AUSTIN – It was a valiant comeback, but simply not enough as Texas A&M saw its season come to an end with a 9-7 loss to Indiana Sunday afternoon at Disch-Falk Field.
Indiana lit its ignition from the beginning, notching a nine spot in the first inning. For the second day in a row, the A&M starter was rattled as senior Kaylor Chafin went just 0.1 innings allowing six runs on five hits after facing seven batters.
“Some balls were up and out over the plate a little bit, but sometimes you’ve got to tip your hat to a really good lineup,” Childress said of Chafin’s outing.
Things escalated when Indiana’s Matt Lloyd launched a three-run homer off reliever Cason Sherrod with two outs, putting the Hoosiers ahead 9-0 after the top of the first.
The Aggies battled mightily though, cutting their deficit to 9-6 after seven innings. In the ninth A&M had the winning run at the plate, but grounded into its fourth double-play of the game, ending any chance of a miracle.
A&M was unable to deliver clutch hits that would keep momentum going. In the first and fourth innings, the Aggies grounded into inning-ending double plays with runners on the corners. And in the fifth, Logan Foster was thrown out at the plate on an aggressive move.
“You look back at those moments, in the first and the third, we’ve got runners on third base with less than two outs and we aren’t able to cash in, they make a great play in the fifth with two outs, threw out a runner at home plate,” Childress said. “Proves to be the difference in the game.”
After the first inning, the Aggie pitching staff was stout. Sherrod eventually went 4.2 innings only allowing one more hit. He gave way to Nolan Hoffman in the sixth, who continued to limit the Hoosiers’ production at the plate and finished the remainder of the game.
A&M’s relievers scattered six hits in the final eight innings, giving the Aggies an opportunity to make a comeback.
“Incredible performance to hang eight zeroes on the board, threw eight innings of shutout baseball to give our team a chance,” Childress said.
Childress made the decision to roll with Chafin over freshman lefty Asa Lacy, one he still stood by after the loss.
“If I was going to lose a game today, there’s nobody else I wanted on the mound but Kaylor Chafin and Cason Sherrod,” Childress said. “They gave everything they had … As disappointed as I am, I can go to sleep tonight knowing those are the two guys we wanted on the mound.”
In the end, A&M ran out of luck as it desperately needed some Olsen Magic on the road.
“When you’re down 9-0, you’ve got to be perfect,” Childress said. “We were as close to perfect as you could be and we weren’t perfect. We were awful close and that’s why we didn’t win the game today.”
There will be no return trip to the College World Series for the maroon and white, but the future is relatively bright in Aggieland as A&M will not lose any key position players this year.
“A lot of the freshmen got a lot of experience this year, and in the sophomore class there’s a lot of guys who stepped up this year and were leaders and think that’s going to be great for us moving forward,” Foster said.