The Aggie baseball team had been struggling before going to Hoover, Alabama for the SEC Tournament, but the Aggies won their third game of the tournament after knocked off No. 21 Auburn 4-1 Thursday night.
The Aggies had previously beaten Vanderbilt 3-1 in game one and No. 10 Georgia 7-0 in the first two games of the tournament.
Auburn started potential No. 1 pick Casey Mize on the mound, but the Aggies muscled some runs across on the Tiger ace. Aggie sophomore starter John Doxakis was dominant from the start on Thursday night, tossing a no-hitter through seven innings against the Tiger lineup, outdueling Mize. Doxakis nearly gave up a home run in the top of the third, but was saved by his junior right fielder Allonte Wingate as he robbed a home run.
The Aggies got on the board in the third when freshman center fielder Zach DeLoach singled to score junior third baseman George Janca. A&M then added two more in the sixth when sophomore shortstop Braden Shewmake doubled to score two runs. The Tigers broke up the no-hitter and the shutout in the top of the eighth off of Doxakis after a double off the wall scored the runner from second. After Auburn got on the board, A&M added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when DeLoach hit a sac-fly to score Janca. Auburn attempted a comeback in the ninth, adding a run, but ultimately nothing doing for the Tigers as Aggie junior closer Nolan Hoffman shut down the Tigers.
The final line for Doxakis was 7.1 IP, giving up just one run on two hits and struck out 10. Hoffman got the save as he tossed 1.2 innings, giving up two hits and one run, while striking out two.
The Aggie offense was led by DeLoach, Shewmake, and Janca. DeLoach went 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored, Shewmake went 1-3 with the two RBI double, and Janca went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. The Auburn offense only managed four hits on the game, but was led by senior center fielder Jay Estes and sophomore left fielder Conor Davis. Estes went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored and Davis went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
The Aggies advance to the single-elimination semifinals with the win and will play the winner of Auburn and Ole Miss Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m.