Zane Morehouse tunes out the crowd and closes out Texas A&M in 5-2 UT victory

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — The 7,347 of mostly Aggie faithful at Olson Field tried rattle Zane Morehouse as he attempted to complete a two-inning save versus Texas A&M. He claimed he never heard them as he extinguished A&M rallies in the eighth and ninth.

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Morehouse overcame Blue Bell Park’s signature counting of balls to strand two in the eighth, then worked around putting the first two batters on base in the ninth with a groundout and two strikeouts to seal a 5-2 Longhorn win.

Put ‘em to bed, Nightmare. 😴😈 pic.twitter.com/j3NWZ857hN

— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) March 29, 2023

“Had to make it interesting, coach,” Morehouse said postgame.

“No you don’t,” Texas head coach David Pierce responded.

The strikeout of A&M’s Kasen Wells ended the Horns’ first win over Texas A&M in College Station since 2011 and extended UT’s current winning streak to 15 games.

Even with all the commotion in the crowd, including a boisterous “Ball 7” chant in the eighth after issuing a four-pitch walk and missing the strike zone twice in the following at bat, Morehouse claimed after the game the crowd didn’t faze him.

“I honestly felt like it was just me and the batter,” Morehouse said. “When you get out on that mound, anybody on this team will tell you, you just lock in and compete. It’s literally just you, the catcher, and the batter, and that’s it. You don’t hear anything else. It’s just background noise you don’t pay attention to.”

He fought back from down 2-0 to strike out Jace LaViolette and end the eighth, but he would need to tune out the noise again in the ninth.

Morehouse issued two walks to the two leadoff hitters in the ninth. He then retired one batter on a fielder’s choice to Jack O’Dowd at second that was a tailor-made double play ball left unturned.

Then, he struck out Kaeden Kent swinging, followed by Wells looking to end the contest.

During the ninth, Morehouse attempted a pickoff to second base. The play was close and the call went against the Longhorns, but Texas elected to challenge. Not only did it provide an opportunity to potentially steal an out, it gave Morehouse a chance to breathe.

He used the available warmup pitches to right himself before ending the frame and the game.

The win over the Aggies was the second true road win of the season for Texas and the first in an environment that had over 7,000 fans wearing the other team’s colors. Though Texas A&M has lost six of its last eight games, the rivalry atmosphere and the talent on the Aggie roster made Tuesday one of the tougher challenges faced by Texas during its streak.

It’s one they gladly met head on.

“I think we’re really confident,” said third baseman Peyton Powell, who reached base five times in six plate appearances with three hits. “After the sweep against Tech then coming here and beating A&M on their home turf, then going to Oklahoma State, I think it gives us a little confidence being on the road. We’re going to drag this thing out as long as we can. We’re going to face adversity and we’re not scared of it.”

Lebarron Johnson took home the win in a declared start, throwing 3.0 innings of two-hit, one-run ball. Heston Tole recorded a shutout fourth. David Shaw allowed the second A&M run during his 2.0-inning, two-hit outing.

Lucas Gordon, Texas’ Friday night starter, made an appearance in the seventh inning. He faced four batters on just 15 pitches, striking out two and stranding a runner at first base before ceding responsibility for remaining six outs to Morehouse. Pierce said postgame Gordon is still the likely starter this Friday.

Texas plated two in the top of the first when Porter Brown drove a ball into the left-center field gap. It was enough to score Powell from second and Dylan Campbell standing up from first.

A&M scratched one back in the bottom half of the inning as the result of some erratic pitching from Johnson. A leadoff walk to Hunter Haas ended up costing the Horns, as a wild pitch and a groundout advanced Haas to third base with LaViolette up. LaViolette smashed a single through a shift to plate Haas and cut the deficit in half.

Four straight Texas singles in the top of the third, including one by Campbell to score Eric Kennedy, chased Aggie starter Shane Sdao and set up Brown to face Ty Sexton with the bases loaded. Sexton struck out Brown, then coaxed a pop up and a groundout to limit the Horns to one run in the inning and keep the Aggies in reach in a 3-1 game.

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A&M scratched another run across versus Shaw in the sixth to make it a one-run game. Haas tripled to right-center field and was brought home by a Jack Moss single.

The Longhorns loaded the bases with one out once again in the eighth after Kennedy singled, Powell did the same, and Campbell walked. Facing a 2-2 count, Garret Guillemette was hit by a pitch to drive in Kennedy. Then, facing a new pitcher, Brown grounded a ball to second that retired Guillemette but scored Powell.

Texas continues Big 12 play beginning on Friday with a series in Stillwater, Okla. versus Oklahoma State.

“I’ve been saying the last three weeks, I just like the way we’re competing,” Pierce said. “We weren’t as clean as we wanted to be. We left 15 guys on base but you’ve got to get them there before you leave them. We’ve got to execute and try to finish those innings off, but this was a great team win.”