Despite it being Valentine’s Day, there was very little action to be spoken of in No. 1 Texas A&M baseball’s first game of the 2025 season. The Aggies narrowly snuck past the Elon Phoenix with a 4-2 victory on opening day. The cold, misty weather combined with poor hitting made for a less-than-romantic debut for A&M’s new coach Michael Earley in front of the largest opening day crowd in Aggie baseball history.
“Just excited for the guys and to get the season going on a good way,” Earley said. “But yeah, with all the lead up to it, I’m glad it’s over with now, and we came out on top. … I think we showed who we are tonight.”
Aggie redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Prager had his name circled to start, and he held the Phoenix captive in his five innings. Through 84 pitches, Prager recorded eight strikes while only allowing one hit.
However, Elon junior RHP Justin Mitrovich matched the Aggies’ ace with a stellar performance of his own against one of the most highly-touted batting lineups in the country. Mitrovich recorded 84 pitches through five innings and allowed just one hit to a star-studded Aggie lineup.
“He had a really, really good changeup,” Earley said. “Was mixing it, throwing two different fastballs, throwing a four seam and one with a little bit of run or sink, a little bit of an inconsistent shape, which sometimes is difficult. Then mix in a slider, I mean, his usage was really, really good.”
Sparks finally started to fly for the Phoenix when the Aggies pulled Prager for junior RHP Peyton Smith in the top of the sixth inning. The Dallas Baptist transfer only lasted 10 pitches before loading the bases and being pulled for sophomore LHP Kaiden Wilson.
The lefty was stuck between a rock and a hard place, eventually allowing Elon to take a 2-0 lead off of a double to left-center field by redshirt junior catcher Alex Duffey. The Phoenix could have made it 3-0 if it weren’t for miscommunication with their third base coach. This caused the last runner to be tagged out at home plate before Duffey was stranded on-base to end the inning.
Luckily for the shivering 12th Man in attendance, things heated up for the Aggies in the bottom of the sixth inning. Sophomore RHP Hudson Narke came in in relief of Mitrovich and loaded the bases before walking in a run and reducing the Phoenix lead to 2-1, all in just 32 pitches.
He was then pulled for redshirt junior RHP Nolan Straniero, who made things even worse for Elon by walking in another run before a wild pitch allowed for the runner from third to take home and steal the lead for the Aggies, 3-2. Straniero eventually settled in, striking out the remaining A&M batters, but Elon trailed with just three innings to go.
Both teams remained dormant until the bottom of the eighth inning, when redshirt sophomore first baseman Blake Binderup smacked a sole home run over the left field wall. The College Station native gave the Aggies some insurance, heading into the top of the ninth with a 4-2 lead.
“Growing up in town, all I wanted to do was play at A&M,” Binderup said. “Now I have the opportunity. I just go out there and just try to keep things simple, and things tend to work out for me when I keep things simple.”
Insurance is for suckers, especially with sophomore RHP Clayton Freshcorn closing out the game. He managed to reduce the Phoenix to ashes, as the Aggies escaped with a narrow 4-2 victory to start the year. The win marks the first of the Earley era, which Prager said he is proud to be a part of.
“Really happy for him, happy for his family,” Prager said. “He won’t say it, but he’s definitely been looking forward to it. He’s been a little anxious for it, but good to get the first one. And I think also for this team, like we expect to win a lot, and winning is fun. That’s what we deem is fun. So that’s one. It might not have been the prettiest, but a win to win, and you got to celebrate it.”
This team has a mountain of expectations to BTHO, so A&M will need to work out its kinks to maintain form for the remainder of the weekend and beyond.
“The heart rate you play in game one, I’m not sure what other games you play with that heart rate at,” Earley said. “So it’s just getting under control, slowing down, and yeah … obviously we made some mistakes, but I attribute a lot of those mistakes just us being over-amped up … part of game one, for sure, especially in front of the crowd like that.”
