Tuesday night, the Aggies (22-11, 5-7 SEC) faced off against Abilene Christian University (9-19, 1-14 Southland) for a mid-week match-up after a strong series win over No. 13 Auburn. Despite a slow start, A&M was able to get the gears turning and crank out a big 8-1 win over the Wildcats.
“All in all very proud,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “I think there was some frustration. We hadn’t scored, hadn’t gotten anything going and once we settled down, we got an opportunity and made the most of it.You spend so much emotion on the weekend. You’re drained mentally and physically getting through an SEC weekend. The leadership from the older guys didn’t look so pretty the first four innings but we got it together and were able to finish strong. We’re not playing our best baseball yet.”
The Maroon and White has been particularly good in mid-week games with an 8-1 record on weekdays this season, and on this particularly cloudy evening, they proved their worth. With the Wildcats’ backs up against the wall, hoping to avoid their 13 straight loss. Junior right-handed pitcher Turner Larkins made his season debut for the Aggies.
Larkins said that it was good for him to get back into the groove of things after being sick for the early part of the semester. Being back in good health, Larkins said he’s ready to help his team to the best of his ability as the Aggies try to stay hot in conference play.
“It’s good to get back out there,” Larkins said. “Still got a lot of work to do but this was a good building point. We started off SEC play a little slow but I think these last couple weeks we’ve really come together. I think we’re really starting to mature as an offense and our pitching staff is starting to mature as well. Just having both of those things clicking is going to be huge for us going forward.”
Freshman left-handed pitcher John Doxakis took over for Larkins after four innings. The Aggies then took a turn for the better while Doxakis worked quickly through his three innings, and put the Aggies track towards a potential no-hitter.
Freshman Braden Shewmake hit a three-run homer towards the train tracks that brought the Aggies to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, shifting momentum in favor of the home squad.
“We stuck to the approach coach has given us all year long,” Shewmake said. “Like tonight we rattled off 10, 11 hits again and we’re swinging well as a team, getting hot at the right time. The pitching staff is unbelievable. They’ve been awesome for a long time now. We know that anybody that goes out there, they’re going to throw strikes in the zone and make quality pitches so it’s fun to play defense behind them.”
The Aggies conceded just one hit under freshman closer Jason Ruffcorn as a groundball snuck past the guys on the dirt. A&M was still able to chain a third win to their streak, building some much needed momentum into an Easter weekend series in Tuscaloosa. First pitch is 6:00 pm against the Crimson Tide.
