Texas A&M baseball lost both games in its doubleheader on Saturday against No. 5 Mississippi State, falling 3-2 in the first game and 10-5 in the second. The two losses dropped A&M’s season record to 24-22 and its SEC record to 5-16. The Aggies are also now on a three-game losing streak.
A&M coach Rob Childress said in Game 1 they just couldn’t find a way to break through and get a big hit off of the Mississippi State pitching staff in what ended up being a one-run loss.
“Game 1 was a 3-2 game, Bryce Miller isn’t real sharp but he finds a way to wiggle in and out of jams,” Childress said. “[He] made pitches when he had to and Mason Ornelas came in and gave us a shot. We just couldn’t get a big hit and knock it down.”
The first three and a half innings in Game 1 were scoreless on both sides until Mississippi State scored on a Miller wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth to give the Bulldogs an early 1-0 lead.
Mississippi State increased their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth due to an A&M fielding error. Starting pitcher Miller struggled in his five innings of work. He gave up a total of eight walks and five hits but only gave up one earned run. The loss dropped his record to 2-2 on the season.
A&M scored a run in both the sixth and seventh innings on an Austin Bost solo home run and Ray Alejo single. Each player had a pair of hits in the game in what were the only bright spot for the Aggies on offense. Other A&M players only combined for a total of three hits.
Mississippi State’s pitching staff did a great job of keeping A&M off-balanced and combined to strike out 10 A&M batters.
In relief, Mason Ornelas threw three scoreless innings to keep the Aggies in the game but it was all for naught. Mississippi State went on to close out the game and win 3-2.
In Game 2 of the doubleheader, Childress said the Aggies failed to capitalize on many chances to score while also making several defensive mistakes.
“In Game 2, we have the base loaded, one out with the chance to cash in. We don’t do that,” Childress said. “Nathan Dettmer wasn’t very sharp and every time we scored we went right back out there and allowed them to score. Chris Weber did a great job hanging some zeros and giving us an opportunity to get back in the game, and make it a 5-3 game. Just like that in the seventh inning, we can’t get off the field and make some mistakes defensively and give up four unearned runs. We get off the field there and it’s a 5-5 game and we’re still playing.”
After a scoreless first inning on both sides, each team scored two runs in the second and one run in the third to make it a 3-3 game going into the fourth inning. A&M’s offense came from RBI singles from Will Frizzell, Bost and Mikey Hoehner.
In the bottom of the fourth, Mississippi State scored two more runs off Dettmer before he was pulled from the game. Mississippi State led 5-3 going into the fifth inning.
A&M starting pitcher Dettmer, like Miller from the previous game, had a difficult time keeping Mississippi State off the bases. In 3.1 innings of work he gave up nine hits and a total of five runs. Weber came on in relief and was able to throw a three scoreless innings to keep the Aggies in the game.
Weber came back out for the bottom of the seventh inning, but defensive miscues from A&M led to Mississippi State scoring four unearned runs off Weber to increase its lead to 9-3 going into the top half of the eighth.
A&M scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth on another RBI single from Bost and a sacrifice fly from pinch hitter Hunter Coleman to make it a 9-5 game. However, Mississippi State responded by scoring a run off A&M reliever Trevor Werner to increase their lead to 10-5.
Mississippi State would go on to close out the game in the next half inning to give them the doubleheader and series sweep. The final score was 10-5.
Up next for the Aggies is a Tuesday road game at UT Arlington. First pitch at Globe Life Park is set for 6:30 p.m.