On Wednesday night, Texas A&M baseball hosted Prairie View A&M at Blue Bell Park. The Aggies won in dominating fashion, taking down the Panthers 22-2. The win extended the Aggies’ win streak to seven games.
The Aggies’ offense started rolling early. In the bottom of the first inning, junior Bryce Blaum opened the scoring with a two-run home run over the leftfield wall. Later in the inning, freshman Logan Britt stole home after hitting a triple, giving the Aggies a 3-0 lead. A&M started off the second inning by loading the bases, and junior Austin Bost was brought home a run on a sacrifice fly. After junior Zane Schmidt brought a run home with a walk, freshman Trevor Werner batted in a run on a ground ball, giving the Aggies a 6-0 lead heading into the third inning.
Sophomore Taylor Smith started off the third inning with a single-run homer over the leftfield wall. The scoring continued as a double from Blaum brought home freshman Kalae Harrison on a double. Bost brought home Blaum on a double of his own, and junior Will Frizzell scored on a passed ball. Bost was then brought home by a two-run home run by Britt. After loading the bases again, walks brought home Smith and Harrison. In all, the Aggies totaled a season-high eight runs in the inning, taking a commanding 14-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Panthers got on the board when junior Alex Martinez brought home sophomore Jordan Ginn with a single, making the score 14-1. In the bottom of the fourth inning, A&M added to their lead when senior Bryan Sturges singled, bringing home Britt. Freshman Kimble Schuessler brought home two more runs with a double, making the score 17-1 heading into the fifth inning.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, senior Hunter Coleman sent two runners home with an infield single. After loading the bases for the fourth time of the night, Schuessler created another run by drawing a walk. The Panthers added a run in the top of the sixth inning when freshman Benjamin Ybarra brought home a run with a two-out single. In the bottom of the sixth, Werner drew two runs with a single into right field, giving the Aggies the 22-2 victory.
Sophomore pitcher Chris Weber started his third game of the season and lasted 3.0 innings, striking out four batters and allowing one hit. Freshmen Will Johnston, Wyatt Tucker, Kobe Andrade and Gabe Craig all saw time in relief, totaling a combined four strikeouts with four hits and two runs.
Britt, Blaum and Frizzell each had dominant three-run performances, and the A&M offense registered its most lopsided victory of the season. Following the victory, A&M coach Rob Childress explained the value of getting the bench players experience in tilted contests.
“When you get an opportunity to [empty the bench], it just kind of galvanizes your team,” Childress said. “The guys that came off the bench were certainly ready to go. Had quality at-bats, and be competitive, and play great defense, and it was just one of those nights where we did a lot of things right.”
The win moves the Aggies to 11-4 on the season, while the Panthers fall to 0-9.
A&M will host a weekend series with Samford, beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Blue Bell Park.