Moss’ outstanding start allows A&M to salvage Sunday game vs. Auburn

The first two games of the series between No. 7 Texas A&M and No. 8 Auburn were decisively in favor of the visiting Tigers, but Sunday starter Weston Moss helped right the ship en route to a 4-3 Aggie win.

After Friday’s game was rained out, the A&M and Auburn played a doubleheader Saturday that was an immediate disaster for the Aggies. Starter Shane Sdao was bombed for six earned runs before leaving without getting an out in the second inning and reliever Grant Cunningham was touched for five more in three innings of work. Three relievers gave up another seven runs as the Aggies endured their worst beating of the season, an 18-5 rout that was stopped after seven innings.

The only bright spots were Gavin Grahovac and right fielder Jorian Wilson. Grahovac homered twice two raise his season total to 16, while Wilson’s two-run shot pushed his freshman total to 12.

The nightcap was a significantly more competitive game, but the Tigers still escaped with a 5-4 win. Auburn jumped on starter Aiden Sims (8-1) for five runs — three earned — in the first three innings to outlast an late Aggie rally. Caden Sorrell’s 21st home run in the bottom of the third got the Aggies on the board, and a two-run triple by second baseman Travis Chestnut in the fourth got the Aggies within two. Catcher Bear Harrison’s RBI double in the bottom of the eighth made it a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth, but designated hitter Chris Hacopian grounded out with the tying run on third in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.

The loss was even more bitter due to the loss of star freshman third baseman Nico Partida, who left the game with an apparent groin injury in the early innings. He did not play Sunday.

That put the pressure on Moss, who has struggled most of the year, to perform Sunday. The junior was brilliant, throwing six perfect innings before leaving with one out in the top of the seventh. He ended up giving up a run on one hit while striking out six and not issuing a walk.

Given a chance at redemption, Hacopian delivered Sunday, hitting a three-run shot to put the Aggies up 4-0. He drove in all four A&M runs.

The Tigers rallied in the top of the ninth, scoring two runs off of closer Clayton Freshcorn. But Freshcorn induced a double play ground ball with the bases loaded and one out to close the game out for his 11th save.

The Aggies (35-10, 15-8 SEC) will play Prairie View Tuesday before traveling to Oxford to play Ole Miss over the weekend.

Softball comes up short in slugfest with No. 1 Oklahoma

The 12th-ranked Aggie softball team gave the top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners all they could handle over the weekend, but ended up dropping two of three in a tightly contested series.

The Aggies took the Thursday night opener on Friday morning after weather forced a delay. Oklahoma took a 5-3 lead into the bottom of the sixth before the Aggies jumped the Sooners for five runs with two outs in the frame.

Pinch hitter Maddie Sauni started the outburst with an RBI single, followed by second baseman Tallen Edwards’ game-tying single. Designated player Micaela Wark landed the decisive blow with a bases loaded single up the middle that scored two, with another run coming in on an OU error.

Sidne Peters (14-5) got the win with two shutout innings of relief.

The Aggies and Sooners were able to finish game one on Friday, but that was it as severe weather rolled in and forced a doubleheader Saturday. Oklahoma took the first game 4-3, breaking a tie in the top of the sixth for the win. OU jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but home runs from third baseman Kennedy Powell and Edwards tied the game up at 3-3 in the bottom of the fifth. But OU centerfielder Kai Minor’s RBI triple in the top of the sixth gave the Sooners a lead they would keep.

The second game of the doubleheader was also a close affair, with OU winning 6-4. The Sooners jumped starter Sydney Lessentine for four runs in the top of the first and pushed their lead to 6-0 before the Aggies rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh. An RBI single by centerfielder Kelsey Mathis and a three-run shot from left fielder Paislie Allen got A&M close, but the lead proved to be too much.

Women’s tennis advances to super Regional; men knocked out

No. 3 Texas A&M Women’s Tennis team advanced to its seventh straight NCAA Super Regional, dumping the Baylor Bears 4-1 Sunday after knocking out Quinnipiac 4-0 Saturday.

Baylor took the doubles point, but the Aggies swept the singles matches. Daria Smetannikov struck first on court six, taking out Luna Ivkovich 6-0, 6-4. Mia Kupres followed with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court two to give the Aggies the lead.

National No. 1 singles player Lucciana Perez kept her season mark perfect, moving to 25-0 with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court one. Ilinca Amariei finished the clean sweep of the singles with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

The women will play USC in the Super Regional at the Mitchell Tennis Center Friday starting at 2 p.m.

The ladies may have had second round success, but the No. 10 Aggie Men’s Tennis squad was eliminated 4-2 by Stanford. The Aggies won the doubles point and senior Togan Tokac won what would be his final match 6-4, 6-4, but the rest of the matches were straight set victories for the Cardinal.

“These NCAA tournament matches with everything on the line have razor-thin margins,” A&M coach Steve Denton said. “We did a great job of stealing the doubles point and that put us in a good spot, but we weren’t able to close out a couple of first sets once we got to singles. That was ultimately the difference.”