Texas A&M baseball went into Tuesday night’s game after a hard-fought series against then-No. 5 Tennessee, which took two of three against the Aggies at Blue Bell Park. Texas State came into College Station on Tuesday having lost the previous meeting between the two schools earlier this season in San Marcos and left Aggieland with a second loss to A&M, 4-0.
Jonathan Childress was on the bump in his 11th appearance of 2021 after starting the team’s last two midweek games. In fact, he was the starter for A&M’s road win at Texas State two weeks ago and went four innings, allowing one earned run, two hits and striking out six. That win broke a six-game losing streak and started an eight-game stretch in which the Aggies went 4-4 with series against Tennessee and Arkansas and a midweek against Texas Southern.
A&M opened scoring at home Tuesday night with a two-run shot to left off the bat of Austin Bost to grab an early 2-0 lead. Ray Alejo led off the frame with a base hit before Bost brought him home. Childress worked out of a bases-loaded two-out jam to begin the evening before the runs were scored shortly afterwards.
Texas State’s starting pitcher Austin Smith only threw one more inning before being relieved by Trevis Sundgren, who dueled it out with Childress in the third and fourth innings with no runs scored by either side. After five innings on the bump, Childress was relieved by Chris Weber. The sophomore southpaw threw 92 pitches, allowed four hits, and struck out four with the win in his name.
Coach Rob Childress said his starting pitcher and Weber were great in the win and were both clutch in key moments.
“[Jonathan] Childress was fabulous getting us out of some jams, and Chris Weber came in behind him for a four-inning save and was really good,” Rob Childress said. “I’m incredibly proud of those two veteran lefties for responding and going out and doing what we needed them to do the most, and that was to eat up some innings and give some guys the day off.”
Once the Aggies and the Bobcats both got into their bullpens, their offenses hit a wall with one combined hit over the fifth and sixth innings and the top half of the seventh. Texas State’s Jonathan Martinez and Cade Medlin each threw scoreless fifth and sixth innings to keep A&M at bay with Weber striking out four in two scoreless innings. He ended up lasting the remaining four innings and allowing only one hit.
After the seventh inning stretch, Kalae Harrison woke up A&M’s mojo when he walked to lead off the inning. The freshman got to second on a sacrifice bunt from Alejo, and then to third thanks to a wild pitch. Shortly after, Austin Bost was hit by pitch to put runners on the corners with one man out for Will Frizzell.
Frizzell reached on a fielder’s choice which allowed Harrison to score with men still on the corners with one out. Hunter Coleman and Brett Minnich popped out and grounded out however to end the scoring as A&M held a 3-0 lead heading into the eighth inning.
The Aggies were able to tag on one more in the eighth on an Alejo RBI single into left that scored Coleman while Weber closed the door in the ninth to earn the 4-0 shutout win.
Jonathan Childress said the ability to throw a combined shutout between two pitchers is always fun and that it gives the staff a lot of confidence moving forward.
“It’s a huge confidence booster,” Jonathan Childress said. “It’s always what we are trying to do as a staff, and it’s good to actually do it.”
A&M travels to Starkville for a three-game set starting Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Dudy Noble Field on SEC Network+. Game 2 and 3 are scheduled for 2 p.m.