After finding little success from the plate in the last four games, first baseman Hunter Coleman hit two home runs for No. 2-seed Texas A&M en route to a 11-2 victory over Fordham in the Morgantown Regional on Saturday.
The Aggies recorded 13 hits in the contest, including a combined four home runs from Coleman, third baseman Ty Coleman and second baseman Bryce Blaum.
A&M starting lefty Asa Lacy kept the Rams at bay from the mound to earn his eighth win of the season. The sophomore posted seven strikeouts, allowed a single earned run and three hits in seven innings pitched.
The Aggies’ offense came out swinging in the first inning. This inning alone saw five runs, including a home run by Blaum, a single RBI from right fielder Logan Foster and a three-run homer from Hunter Coleman.
“I think yesterday late in the game got us going; gave us some momentum,” Coleman said. “We capitalized on what we were doing yesterday, and we did it again today to repeat it.”
The lack of run support for A&M’s pitching staff has been a concern for the club in the past few games. When asked about how much that meant for Lacy’s success on Saturday, he simply said:
“A lot.”
Lacy didn’t allow a hit until the bottom of the fifth, and didn’t allow a score until the sixth when Fordham third baseman Matt Tarabek hit a double down the left field line.
“Just the fastball command,” Lacy said on what worked for him the best. “I think I only walked one guy, hit a couple [too]. It’s always good to get deep in games when you only walk one guy and the command was good early. When you got a five, six, seven-run lead, you can really just pitch off your fastball and kind of let things unfold.”
A&M’s pitching staff held the Rams offense to four runs on the afternoon, rounding out to a .133 batting average.
“Coming into it we knew that, obviously he’s [Lacy] one of the top pitchers in the nation,” Tarabek said. “[Lacy] had a really good changeup and that’s what I think kept a lot of guys off balance.”
Fordham’s starting right-handed pitcher Anthony DiMeglio wasn’t able to keep the same type of command as Lacy, allowing seven runs and six hits through 4.2 innings.
Coleman hit another two-run homer in the seventh to extend the lead to 10 and making for his fifth homer of the year.
“We feel like we’re back and in a good place going into tomorrow,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to win one game at a time. We’re not going to hold anybody back to try to get to the next game.
The Aggies will face the loser of West Virginia-Duke Sunday at Monongalia County Ballpark in Morgantown. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will be televised on ESPN 3.