COLLEGE STATION ? Brandi Crnkovic pitched her third shutout of the season, blanking North Texas in the opening game of Texas A&M Invitational.

Then Morgan Mikulin held No. 3 Texas A&M to three hits as the Bearkats lost 2-0 on two unearned runs.

Crnkovic (3-1) pitched seven strong innings, allowing just three hits in the 1-0 victory over the Mean Green. Crnkovic pitched a near flawless game, allowing just three batters to reach base, while striking out 12 North Texas hitters. The 12 strikeouts is one shy of here career record and two short of the school record.

The lone run for the Bearkats (5-2) came in the fourth inning off the bat of Whitney Wilson. After a single by Mandy Huckabee, Tiffani Woodrum was inserted as a pinch runner. With two outs, Wilson hit a shot to left to score Woodrum for the Kats' lone run.

Casie Everitt led the Kats at the plate with two of the five SHSU hits.

North Texas' best scoring chance came in the fifth inning, after getting a runner on second base following a single and a sacrifice bunt. But, Crnkovic quickly ended the threat with a pair of strikeouts to end the frame.

In the second game of the day at the tournament, Mikulin turned in another outstanding performance in the circle, striking out two Aggies and limiting Texas A&M to a pair of unearned runs.

The Aggies scored in the third inning as Rhiannon Kliesing and Kelsey Spittler hit back-to-back singles, then moved to second and third base, respectively, on a sacrifice bunt. The pair scored on an outfield error by the Bearkats for the winning runs.

Kliesing limited Sam Houston to two hits, facing only 22 batters in six innings, striking out five. Amy Brown and Sarah Parich produced the hits for the Bearkats.