The Texas A&M baseball team started strong and never looked back at Olsen Field Wednesday night, beating Lamar University 6-3 in a game that was never in question after the first inning. Aggie junior left fielder Scott Beerer led the way for the Aggies with four hits, two of them doubles, and three RBI in the game.
Beerer has been working with Assistant Coach Dave Coleman on his hitting and said he thinks he found something he likes.
“I opened my stance and I stand up a lot more; it’s allowed me to stay back a lot better,” Beerer said. “Everything is slowing down for me right now. It’s going really good right now.”
A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said he has seen Beerer’s improvement at the plate in his last few games.
“In (Beerer’s) last 16 at bats he has a tremendous batting average,” Johnson said. “He used all the field tonight. He got himself into some two strike counts and still got some hits. It was a good outing for him.”
Aggie junior left-hander Kyle Parcus got the start for the Aggies and faced nine hitters in three innings of work. Parcus allowed one hit and struck out four.
“I saw how they were swinging and saw what I needed to do and then just got into a groove,” Parcus said.
The Aggies got things started early with a base clearing three-run double by Beerer down the left field line off a 2-2 pitch.
Patton scored from first on Beerer’s double on a close play at the plate, giving the Aggies an early 3-0 lead.
“That was big, if you can score early and stretch it out right away and then have your pitcher go out and get three up and three down, that really sets the tone and I thought that was big for us.”
Beerer added another double down the right field line in the bottom of the third and finished the night 4-4, with two doubles and three RBI.
A&M extended its lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth inning when junior shortstop Matt Alexander drove in freshman infielder Cliff Pennington with a two-out double to the wall.
Lamar picked up a run in the top of the fifth off A&M senior reliever Dwayne Pollok. Winn led off the inning for the Cardinals with a double into right-centerfield. Cardinals catcher Matt Gowan drove in Winn from second on a two-out single, cutting the lead to 4-1.
The Aggies scored one run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the bottom of the sixth, giving them a 6-1 lead.
Lamar threatened late in the top of the ninth after a two-run home run by Winn, cutting the Aggie lead to 6, but got no closer.
Lamar Head Coach Jim Gilligan said he hopes they can bounce back from Wednesday’s loss.
“We didn’t swing the bat like we were capable of,” Gilligan said. “We didn’t swing the bat like we needed to. A&M did a good job of pitching to us.”
With the win A&M improves to 21-8 for the season. The Aggies will travel to Baylor University on Friday to start a three-game series that will return to College Station on Saturday and Sunday.