After a dominant 19-0 victory in the first game of the series against New Mexico State, Texas A&M baseball returned to Blue Bell Park for Game 2 and proceeded to repeat its scoring domination to clinch the series with a 7-1 victory.
Consistent pitching and solid defense was the key for A&M in this game. Headlined by junior left-handed pitcher Justin Lamkin’s 10 strikeouts, the Maroon and White allowed just one run throughout the entire game.
“He doesn’t change and continues to fill up the strike zone,” coach Michael Earley said. “He doesn’t seem to change when guys are on base, and to me, that is the key to pitching. I think it’s pretty easy when guys aren’t on base to be able to take a deep breath and continue to make pitches.”
While A&M’s offense started slow, Lamkin picked up right where redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager left off in yesterday’s game, keeping New Mexico State’s chances to score severely limited in the first few innings while the batters got warm.
Sharp defensive skills were on display for the Maroon and White as fly outs, ground outs and strikeouts came more often than not. As a result, the bottom of the inning always arrived quickly.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the third when freshman second baseman Sawyer Farr’s bat connected with junior right-handed pitcher Hayden Lewis’ fastball, sending it to center field for a single. This was the first domino to fall for the A&M batters.
Following this, junior shortstop Kaeden Kent, coming off three runs and two RBIs in Friday’s tussle, launched a triple to right-center field that allowed Farr to score. Shortly after, junior center fielder Jace LaViolette sacrificed a fly ball that safely brought Kent in. Just like that, A&M had two runs on the board.
“It felt good because I’m slow,” Kent said about his triple. “I was more pumped to get to third than anything else. I would get more pumped to get to third than hit a homer.”
Texas Tech transfer senior first baseman Gavin Kash began to get it going as well. After playing an important role in yesterday’s scoring explosion, Kash’s bat connected for a double to left field, leading to his 10th run scored of the season.
The combination of the passing train’s horn and the roaring crowd sounded like chaos at Blue Bell Park as A&M tallied its fifth-straight inning without giving up a run. Allowing a hit here and there gave New Mexico State no chance to gain momentum.
It wasn’t until the top of the sixth that New Mexico State’s redshirt junior catcher Dane Woodcook hit a single up the middle to bring junior utility Mitch Namie to score for its first run of the entire series.
A&M was not fazed as it responded with the 2025 Preseason National Player of the Year LaViolette ripping a double to right field to bring Farr home. Bubbles filled the atmosphere as this score elevated A&M’s lead to 7-1.
The top of the seventh saw Lamkin tie his season high with 10 strikeouts as New Mexico’s hopes began to crumble. While they tallied 11 hits on the day, they could never string consecutive hits together to score.
“He pitches with a low heartbeat,” Earley said. “I don’t know what he is feeling internally, but it looks like he is not even sweating. He has no stress. He trusts himself and what he does and trusts the game plan. He has gone out and executed at a really high level.”
As the eighth and ninth innings flew by, cheering and celebration filled A&M’s dugout knowing they clinched the series and improved its record to 9-5. After struggling early in the season, joy was evident as Earley’s men captured their third-straight win.
A&M will take the field against New Mexico State for the series’ final game on Sunday, March 9, at 1 p.m.
