The Texas A&M baseball team may be comprised of amateurs, but this weekend at the Houston College Classic, they are given the professional treatment. On Friday afternoon, the Aggies opened their tournament play with a 2-1 victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Minute Maid Park, home of the Houston Astros.
With the retractable roof open on a chilly day, junior lefthanded pitcher A.J. Minter (2-0, 0.43 ERA) took the mound for the Aggies. Minter, who was making his fourth start of the season, worked five innings, allowing four hits, one run, 0 earned runs, walking none and striking out six. The six-foot southpaw continued his strong start to the season, mixing his mid-90s fastball and big slider to keep the Cornhuskers off balance. In 21 innings this season, Minter already has 29 strikeouts. He has allowed just one earned run this year.
“Another win – we’ll take it,” Minter said. “It was a good test for us. We’re going to need this later on down the road. This shows how tough we are as a team. We are relentless, coming out all nine innings. It was a great win for Texas A&M.”
The Aggies got on the board first when J.B. Moss singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second to bring home Nick Banks. Any further rally was killed on the following pitch, however, when Blake Allemand grounded into a double play.
Nebraska (6-5) knotted the score back up in the top of the fourth on a series of unusual plays. After hitting leadoff batter Ryan Boldt with a pitch, Minter picked him off at first base, but Boldt reached second safely after being hit in the back on the throw from firstbaseman G.R. Hinsley. Minter got a strikeout and a flyout, but a single by Ben Miller scored the unearned run from second.
Ty Schlottmann, another lefty junior, entered in relief of Minter at the top of the sixth inning. Making his 10^th appearance on the young season, Schlottmann worked two scoreless frames on 24 pitches.
The booming bats of the Aggies went uncharacteristically quiet for a long stretch against Nebraska starter Chance Sinclair. After allowing a run on three hits in the second, Sinclair sat down 18 straight Aggies.
With a 1-0 count in the bottom of the eighth, junior center fielder J.B. Moss broke the streak and the tie with a home run into the Crawford Boxes down the left field line. It was Moss’ third home run of the year. Moss, the nine-hole hitter, provided two of the Aggies five hits and both of their runs batted in.
“I was fortunate to see myself in the lineup today,” Moss said. “I just told myself not to do too much, honestly. I was just trying to help the team out and to try to make something happen for the team. I was just trying to get on base; the home run was the furthest thing from my mind
Sophomore Mark Ecker worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his second save of the season.
“We’re going to be in a lot of close games,” Childress said. “When you play good people, that’s the way it’s going to be. Playing with that pressure is only going to help us as we continue to move forward as a team.”
The Aggies (14-0) are one of two undefeated teams left in Division I college baseball, sharing that distinction with 10-0 Virginia.
A&M returns to action Saturday night at Minute Maid when they face No. 8 Houston at 7 p.m.