Knoxville, Tennessee was not nice to the Aggies on Friday, March 24.
After losing its first SEC series at home to No. 1 LSU, A&M looked to bounce back in its first true road test of the season, taking on the No. 12 Tennessee Volunteers.
Despite jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, Tennessee’s starter Chase Dollander outdueled the Aggies’ Ace Nathan Dettmer as the Volunteers cruised to an easy 10-4 victory.
In the top of the first, it appeared that A&M had the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Year in Dollander rattled. After freshman CF Kasen Wells drew a walk to lead off the game, Wells stole second base to put a runner in scoring position early.
Junior SS Hunter Haas followed Wells’ at bat with a walk of his own, putting two on with no outs. After a passed ball, Wells advanced to third base, setting junior 1B Jack Moss up to drive him home with a single to give the Aggies the early lead. A balk from Dollander drove in Haas to stretch the lead to two in the top of the first.
From the first inning onwards, Dollander tightened up and quickly shut down A&M’s bats. The right-hander allowed three earned runs on just three hits in 6.2 innings, striking out eight Aggies in the process.
Dettmer, who has started every series opener this season, was coming off of a four-run loss last Friday. For the second week in a row, the right-hander struggled. In five innings of work, Dettmer surrendered nine earned runs on nine hits, with five of those runs coming in the first frame.
After surrendering a triple to Tennessee’s lead-off batter, the Volunteers racked up three more hits in the inning, including two doubles. After putting up five runs and taking the lead back in the bottom of the first, Tennessee confidently held its lead for the rest of the game.
The Volunteers are coming off of a weekend road sweep at Missouri in which Tennessee only scored six runs on just 10 hits. In just Game 1 of this weekend’s series, the Volunteers matched their hits from last weekend and nearly doubled their runs with 10.
A bright spot for A&M was freshman RHP Ty Sexton. In his fifth appearance on the year, Sexton only allowed two hits in three innings, with his one run allowed coming from a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh.
The last time the Aggies have lost a series opener and came back to win the series was in 2019 against Gonzaga. Since then, A&M is 0-11 in series after losing Game 1.
To snap that streak, the Aggies will need to secure Game 2 tomorrow. First pitch at Lindsey Nelson Stadium is set for 11 a.m., with sophomore LHP Troy Wansing getting the start for A&M.