For the first time since 2011, Aggie baseball made the NCAA Tournament Super Regional. A&M and TCU faced off on the diamond for the 253rd time ever on Saturday afternoon. In what was a slugfest at the start, A&M let the game run away from them late, and ultimately fell to TCU in game one of the series by a 13-4 margin.

Aggie Head Coach Rob Childress went with Aggie ace, Grayson Long on the mound to begin the game. He was shaky from the start, having clear issues with his command, going only three full innings, and allowed four earned runs.

“[TCU] swings the bats well,” said Childress. “We wouldn’t be where we are without Grayson. It just was not his day.”

The lethal Horned Frog lineup jumped on Long quickly. He struggled with his control, and two RBI singles from Connor Wanhanen and Derek Odell would give the Frogs and early 2-0 lead in the first inning.

A&M would respond with a run of their own in the second inning, thanks to an RBI single by Jonothan Moroney, and the Aggies trailed 2-1. Moroney was a bright spot for A&M, going 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI.

Taking advantage of Long once again, the Frogs tagged the Aggies for two runs in the bottom of the second. After allowing runners to stand on the corners, an RBI double off the wall by TCU’s Jeremie Fagnan would help the Frogs to a 4-1 advantage after two frames. Keaton Jones would add a run off a sacrifice fly to extend the Frog lead to 5-1.

“We just came out, but everything fell their way.” Said senior Logan Nottebrok.

The Aggies would chip away big time in the fourth inning. An RBI single by Michael Barash, and an RBI triple by Blake Allemand made the score 5-3. A passed ball scored Allemand, and A&M trailed 5-4 after four innings.

A Keaton Jones single in the fifth gave TCU a 6-4 lead. That, however, would be minor compared to what TCU would do to the Aggie bullpen in the sixth inning.

In an ugly sixth frame, the Frogs would tore apart the Aggie pitching staff. A&M looked a little nonchalant and TCU took advantage. They would score five runs on five hits, making it look easy. A&M trailed 11-4 after the sixth inning. They went on to add two more in the eighth inning to make it 13-4.

“We just didn’t make pitches,” Childress said. “When you miss, good hitters will make you pay.”

Defense was a plague to the Aggies yet again. A&M committed two errors and looked out of it on the defensive side of the ball. Situational hitting didn’t help A&M either as they went 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position, while TCU was 9-for-16 in the same category.  

The loss means that A&M, once again, will be facing elimination. They will take on TCU in game two of the series to try and force game three on Monday. In the Super Regional era, since 1999, the Aggies have never advanced out of a Super Regional when losing game one of the series. They will look to reverse that fate in game two on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:15 pm in Fort Worth.
“We had our backs against the wall last weekend,’ said Childress. “I would expect our very best tomorrow afternoon.”