer of the season with a blast off the left-center field scoreboard to give Louisiana a 6-1 lead before Conor Higgs drew a walk and LaFleur was hit by a pitch.
Bryan Broussard, Jr., would extend the two-out rally for Louisiana when he sent a Chase Lummus pitch 455 yards to centerfield for his second homer of the season.
Torres and Pastore each had three hits to lead Louisiana with LaFleur and Amedee each going 2-for-5. Langevin struck out six batters to finish with 106 on the season for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Matthew Holzhammer recorded a pair of strikeouts in the ninth.
No. 3 TEXAS A&M 9, LOUISIANA 4 (Regional Championship)
Coming off a 4-2 win in 11 innings over archrival Texas in a Winner’s Bracket game late Saturday, Texas A&M (46-13) used a four-run, fourth inning to break a 1-1 contest and power its way to its second regional championship in the past three years.
Caden Sorrell and Braeden Montgomery each homered in the decisive fourth inning for the top-seeded Aggies before Hayden Schott and Ali Camarillo each led off their respective innings with solo homers.
Montgomery, named the Most Outstanding Player in the tournament, gave Texas A&M a 1-0 lead in the third inning when his two-out single to left scored Travis Chestnut.
Louisiana, designated as the home team in the contest, would tie the game up in the bottom half of the inning after LaFleur smashed a one-out double into the right-field corner before DeBarge delivered a two-out double to left off A&M starter Shane Sdao (5-1).
Sorrell would break the tie in the fourth when his one-out homer to right off Louisiana starter David Christie (2-2) gave the Aggies a 2-1 lead. Montgomery would pad A&M’s lead to 5-1 later in the inning when he homered to right off Carson Fluno for his 27th of the season.
Schott added a solo homer in the fifth for the Aggies before Camarillo hit an opposite field homer to right for a 7-1 lead.
Gavin Grohavac added a two-run homer in the ninth – his 22nd of the season to set a A&M freshman single-season record.
Louisiana fought until the end as Pastore and LaFleur each delivered RBI singles while Taylor scored on a wild pitch.
Christie, making his first start of the season, struck out a pair of batters in 3.1 innings while finishing in the top five in school history with 81 career appearances. LaFleur added three hits for the Ragin’ Cajuns while Stelly was 2-for-4.
Torres, Taylor, DeBarge, Amedee and Stelly were all named to the All-Tournament team.
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