Aggie fans that showed up to Olsen Field Tuesday night expecting to see the baseball team avenge a 6-4 loss to Texas State on March 7, left the park disappointed as the Bobcats rolled to a 5-1 victory and a season sweep of the Aggies.
Texas State used eight pitchers on its way to the win. The win was awarded to Jarod Garza, though he only pitched one inning.
“I thought we did a great job on the mound with so many different pitchers and relief guys that needed to get into the ball game,” Texas State head coach Ty Harrington said. “I thought that they did a fantastic job.”
The Texas State offense came through in the clutch as well. All five of the Bobcat’s runs came off of just seven hits and two outs.
“The separation in the game was our ability to get base hits with RBIs with two outs,” Harrington said. “That was the difference in the ball game.”
The Bobcats scored three of their runs in the fourth inning off of Aggie starting pitcher Kyle Nicholson. Texas State second baseman Pat Crumpton hit the two-out single that led to the first two Bobcat runs. After the throw to the plate, he advanced to second before scoring on a double by catcher Dawid Bednarek.
“I battled and battled and got a pitch that I could handle,” Crumpton said about his fourth inning at bat. “It was huge for us … especially with two outs.”
A&M scored its lone run with two outs in the ninth inning. Jake Vasques started off the rally with a walk. Second baseman Jess Buenger followed with a bunt single, and Jose Salazar recorded the run batted in when he singled scoring Vasques. The rally fell short when Bobcat pitcher Kyle Gembler got A&M catcher Craig Stinson to pop up to left field.
Aggie head coach Rob Childress said that even though A&M lost, he did see some positives in the Aggies’ play.
“I thought our pitching staff was outstanding,” he said. “We had a good night on the mound.”
Childress also took part of the responsibility for the Bobcats’ three-run fourth inning. He said that Nicholson pitched well for the first eleven outs, but he should have pulled him one batter earlier.
“That’s my fault,” Childress said.
Nicholson did record the loss for the Aggies, who fell to 19-17 for the season. Texas State improved to 17-20 with the win.