In their earliest start time of the season, the Aggie baseball team got off to a slow start against Alabama. Sloppy play and errors led to early runs in their first action of the SEC Tournament. However, as it has displayed all year, A&M showed their resiliency once again, overcoming an early three run deficit to earn a 4-3 win over the Crimson Tide. The win moves the Aggies into the winners bracket in the SEC Tournament.
Alabama (31-27) jumped on the Aggie mistakes early. In the second inning, after an error by Ryne Birk on a sure double play ball, the Tide would manage two RBI singles to take an early 2-0 lead, and they led 3-0 after the top of the third inning.
The Aggies (44-10) would not be denied. With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, A&M manufactured a big three run inning, thanks to RBI from Birk, Mitchell Nau, and Logan Taylor, to tie the game 3-3 after three innings.
Grayson Long was shaky to start the game, but gained command as the game went along to make for another fine outing. He worked a solid six innings, allowing two earned runs on six hits. Long struck out 10 Crimson Tide batters in the effort, bringing his total to 100 strikeouts on the season. In relief of Long, Ryan Hendrix came on from the bullpen, working two scoreless, hitless innings of baseball to keep the game knotted 3-3.
Nick Banks had the biggest hit of the ballgame for A&M. With two on in the bottom of the eighth, Banks smacked an RBI single up the middle to score Nau for the first lead of the game for A&M, a 4-3 advantage they took to the ninth inning.
The game would become interesting in the ninth inning. Alabama, with two on and one out, had the opportunity to score the game tying run with a single, but a fantastic throw from left field by Logan Taylor would gun down the runner at the plate to save the game for A&M. Andrew Vinson went on to record the final out and earn his fourth save of the season.
The win moves A&M one step closer to a national seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies will face off at 4:30 pm on Thursday afternoon, and they will take on the winner between Vanderbilt and Missouri.