With an 8-4 defeat on Saturday, No. 5 Florida swept Texas A&M baseball in the Aggies’ SEC-opening series.
A&M went into Gainesville on an 11-game win streak, but dropped the run on Thursday in a 13-4 loss. A&M was outscored 24-9 on the series as a whole.
Florida took a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first against redshirt sophomore pitcher Jonathan Childress. Childress struck out five batters and allowed four runs, three earned, in three innings pitched and is now 2-2 on the season.
“I just didn’t feel like [Jonathan] was an aggressor early in the game,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “I felt like he got it going a little bit and there in the third inning he left a pitch up out over the plate and they hit a three-run home run. “
The Aggies were held scoreless until the sixth-inning where senior Bryce Blaum hit an RBI single to bring the score to 5-1. Blaum was 3-of-4 on the day, joining junior designated hitter Austin Bost who was 3-of-5 with an RBI.
Sophomore Mason Ornelas took to the mound in the fourth inning, striking out four batters while allowing four runs in 3.1 innings. A&M closed in on Florida’s lead in the seventh with Bost’s RBI and one more run to make the score 5-3. Florida quickly fired back in the bottom of the inning with two runs of its own.
“We certainly had our opportunity today,” Rob Childress said. “I think we had 15 at-bats with a runner in scoring position. We just weren’t able to get a key hit and they did.”
Bost led the Aggies’ offense through the series at 7-of-13 over the three games with two total RBIs.
A&M will take on Rice on Tuesday, March 23 before the weekend’s SEC series against Georgia. A&M is currently sitting at 0-3 in the SEC, the conference which holds the top five teams in the NCAA.
“This weekend needs to be a learning experience for us,” Rob Childress said. “We’ve got to be the aggressor. We’ve got to be on our toes. We’ve got to be our best at every facet of the game and we certainly weren’t this weekend.”