COLLEGE STATION — It took one inning Friday evening for the score between the Texas A&M Aggies and Arkansas Razorbacks to exceed what it was in the series opener.

After a complete pitcher’s battle between both squads Thursday night amidst a rain delay, Game 2 of the SEC West showdown was seemingly going to be much simpler to complete. Weather wasn’t going to be at play and 7 p.m. CST was truly an accurate assessment for the game’s first pitch.

For the Aggies, Olsen Field was even more packed than it was the night before, setting them up to have an even better atmosphere as they looked to secure a series victory and keep themselves in contention for their half of the SEC. Arkansas had some ground to make up.

The thing was, it did.

The Razorbacks came out with their bats swinging, keeping the contest interesting on offense despite allowing some true — that is, non-walking — points on defense. In the end, they got the best of their hosts, rallying behind a three-run home run from junior Hudson White to put themselves in front and take control of the momentum, ultimately notching a 6-3 road victory.

From the jump, the Aggies — starting Brad Rudis instead of the anticipated Justin Lamkin — started off on a positive note. They registered a strikeout and two flyouts to end their defensive portion of the first inning rather quickly before scoring two runs in the bottom half behind Braden Montgomery’s 25th home run of the season, which put them up 2-0.

From there, the Razorbacks began chipping away at the lead, notching two one-run innings in the second and third to tie the game up headed to the fourth. Where Game 1 was a pitching battle, Game 2 was shaping up to be a battle of the bats. And that continued.

Texas A&M added another run to its total in the bottom of the fourth after Gavin Grahovac doubled on the first pitch he was thrown. From there, Jace LaViolette singled to right field with enough distance to bring in Grahovac. That run signaled the bubbles across Blue Bell Park and gave the Aggies the lead once more, but unfortunately for them, it was the last run they would score that night.

The fifth and sixth innings saw little action besides Arkansas’ methodical base approach. After a single from Ben McLaughlin brought in Peyton Stovall — who singled on his at-bat — to tie the game at three runs a piece, the Razorbacks stalled out before being able to run up the score anymore.

Three runs each was how the scoreboard held for the remainder of the sixth and through the seventh, but the eighth inning was where the most action happened all game.

Stovall ended up being the lead-off single on his second pitch of the at-bat, which Wehiwa Aloy followed with a double. Stovall moved to third, but it didn’t matter. Hudson White came to bat and hit a home run to deep left field to both double the Aggies’ score and his team’s chances at a win.

Texas A&M made nothing of its eighth-inning offensive, and Arkansas followed suit at the top of the ninth. After that third out, the Aggies’ War Hymm played and the entire upper deck of fans got on their feet to watch the final three outs of the ball game.

Ali Camarillo led things off, striking out looking after a full count, followed by Sorrell, who never landed a ball as he grounded out to Arkansas’ shortstop. Travis Chesnut — batting bottom of the Aggies’ order — was his team’s last chance, but couldn’t get the job done, flying out to left field to give the Razorbacks a 6-3 win on the road.

With the loss, the Texas A&M Aggies fall two games behind the Arkansas Razorbacks in the SEC West standings with just one game left to play at 18-11, which officially ousts them from contention for the conference title.

Next up for both squads is one more matchup at Olsen Field with the series on the line. The winner there will certainly put themselves in a solid position to land a top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

First pitch for Game 3 is scheduled for 2 p.m. CST Saturday afternoon.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) – Who doesn’t need a good laugh at the end of the school year?

IL Texas College Station hosted its first ever middle school Improv Night: Staff vs. Students.

Twelve teachers and 16 students participated in the contest.

The prize was a mannequin head with a wig. We’re told it was a tie, and the teachers won the wig while the students took home the head!

Copyright 2024 KBTX. All rights reserved.

By Julie Tomascik
Editor

The sweetest crop in Texas is no more.

Fields of green sugarcane now sit barren after the only sugar mill in Texas, the Rio Grande Valley Sugar Growers, Inc., closed in February due to a lack of water.

It’s a difficult reality for farmers like Sam Sparks who have grown sugarcane for years.

“It’s really, really sad,” Sparks, who farms and ranches in Mercedes, said. “It’s strange to prepare a crop plan for the year and to not have sugarcane involved. It’s going to take a while to really settle in.”

Sparks’ family was instrumental in Texas sugarcane production and the mill from the beginning. His grandfather was one of the region’s first growers and a chairman of the mill’s board of directors.

Sparks continued the family legacy of growing cane and serving on the board.

But that’s come to an end and his fields of sugarcane have been plowed under as the decades-old industry is officially over in Texas. The water issues plaguing the crop and the region are driven by severe drought conditions, and reservoirs are also at an all-time low.

Much of the problem, however, centers along the neighboring country to the south. Mexico is significantly behind on the water it owes the U.S. under the 1944 Water Treaty, further exacerbating the water issue for Valley farmers.

Under the treaty, Mexico is required to deliver 1,750,000 acre-feet of water every five years, which is an average of 350,000 acre-feet annually. The current five-year cycle ends in October 2025, and Mexico is  behind by more than 700,000 acre-feet.

“Over the years, they’ve built up multiple dams and have been collecting water and not giving the United States the water that is owed in the treaty,” he said. “If Mexico were to give the water that it owes the United States, the mill would still be in operation and there’d still be cane grown in the Rio Grande Valley.”

Mexican government officials cite the drought as the reason for the delay in water deliveries.

“Right now, we do have a delay in water deliveries. That’s the reality this current cycle, but our intention is to mitigate that deficit as much as possible,” Manuel Morales, secretario de la Sección Mexicana for CILA, told the Texas Tribune.

Citrus orchards, vegetables, other fruits and traditional row crops all require water—water that isn’t available. That could eventually mean the same fate as sugarcane—ceasing to exist in the Valley.

“Water issues that we have with Mexico affects all crops growing in the Rio Grande Valley that need irrigation water,” he said. “If we don’t have the irrigation water to supply those crops, we just can’t grow them. Then all the logistics, the infrastructure goes away, as well.”

Just because farmers have water rights doesn’t mean they’ll have water this year. Many districts in the region didn’t allocate irrigation water for farmers, and counties have issued disaster declarations and implemented water restrictions.

That means thousands of normally irrigated acres will go unplanted this year.

“It’s desperate times right now in the Rio Grande Valley,” Sparks said.

A report released this year by Texas A&M AgriLife Extension shows the Valley could lose over $495 million in total crop production.

Farmers are feeling the losses, and so are the rural communities where they live.

When farmers are planting fewer acres, they need fewer employees. And with the sugar mill closing, about 500 employees are now without a job.

“There’s a tremendous amount of families that this directly affects, and then all the other commerce that goes along with cane production,” Sparks said. “It’s a significant economic blow to the Rio Grande Valley.”

Enforcing the 1944 Water Treaty is a priority issue for Texas Farm Bureau (TFB).

The state organization has hosted meetings with lawmakers, government agencies and farmers and ranchers. Congress also passed a resolution, which TFB supported, that encouraged negotiations to guarantee more predictable and reliable water deliveries from Mexico to the U.S.

“Unless substantive actions are taken to force Mexico to comply with the treaty, this problem will continue to further impact agriculture, municipalities and other sectors of the region,” TFB President Russell Boening said. “TFB stands ready to continue working with state and federal officials to combat this issue and preserve the future of Rio Grande Valley agriculture.”

Right now, farmers and ranchers like Sparks are waiting on a hurricane to bring much-needed rainfall or for Mexico to deliver the water it owes.

Both are a gamble, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Watch a video from Sam Sparks’ farm in Mercedes.