After an early first-round exit in the Southeastern Conference Tournament on May 22, No. 12 Texas A&M baseball began its prospective trip to Omaha, Nebraska, with a 7-5 comeback win against Lamar.
Once a virtual lock for a top-8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Aggies had a fall from grace after dropping 4 of their last 6 SEC contests to close out the regular season. While ultimately a teamwide issue, redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Shane Sdao’s struggles haven’t helped steer the ship right, coming into his first postseason start of the 2026 season with a team-worst 6.75 ERA of eligible starters.
If he were looking to deflate his numbers in the top of the first, his search was at least partially in vain after a pair of hits and an error pushed the Cardinals’ first run of the game unearned across home plate. However, the second was a different story, as the Montgomery native dropped his opponents in order, 1-2-3.
But like it was said in the Mavericks’ 1994 album, “Oh, what a crying Shane.” Or was it “shame”? Either way, it was Sdao that started to see the ghosts of his uphill battle on the mound this season, as three more hits brought two more runs home for Lamar. Furthermore, the inability of pitching coach Jason Kelly and his staff to develop a “put-away pitch” for his arms has cost the Aggies mightily in two-strike counts.
The fourth inning was no different, as senior first baseman Braden Benton — who had one home run in 51 starts with the Cardinals — sent what was Sdao’s final pitch over the stands in left field. With a 4-0 lead, Lamar welcomed sophomore right-handed pitcher Gavin Lyons with another solo shot, before the former top Connecticut prospect closed the inning.
And like one of Homer’s epics, what’s a legend without a stage set dramatically? With the heart of its order on deck, junior 1B Gavin Grahovac kicked off a fifth-inning rally with his 20th long ball of the season straight off the batter’s eye. A message was sent immediately, and in this case, quite literally, as junior center fielder Caden Sorrell was subsequently hit by a pitch and a heated exchange of words between him and the Cardinals ensued.
The passionate dialogue was enough to captivate any audience, but it was junior designated hitter Chris Hacopian’s powerful swing that played Scene 3 in Act 5 of the Aggies’ quest for a championship. Staring down at a 1-1 count, the former Maryland Terrapin did not retreat into his shell in his second at-bat, lacing a moonshot into left field to cut the Cardinals’ lead to just two runs.
Lyons kept his foot on the gas with two shutdown innings in the sixth and seventh, and in the bottom of the latter is where the Aggies evened the score with the help of miraculously patient baseball. Two walks and an effort single from Hacopian loaded the bases for freshman third baseman Nico Partida, and after a few weekends off due to injury, the rookie delivered with another walk, followed by a sac fly from junior catcher Bear Harrison to give both squads five runs apiece.
Head coach Michael Earley — holding onto a tie — elected to send his closer, junior RHP Clayton Freshcorn to hold steady, which the Waller native took care of in 1-2-3 fashion. Wasting no time in the bottom of the eighth, senior second baseman Ben Royo sent the first pitch he saw screaming down the left field line for a leadoff double and putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.
Keen on moving his man up, graduate student pinch hitter Travis Chestnut was set on a sacrifice bunt, but when senior RHP Julius Carpio dropped an almost guaranteed out, one mistake proved to be the difference maker in the Aggies’ eventual comeback.
Surely plagued with nerves, Carpio threw the freshly fumbled ball to first base, albeit 10 feet over Benton’s head as Royo booked it from second base and grabbed A&M’s first lead of the game, 6-5. Chestnut, already a potential hero, was the beneficiary of the Aggies’ second sac fly, speeding home for some extra insurance.
In the wake of seven unanswered runs, Freshcorn’s task was simple in theory but difficult in practice: hold the line. A strikeout and a one-pitch flyout put the Maroon and White an out away from victory, but Chestnut too had a case of the jitters and dropped a routine grounder and put a Cardinal on with two away.
While in the moment a threat, ultimately it was to no avail for the visitors from Beaumont, as Chestnut atoned for the mistake by catching a quick exchange at second base to end the game and secure a long-fought A&M victory.
“It’s just a matter of making the right decisions and taking care of who we have ahead,” Earley said. “Lamar played a tough game but it’s our job to be prepared and not be reactionary.”
The Aggies will advance to the winner’s bracket of the College Station Regional and face the winner of USC versus Texas State on Saturday, May 30, at 8 p.m.
