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Texas A&M uses familiar formula to knock off Texas in the College World Series

 Chris Lee   in Baseball

The Aggies kept their season alive while ending Texas's.

The formula for Texas A&M’s wins all year was to exhaust opposing pitchers and lean on lefty Jacob Palisch in tense moments on the mound. The Aggies did both in 10-2 victory over Texas at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb., on Sunday afternoon.

Jacob Thompson, Austin Bost and Brett Minnich led the Aggies with two hits each. Thompson and Trevor Werner tied for the team lead with two RBIs. 

Even bigger than Palisch's performance was that of starter Micah Dallas. The Texas Tech transfer had a disappointing regular season, but came up huge in Omaha with 5 2/3 innings. He allowed six hits and two runs (one earned) with three strikeouts and two walks. 

The Aggies--who certainly took delight in ending Texas's season--will await the loser of Sunday night's Notre Dame-Oklahoma game in a Tuesday elimination game. 

Palisch pitched 2 2/3 innings (with five strikeouts) at a key time in relief of Micah Dallas, as A&M seized an early lead and never looked back. 

The Aggie offense didn't manage a home run, but strung together 10 hits and six walks at timely moments. But as much as anything, they frustrated Texas pitching by fouling off pitch after pitch, especially on two strikes. 

The Longhorns used six pitchers who combined for 191 pitches. The Aggies scored runs off four of them. 

With the Aggies leading 8-2, Palisch got out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the sixth by striking out Ivan Melendez—who had 32 home runs and was perhaps the country’s best hitter—looking on a breaking ball at the knees on the outside corner.

Texas A&M trailed 2-0 after an inning and a half, but went on top in the bottom of the second on RBI singles from Trevor Werner and Jordan Thompson and a two-RBI double from Brett Minnich. That chased Longhorn starter Lucas Gordon and the Aggies never trailed again.

Snapped a nine-game losing streak at the CWS that dated back to 1993.