No. 22 Texas A&M baseball hosted Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday, March 10, for a midweek battle between in-state foes. Fueled by a pair of home runs by junior designated hitter Blake Binderup, the Aggies closed the door on the Lumberjacks after seven innings to seal the 14-1 run-rule victory.
The Aggies wasted no time getting on the board thanks to a triple from junior first baseman Gavin Grahovac. The Orange, California native’s punch to left field brought home sophomore right fielder Terrence Kiel II for the first run of the game.
Just a batter later, senior left fielder Jake Duer kept A&M rolling with a single to center field to bring home Grahovac and add to the Aggie advantage. Even SFA junior right-handed pitcher Noah O’Farrell got in on the fun, bringing home Duer with a wild pitch.
Up 3-0, the Maroon and White traveled through a pair of scoreless innings on the back of sophomore RHP Gavin Lyons. After two leadoff hits by SFA, the A&M starter knocked down ten-straight batters, allowing only three hits, keeping the Lumberjacks scoreless through three frames.
“I’m just continuing to be myself and throw strikes,” Lyons said. “I’m doing what I need to do and holding myself to a high standard.”
In the top of the fourth, the in-state foes traded a pair of one-run dingers. Senior 1B Mark Henning prevented the SFA shutout with a solo home run to center field, shrinking A&M’s lead by one.
In response, Binderup reclaimed the Aggies’ three-run advantage with a 377-foot blast to center field.
“He’s never stopped working,” head coach Michael Earley said. “You can make the choice when you’re not in the lineup to stay ready or not. I think we’ve all seen Blake have success in the past, so it doesn’t come as any surprise.”
So long, Stephen F. Austin
To quote the 1986 film, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Aggies’ offense moved pretty fast. Simple hitting turned A&M’s three-run advantage into a thirteen-run takeover.
To the Lumberjacks’ relief, a groundout RBI by Kiel plated an Aggie run, but secured the second out of the inning. With two runners in scoring position, SFA faced a 4-1 deficit, only needing a single out to head back to the dugout.
In the blink of an eye, A&M’s one-run inning became a ten-run inning, as RBI singles turned into back-to-back bombs.
With a pair of runners in scoring position, Binderup cleared the bases, launching his third offering 454-feet onto the train tracks for his fourth home run of the year and second of the game.
“The baseball looks pretty big right now,” Binderup said. “I’m just trying to attack fastballs in the zone and do damage.”
Harrison followed suit with a 459-foot blast of his own, breaking the hearts of any SFA fans still in attendance. Scoring nine runs with two outs, the Aggie offense charged ahead to secure their 15th win of the season.
“Awesome inning,” Earley said. “You never get bored with controlling the strike zone. They were laying off some pitches that they didn’t like and hitting the ones over the middle of the plate.”
After its midweek mauling of SFA, A&M pushed its overall record to 15-1 and remained undefeated at home.
“I would rather be 16-0, but we’re not,” Earley said. “I think we’ve handled what we needed to handle. We’ve had some adversity in there, and we’ve responded to it. We’ve thrown a lot of strikes. We’re hitting the ball well as a team. We’re getting on base as a team. To this point, is it without any lulls? Of course not. There’s just always been the response and the comeback after it that makes me feel good.”
To kick off Southeastern Conference play, A&M will travel to Norman, Oklahoma, for a Top-25 series against No. 9 Oklahoma on Friday, March 13, at Kimrey Family Stadium at 6:30 p.m.
