Following a sweep of then-No. 6 Vanderbilt, the Texas A&M baseball team captured a unanimous No. 1 national ranking on Monday, April 15 while tacking on a pair of individual accolades.
Previously ranked No. 3 by D1Baseball, the Aggies played lights out to secure three wins over the Commodores last weekend at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. The 4-0 week included a Tuesday walk-off of UTSA that upped A&M’s record to 32-4 with an 11-4 mark in SEC play. The Aggies are third in the conference standings behind No. 3 Kentucky and No. 2 Arkansas.
The Maroon and White outscored Vanderbilt 36-6 from Friday to Sunday, including a 24-0 scoring margin after the first two games. The Aggies banged out 33 hits with nine home runs, and the 36 runs were the program’s most all-time in an SEC weekend.
A series loss by the Razorbacks, who entered the weekend ranked first in the nation, coupled with No. 2 Clemson’s two losses to NC State provided an opportunity for A&M to make a jump in the rankings. The sweep was the Aggies’ first over a ranked opponent since 2016, and it’s the team’s best 15-game start to SEC action since 2015.
For their efforts in the four wins, junior RHP Chris Cortez was named SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week while freshman 3B Gavin Grahovac took home SEC Freshman of the Week honors.
Cortez bookended the four-game week for A&M with two extended relief appearances. On April 9, he held the Roadrunners at bay with four scoreless frames as the Aggies engineered a comeback. Cortez allowed just two hits and a walk while striking out seven.
On April 14, the Las Vegas native once again stabilized the game with A&M trailing Vanderbilt 4-0 in the second inning. Cortez pitched the next 4.1 frames, keeping the Commodores scoreless as the Aggies scored nine unanswered runs. He gave up just one hit with a walk and a hit batter while punching out eight. Cortez took home the win in both games to raise his record to 5-1 and lower his ERA to 2.32.
Grahovac provided reinforcements at the plate, collecting six hits in 15 at-bats with a pair of home runs against Vanderbilt. Now third on the team with 13 long balls, he added four walks and scored eight runs. The California product’s .400 batting clip raised his season average to .327 with a .423 on-base percentage.
A&M takes on Air Force on Tuesday, April 16 at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park with a 4 p.m. first pitch, then heads to No. 18 Alabama in a series beginning Thursday, April 18.
