Texas A&M baseball’s 8-6 road loss to Sam Houston State increased its current losing streak to three and dropped its record to 19-12 on the season. A&M is now 2-6 on the road this season.
Starting pitcher Nathan Dettmer and the entire A&M pitching staff had a rough go of it Tuesday night. Dettmer was only able to go 2.1 innings and gave up three runs. Pitcher Mason Ornelas was the Aggies’ lone bright spot on the pitching side as he was able to throw two scoreless innings and racked up four strikeouts in relief.
Offensively, center fielder Ray Alejo led the way with three hits and six Aggies each had an RBI. In total, A&M had nine hits in the game but struckout 10 times. The Aggies also left six runners on base.
A&M jumped all over the Bearkats’ starting pitcher Matt Rudis early on in the game. In two innings of work, the Aggies scored five runs. Logan Britt and Austin Bost each homered off of Rudis. Sam Houston’s lone run in the first two innings of the game came off of a solo home run in the first off Dettmer.
The Bearkats decreased A&M’s lead to one in the third after they hit a three-run home run off of reliever Chandler Jozwiak. Sam Houston’s scoring run continued off of A&M’s bullpen as the Bearkats proceeded to score runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to take an 8-5 lead over A&M.
The Aggies just had a lot of difficulty putting together any consistent offense after knocking Rudis out of the game. Sam Houston’s bullpen only gave up four hits and struck out eight A&M batters.
The lone run for A&M off Sam Houston’s bullpen came in the ninth as they were trying to mount a late comeback. Pinch hitter Ty Coleman plated Britt on a fielder’s choice to decrease Sam Houston’s lead to 8-6. However, their comeback attempt failed after first baseman Will Frizell flew out with two on to give Sam Houston the 8-6 win.
Next up for the Aggies is a 3 game SEC weekend home series against Alabama. Friday’s series opener at Blue Bell Park starts at 6:30 p.m.