While Texas A&M basketball was vanquishing Yale in the Round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament, A&M baseball lost the first game in its series against No. 22 Vanderbilt, 5-3.
The last time the Aggies and Commodores met in a weekend series, there was no question who the better team was — the Aggies completely boat-raced the Commodores, outscoring them 36-6 over the three games.
Heading into the matchup against the Black and Gold, A&M was 16-10 with a 5-4 record in Nashville, Tennessee.
In his start against Vanderbilt last season, then-redshirt sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager pitched a complete game shutout. In his seven scoreless frames, the lefty struck out ten batters, let up four hits and didn’t walk a single Commodore.
This time around, Prager’s shove day got off to a similar start. He saw and sat three batters in the first inning. After walking the leadoff man in the second, two batters flew out before Prager picked off the baserunner. Leaving the mound with all of the confidence in the world, Prager seemed like he was just getting started.
The third inning seemingly marked the beginning of the end for the Dallas native. The leadoff batter singled on the third pitch before Prager walked the second man up. With one swing of the bat, Vanderbilt senior right fielder Jacob Humphrey, the team’s top hitter, sent a shot over the outreached glove of freshman left fielder Sam Erickson to give the Commodores a 3-2 lead.
A&M’s defensive struggles continued in the fourth inning with an RBI single from Vanderbilt sophomore catcher Mac Rose to increase its lead to two.
Down but not yet out, freshman standout RF Terrance Kiel II brought home a run on an error to cut the Commodores’ lead to one. The Aggie to cross home plate was graduate third baseman Wyatt Henseler, who recorded a single and two runs on the evening.
Henseler has previously said he’s been a magnet for pitchers his entire career. He has been hit by pitches nine times this season, the same number of times he has reached base on balls.
Prager continued through the seventh inning for the Aggies and finished with four strikeouts and a career-high nine hits in the loss, moving his record to 2-1 this season.
On the bright side for the Maroon and White, junior center fielder Jace LaViolette fought out of his slump. The Katy native, who had the highest expectation of anyone on the team, has failed to meet the standards set from his phenomenal performance last season. In 2025 he had batted .268 with only five home runs going into the weekend, a significant step down from the last campaign. On Thursday night, he recorded his sixth home run of the season in the first inning to give the Aggies their early lead.
A&M and Vanderbilt are set to clash again on Friday at 6 p.m., and junior LHP Justin Lamkin will get the start for the Aggies.
