Texas A&M baseball edged out Sam Houston in a 14-inning battle of offensive versatility in its final exhibition game on Sunday, Oct. 30.
Following an exhibition win against Lamar and a handful of inter-squad matchups in the last two weeks, the Aggies spent their Sunday afternoon attempting to refine their skills and work through any kinks that may hinder the team’s success during the regular season in the spring. Many of these assets and errors could only be noticed, polished and perfected through competitive gameplay — which necessitated a visit from Sam Houston State University.
With junior starting pitcher Nathan Dettmer taking the mound and power hitters sophomore Hunter Haas, junior Jack Moss and junior Trevor Werner leading off for the Aggies, the team was able to start strong and take an early 2-1 lead.
However, Sam Houston’s offense seemed to have no trouble figuring out Dettmer’s pitches, and back-to-back solo home runs allowed the opposing team to take the lead.
When sophomore Troy Wansing took the mound for the maroon and white in the top of the third inning, the Bearkats continued their onslaught of powerful swings and widened the gap.
“They out-pitched us in the first seven innings,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “I thought we were a little bit better at the end, but that was certainly the most disappointing part.”
Seven innings into the game, Sam Houston had seen four pitchers and scored seven runs. While there was offensive action from the Fightin’ Farmers — Werner doubling to send Moss home and a solo home run from senior outfielder Jordan Thompson — it was clear that the Bearkats had a slight advantage with a score of 7-6.
Sophomore pitchers Brad Rudis and Ty Sexton, followed by freshman pitcher Shane Sdao, were successful in keeping the Aggies in the game, only allowing one more run from the opposing team in the 10th inning.
In the bottom of the 13th inning, junior catcher Hank Bard singled off of the glove of Sam Houston’s shortstop, and A&M junior Stanley Tucker tied the game with another swing of the bat. Freshman Kaeden Kent then doubled, allowing two runs to score, giving the maroon and white their first lead of the game since the first inning.
Though the team secured the win with Kent’s double, there were many areas in which they wished they had performed better.
“There were a lot of good things that went on,” Moss said. “There is obviously a lot of room for improvement, but we’ve got an entire offseason to work on that stuff and get ready to go for this spring.”
Schlossnagle echoed a similar sentiment — if the season started tomorrow, he feels that his group of players would not be ready to take the field quite yet. But with some work in the offseason, he trusts that they will get to where they need to be.
“We’ve improved overall as a team, and there’s just so much room for individual improvement,” Schlossnagle said. “When we do that, we’ll be an even better team.”
Through the exhibition games, the team has established its top players, Schlossnagle said, but finding the right pitchers is going to take more time.
While the coaches take the offseason to determine their starting pitchers and opening day lineup, the team will be spending the offseason training in the batting cages and building bonds within the locker room.
“We’ve got a little more adversity to face together before we get to be like last [season’s] team, but we’re just going to continue to strive to get better, and that’s all we can do,” Moss said.
The Aggies will begin their season with a series against Seattle, beginning on Friday, Feb. 17, in front of their home crowd at Blue Bell Park.