COLLEGE STATION, Texas —  With an opportunity to make a regional final for the first time in four seasons, Texas State fell flat despite a quick start as the hosting No. 12 Texas A&M Aggies crushed the Bobcats 17-2 Saturday night in the College Station Regional at Blue Bell Park in College Station, Texas.

Every inning except the ninth saw at least a run score as it was a one-sided offensive filled night for Texas A&M.

It was all Aggies from the third inning on as not only did they score for six consecutive innings, including two-high scoring frames where they got five-or more runs home, was accompanied by a dominating start by junior right-hander Weston Moss on the mound.

While Moss gave up two home runs in the first and second, he went smooth sailing through seven innings that included retiring 12-straight Bobcats, giving up five hits and striking out 10.

For the Bobcats, everything started off well for the first 2 2/3 innings, but after sophomore shortstop Brady Boles forced a walk in the second, Texas State could simply not get anything going. It didn’t help that junior left-hander Jesus Tovar started strong but fell apart soon after, adding on defensive mistakes and a total collapse from the bullpen that saw eight pitchers step on the mound.

“You know [Texas A&M] is relentless on offense, right? As soon as you make a mistake, then all of a sudden they keep it going,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “When you play really good teams, you got to play really good defense…we haven’t played good defense in the two games so far. We’ve got to learn from it then move on to tomorrow.”

The ‘Cats got it going quickly as the home team, with junior designated hitter Manny Salas smacking a one-out home run into left field to give Texas State an early 1-0 lead in the first.

Texas State extended their lead in the following inning as freshman left fielder and former Texas A&M commit Jackson Cotton smoked a no-doubt lead-off home run into left, making it the Bobcat’s 115th home run of the season and tying the Sun Belt Conference single season record set in 2004 by New Mexico State.

The Aggies cut into the lead after Tovar induced back-to-back strikeouts as junior first basemen Gavin Grahovac showcased his power by crushing a solo shot into left, hitting his 21st of the season. Mora’s defensive issues continued as he committed a fielding error, but no further damage was done, preserving the Bobcat’s 2-1 lead but it was essentially the turning point of the game.

After the Bobcats went 1-2-3 in the bottom half of the third, the bubbles from the stands flew once more in the fourth as Duer drove in two runs with a centerfield bomb as Texas A&M took a 3-2 lead.

With the offense for Texas State unable to respond, the Aggies extended their lead from a pair of juniors immediately following a one-out double into left that avoided the shift from center fielder Caden Sorrell as designated hitter Chris Hacopian singled.

For the fourth consecutive inning, Texas A&M scored, and this time, Texas State was unable to stop the bleeding. Graduate pitcher Kyle Froehlich came in after Kerbow. After giving up a single and double, Froehlich was able to get two outs, though a fielding error from freshman Clayton Namken allowed Grahovac to reach first despite striking out.

The Aggies tacked on a five-run inning from that point on that started with a fielding error from junior shortstop Justin Vossos. After a hit-by-pitch, Duer drove in two more runs with a single to right field that quickly went by Stewart and Boles.  Texas A&M loaded the bases once more with yet another hit-by-pitch. Froehlich’s night was over afterwards, as junior Keller Eberly took over.

On an 0-1 pitch, senior second basemen Ben Royo smacked it to third, but Mora’s fielding issues continued as it bounced out of his glove, scoring yet another run. The top half of the inning mercifully ended with a strikeout soon after, but the damage was seemingly enough to put the game out-of-reach.

After adding their 10th run of the game in the seventh rough an RBI double from Hacopian and came yet another inning of no response from the Bobcats offense, the dam fully broke open in the top of the eighth.

Texas A&M exploded for a seven-run inning through a barrage of hits that included multiple two-RBI doubles from Sorrell, Hacopian and Duer, to extend their lead to 17-2.

“I feel that’s our offense,” Texas A&M senior left fielder Jake Duer said. “that’s what our mindset has been, just passing the baton and I feel like we passed it tonight.”

Freshman Alex Yearwood pitched in the ninth and despite giving up two hits against Aggie-backups, he gave up no runs, the first scoreless inning for the Aggies since the second.

From the start, the Aggies kept the pressure on until they simply fully accelerated and tore apart Texas State pitching. They got a hit in every single inning and finished the game with 20, more than tripling the seven hits the Bobcats got. The lack of defense also continued to haunt the ‘Cats, committing two errors for the second consecutive game among a collection of misplays.

Despite the blowout loss, Texas State maintains the mindset of simply moving on and doing so quickly, an idea Trout instilled into this program.

“Just forget about it and drain it all and come back in the next day and be able to tell ourselves we got more at-bats to come…” Salas said.

The Bobcats now hang on the ropes of elimination, moving to the loser’s bracket in the regional. They will need to win three straight games if they want to advance to a Super Regional.

Texas State will play at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 31, where they’ll rematch the Southern California Trojans at Blue Bell Park in the College Station Regional. If they win, they will face the Aggies later that day at 8 p.m. If they take both games tomorrow, it will force a winner-take all game against Texas A&M on June 1.

The games will be available to stream on ESPN+.