An offensive onslaught in the sixth inning helped the No. 12 Aggies (10-3) snap a two-game losing streak 16-7, over UT-Rio Grande Valley (10-3) at Olsen Field Tuesday night.
Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, A&M was leading 7-6, until they broke the game wide open by scoring nine runs in the frame.
Before the big inning of offensive display was over, every hitter in the A&M lineup had crossed the plate. Additionally, seven of the nine hitters in the line up drove in runs in the sixth. The maroon and white managed to string together multiple hits in the inning with seven of the nine hits happening with two outs.
Austin Homan, who drove in a run in the sixth with a suicide squeeze, said he was proud of how his teammates swung the bat with two away in the sixth inning.
“We call it a big hit with two outs and you just have to go up there and compete,” Homan said. One of our things, one of our pillars is attitude — with attitude we’re going to compete and that’s what a lot of the guys did there at the end of the game.”
The freshmen for A&M swung the bats very well Logan Foster, Cole Bedford and Braden Shewmake all had two hits and drove in a two runs.
Foster, who also scored three runs and is the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, said the team was looking for a bounce back win after losing two tough games over the weekend to No. 1 TCU and Baylor.
“This weekend was a heartbreaker, but everyone was hungry, even yesterday to come back and get ready and get things rolling again,” Foster said. “It all started in that first inning… we had a great approach at the plate and everyone was ready to go.”
Both teams would trade runs in the first two innings. The Vaqueros got on the scoreboard right away with a lead-off walk by Jose Garcia, a single by Austin Siener and a fly out that scored a run. After tagging up to third on a fly out to right field, Garcia took advantage of wild throw past third base by Foster to take the lead 1-0.
Shewmake would start the action by driving in Choruby with a single. The Aggies would load the bases a few times. Blake Kopetsky would drive in a run with a groundout and Cam Blake, who got the nod at DH, would cap off the scoring by driving two runs with a single to lead 4-1 after one inning.
UT-RGV would quickly erase the deficit in the second, marking the end of starter John Doxakis’s night. After Doxakis issued a walk along with a throwing error by Homan, UTRGV would see one run cross the plate. Garcia would tie the game 4-4 with a two-run home run.
Doxakis, who pitched just an inning and two thirds, gave up four runs with one of them earned. However, Doxakis was ultimately hurt by walks and defensive miscues behind him. Doxakis threw 42 pitches and gave up three free passes.
A&M head coach Rob Childress said tonight wasn’t an ideal start from Doxakis and he’ll need some time to recover to get back to pitching at a high level.
“No it wasn’t and we’ve ridden Dox really hard this year and you can see that tonight,” Childress said. “We need to hit the reset button and get him fresh again and pitching like he can. That’s my fault.”
A tandem of relievers would follow Doxakis, Lee May Gonzalez pitched an inning and two thirds giving up a run. Jason Ruffcorn and Cason Sherrod both threw an inning and a third with Sherrod earning the win. Tristen Bayless, his first outing of the season, finished off the game by throwing three innings, giving up one run and earning a save.
The Vaqueros would tack on runs in the fourth and the fifth off of Gonzalez and Ruffcorn.
Gonzalez would surrender a double and walk before exiting in the fourth, and Ruffcorn entered the game and gave up another walk to load the bases. Leal, the ensuing batter would hit an RBI groundout to tie the game 5-5.
Following a walk and a base hit, a sacrifice bunt and sac fly would see a run cross the plate for UT-RGV, using small ball to score in the fifth off of Ruffcorn, taking a 6-5 lead.
UT-RGV saw its final runner cross the plate in the seventh inning off Bayless, after Conrad McMahon had a hit, a stolen base and scored on a RBI groundout from his teammate Cris Castillo.
Kyle Richardson will get the ball in Wednesday’s matchup against UT-Rio Grande Valley and will be looking for his first win as a starter. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SEC Network Plus.
