The Aggies (29-13, 10-8 SEC) came into this midweek match hoping to bounce back from an exhausting 14-inning loss to Tennessee on Sunday afternoon. A&M has fared well during the week now with a 10-2 record. Junior right-hander Turner Larkins took to the mound for his third-straight weekday matchup.
“I’m proud of our win,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “You spend a lot of emotion on the weekends in SEC play, and for us to come out ready to go says a lot about our group. We hit a lot of balls hard tonight, 17 barrels, great at bats, 10 hits, and hit a lot of balls hard right at them. Turner [Larkins] struggled a little bit at the beginning but we got it back together a little bit. The bullpen was outstanding and I can’t say enough about our defense, it’s been unbelievable.”
The Islanders (14-27, 6-12 Southland) have faced trouble as of late and have now dropped eight of their last nine games. They were the first to draw blood as second baseman Brett Burner grounded out to short, allowing Luke Marbach to advance across home plate who reached base on a walk earlier in the inning.
The Aggies answered back in the bottom of the second frame when sophomore catcher Cole Bedford reached base on a walk before advancing and eventually scoring on wild pitches. Seniors Austin Homan and Blake Kopetsky each singled their way on base and allowing senior center fielder Nick Choruby to drive them in with a double down the right field line. Here the Aggies took their first lead of the evening and never looked back.
Bedford was brought in by freshman designated hitter Jorge Gutierrez in the fifth inning after knocking a huge triple to center field. The catcher led the Aggies to another stretch of their lead in the seventh with a double down the left field line which advanced senior first baseman Joel Davis across home plate. A&M closed the night with 10 hits, no errors, and 9 runners stranded.
“I thought we hit the ball pretty hard tonight,” Bedford said. “We had our team meeting and I think everyone had the right mindset going into today just getting back to our approach and doing what we can. We played great defense and our bullpen was fantastic again, we just need to get the offense going a little bit more. I think we still left a little bit out there.”
Larkins notched his third start of the season after returning from illness. Childress has been slowly working him into the rotation and allowing him to stretch out but cut him off at 60 pitches tonight with 4 innings pitched, 2 earned runs , 5 hits, 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. Kaylor Chafin took over on the mound for Larkins and conceded just 2 hits and no runs through 3 innings pitched. Cason Sherrod closed out the game and let just one hit through his grasp with one walk and 2 strikeouts through 2 innings.
“We did what we could out there to just compete and just keeping throwing strikes,” Chafin said. “It’s fun to get out there and compete whether it’s Tuesday or the weekend, it’s all the same to us.
The Aggies return to action Friday as they pay visit to Columbia, Missouri looking for their fifth straight SEC series victory. First pitch is slated for 6:30 pm.
