COLLEGE STATION – Texas Tech finally whittled the number of big innings by its opponent Friday night to one, and it shouldn’t have been that many.

One, though, was enough.

Brodie Greene’s two-run single with the bases loaded in the second scored two unearned runs, and Texas A&M right-hander Barret Loux made it stick by striking out 10 batters through 52/3 innings as the 23rd-ranked Aggies opened Big 12 Conference play with a 6-3 win against the Red Raiders at Olsen Field.

It’s the sixth consecutive loss for the Red Raiders (8-11, 0-1 in Big 12), tying last season’s high. A loss today would make it the program’s longest losing streak since an eight-game losing streak in 1987.

A throwing error by Tech shortstop Joey Kenworthy with two outs in the second loaded the bases, and Greene made the Red Raiders (8-11, 0-1) pay with a single through the left side to give A&M (14-3, 1-0) a three-run inning and a 3-2 lead it would not relinquish.

“I didn’t have a good grip on it, and with (Barrett Barnes), a great athlete you figure a guy like that over there can catch anything,” Kenworthy said. “But it was a terrible throw and there’s no excuse for a senior shortstop to throw it away like that, especially in a Friday night conference game. I take full blame for that one.”

Outside of that one inning, Tech pitchers did a good job against A&M bats, scattering 13 total hits. Joaquin Hinojosa’s two RBI singles accounted for A&M’s only other runs until pinch-hitter Brett Parsons’ RBI double in the sixth pushed the Aggie lead to 5-2. A two-out throwing error by catcher Jeremy Mayo on a wild pitch with two on in the seventh gave A&M its final unearned run and a 6-2 lead.

Of the six runs scored by the Aggies, four were unearned thanks to three Tech errors. It is the sixth time in the last eight games the Red Raiders have committed multiple errors.

“The defense stumbled, and that’s disappointing,” head coach Dan Spencer said. “Two things, Joe’s a great player, a senior and a stud, but he needs to throw it in the air. It wasn’t a terrible throw, and Barrett needs to go ahead and catch it. Both are real players and real guys and important factors for us. We just keep finding another way to nip ourselves in the tail. Runs are at a premium against these guys.”

Tech starter John Neely (0-1) pitched three innings, allowing four runs – two earned – on eight hits with a walk and four strikeouts. His problem was he never recorded two consecutive outs in an inning, and with A&M hitting .387 as a team with two outs in an inning coming into the night, he left trailing by two runs.

“I just tried to throw strikes and get ground balls,” Neely said. “I just pounded the zone and let the defense work. I thought I threw well but the defense has got to work better. It’s hard to win with three errors, especially against the 23rd-ranked team.”

Brett Bruening pitched three solid innings of relief, allowing one unearned run on the Parsons double set up by a Justin Berry error.

The Red Raiders jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first after Jamodrick McGruder singled and scored when Kenworthy smacked his sixth career home run. But that was all Loux allowed before exiting with two outs in the sixth.

After the Kenworthy home run, Loux (3-1) retired 11 of the next 12 Red Raiders he faced until a two-out single by Jeremy Mayo in the fourth. As a team, Tech struck out a season-high 15 times.

“We took advantage of some mistakes they made,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “We’ve had teams take advantage of the mistakes we made, and it was nice for us to do that. Barret settled in and had a great performance. After two (innings), he was at 48 pitches and it looked like it was going to be an early night for him. He got himself going and was very, very good.”

Tech had a golden opportunity to chop into the lead in the sixth when Michael Reed reached on a bunt attempt that Loux threw into the dirt, allowing Reed to go to second. But Loux came back with a fly ball to left and his 10th strikeout before giving way to hard-throwing closer John Stilson, who got Mayo on a weak grounder to end the inning.

Stilson closed the game with 31/3 innings of solid relief, allowing only a walk, a double and an RBI single by pinch-hitter Kevin Whitehead in the ninth. He struck out four.

“I think we felt throughout the game we were actually comfortable out there,” Kenworthy said. “I know it didn’t look like it but we felt pretty at ease. We scored early and I think that gave us a lift like, ‘Hey, we belong here, we’re a good team.’ We were in it the entire game but things just didn’t go our way.

“We’ve played good defense all year and for us to come out and not play good defense tonight was inexcusable.”

To comment on this story:

george.watson@lubbockonline.com l 766-2166

courtney.linehan@lubbockonline.com l 766-8735

TEXAS TECH/Greene’s bases-loaded single helps Tech to its sixth straight loss

TEXAS A&M 6, TEXAS TECH 3

TEXAS TECH TEXAS A&M

ab r h bi ab r h bi

McGruder rf 3 1 1 0 Collazo 2b 4 1 2 0

Kenworthy ss 4 1 1 2 Arthur cf 3 0 1 0

Reed lf 4 0 0 0 Greene ss 5 0 1 2

Barnes 1b 4 0 0 0 Patterson dh 4 1 1 0

LeJeune dh 4 1 1 0 Shofner 3b 3 1 1 0

Mayo c 4 0 1 0 Jackson 1b 4 1 2 0

Ashby cf 3 0 1 0 Gonzalez c 4 0 1 0

Berry 3b 2 0 0 0 Hinojosa lf 4 2 2 2

Hough ph 1 0 0 0 Wood rf 3 0 1 1

Mielnicki 3b 0 0 0 0 Naquin rf 1 0 1 0

Whitehead ph 1 0 1 1

Head pr 0 0 0 0

Totten 2b 3 0 0 0

Popescu ph 1 0 0 0

Totals 34 3 6 3 Totals 35 6 13 5

Texas Tech 200 000 001 – 3 6 3

Texas A&M 031 001 10x – 6 13 2

E-Kenworthy (5), Mayo (5), Berry (2), Loux 2 (2). DP-Texas Tech 1. LOB-Texas Tech 6, Texas A&M 10. 2B-LeJeune (9), Wood (3). HR-Kenworthy (2). SH-Arthur (6). SB-Arthur (7).

IP H R ER BB SO

Texas Tech

Neely (L, 0-1) 3 8 4 2 1 4

Bruening 3 2 1 0 1 1

Flora 2/3 2 1 0 0 2

Stewart 1 1 0 0 1 1

Erzinger 1/3 0 0 0 0 0

Texas A&M

Loux (W, 3-1) 52/3 4 2 2 1 10

Stilson (Sv, 3) 31/3 2 1 1 1 5

HBP-by Bruening (Shofner).

WP-Neely (2), Stewart (1). BK-Bruening (2). U-Randy Wetzel, Randy Bruns, Mike Morris. T-3:00. A-4,006. Records: Texas Tech 8-10, 0-1; Texas A&M 14-3, 1-0.