Special to The Eagle
By DAVID HARRIS
Special to The Eagle
OMAHA, Neb. -- It was déjà vu all over again.
Texas A&M second baseman Andrew Collazo fielded a harmless ground ball in the first inning of Sunday's game against South Carolina at the College World Series. He set his feet and threw the ball over first baseman Jacob House's head -- an error that helped the Gamecocks score four runs to erase A&M's four-run lead.
Again Tuesday the Aggies had a lead. Against a gritty California team, A&M took a 1-0 advantage in the fourth inning on Adam Smith's third home run of the postseason. But just as quickly as A&M took the lead, it gave it right back.
Smith's fielding gaffe and throwing error in the fifth inning allowed Chad Bunting to reach second base. Darrel Matthews and Derek Campbell followed with base hits, and the slim lead had been relinquished.
"It kind of got me off my groove a little bit, but credit to Cal hitters," A&M sophomore right-hander Michael Wacha said. "They just hit everything I threw up there."
Up to that point, the Aggies' postseason ace was tossing a gem. He had given up one hit and allowed only two baserunners. But two defensive lapses in the fifth derailed him.
"That happened in the inning with the errors," Wacha said. "I mean, we could have gotten out of it if I had made better pitches."
Down 2-1 with one out and a man on third, Wacha forced a shallow fly out by designated hitter Tony Renda. Hit to Tyler Naquin, who has the strongest arm on the team, it looked like it wouldn't be deep enough to score Campbell from third base, but when Naquin caught it, Campbell tested the Big 12 Player of the Year. Naquin air-mailed catcher Kevin Gonzalez to allow the Bears to score their third run of the inning.
"It's one of the few times I haven't seen him be right on the money with the throw," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "You give him the ball seven more times in that same spot, and I guarantee you he's going to throw him out."
Cal continued to take control of the game. Over the next two innings, the Bears scored four runs on five hits against Wacha.
"I thought we were a little too excited trying to make something happen that really wasn't there and didn't let the game come to us," California coach David Esquer said. "But eventually we moved the runners along and came up with that big hit we've been looking for the last couple of days, and it came from a lot of different places."
For the second consecutive game, the Aggies coughed up an early lead. And for the second consecutive game, it was an error that started the rally. As a result, A&M's 2011 season ended.
"We didn't play our best baseball here in Omaha, unfortunately," Smith said.
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