In the main event of night one of the Astros Foundation College Classic, No. 1 Texas A&M baseball narrowly fell 3-2 to the Arizona Wildcats on Friday, Feb. 28. The Aggies losing streak has stretched to three games, after previous losses to Cal Poly and Texas State.

The Aggies led 2-1 going into the ninth inning, in what looked to be another dull win for coach Michael Earley’s team. Then sophomore right-handed pitcher Clayton Freshcorn gave up three hits and two runs in the top of the inning. 

“Freshcorn just gets a little unlucky tonight,” senior RHP Ryan Prager said. “He got a little unlucky the other day, but he’s one of our guys, and he’s a guy that we have full trust in.”

With the game on the line and the bottom of the lineup due, things looked bleak for the Aggies. That was until freshman rightfielder Terrence Kiel II looked to turn a single into an extra-base hit after Arizona senior first baseman Tommy Splaine failed to corral the ball.

Kiel could have stopped at second and stayed in scoring position with one out, but he wanted more. The freshman’s inexperience cost him as Arizona managed to get the ball back to the plate in time to make the out. The play — ever so decisive — went to an official review, which took 10 minutes before the umpires confirmed the call.

“Definitely gotta stop at second, that’s the play,” Earley said. “I mean, he’s making an aggressive play, playing hard, which is hard to think about in the moment. Something you can’t talk about before you go up there.”

After securing a single and just one out left in the bottom of the ninth, who else but junior centerfielder Jace LaViolette to step up to the plate? The Houston-area natives’ homecoming would end more like ‘Carrie’ as the slugger struck out to end the game.

Prager did his best to carry the lackluster A&M offense all night. The Aggies’ ace tallied 10 strikeouts through his 6.3 innings-pitched, doubling his season total. Prager walked into Daikin Park with a 0.00 ERA but lost his perfect mark after Arizona junior CF Aaron Walton’s solo home run in the top of the sixth.

“That’s a part of the game, but how I like to play it is, it’s 0-0, and it’s one inning every time,” Prager said. “So that takes all the outside noise out of it. It takes the score out of it. … And it’s all about just executing pitches.”

The bats for the Aggies were as cold — as has become the norm lately — only managing to secure five hits on the night while also leaving a whopping eight men on base which is still far from the expected performance from the Aggies offense. 

Things looked bright to start the game for A&M as it loaded the bases in the bottom of the first with no outs. However, the Aggies failed to capitalize, as the next three batters were all struck out by Arizona sophomore RHP Collin McKinney.

“Everyone wants to look at the middle or the end of the game, but to me, the biggest part of the entire game was the first inning,” Earley said. “You get bases loaded, nobody out, and you go, three punch out. Look how they tied the game, just put balls in play.”

The only scoring for the Maroon and White was a singular two-run home run by senior third baseman Wyatt Henseler, who smacked the ball over the wall in left field in the bottom of the fifth.

A&M did a much better job of taking pitches than in its previous outings, getting McKinney up to 75 pitches in just 4 innings. The Wildcats’ starter had a good showing, allowing just two hits and no runs while securing six strikeouts against the Aggies’ luxurious lineup.

Struggling again at-bat for A&M was graduate designated hitter Hayden Schott, sophomore 1B Blake Binderup and junior catcher Jacob Galloway. The trio of Fightin’ Farmers combined to go a whopping 0-12 from the plate, killing any chance for the Aggies to keep consistent momentum.

“Hopefully you get to a point in baseball as a hitter where, you know, I don’t wanna say you hit rock bottom, but you get to a point where you just kind of take a breath and be like, well, this isn’t working.” Earley said. 

The Aggies’ record now sits at 5-3, and the team hopes to end their losing streak when they take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in their second game of the Astros Foundation College Classic.