On a cold afternoon at Olsen Field, the Aggies took care of business against Houston Baptist, winning 4-1.
A&M head coach Rob Childress was excited about the all-around effort.
“Very, very proud of our team tonight,” Childress said. “Maybe the proudest I have been of them all season.”
Houston Baptist (5-3) got on board first with an RBI single to lead 1-0 after one inning of play. The Huskies pitched well, holding the powerful Aggie lineup to just one hit through three innings.
A&M (8-0) got back on track, however. In the fourth inning, Nick Banks got on base, and a ground ball double play with zero outs scored him from third to tie the contest at 1-1.
The defense and pitching stepped up for A&M when needed. With one out in the sixth and runners on the corners, Ryne Birk made a leaping snag to stop the Huskies from scoring. Jason Freeman came on to relieve starting pitcher Turner Larkins and struck out the final batter to get A&M out of the jam.
Larkins pitched 5.1 innings, and gave up seven hits, one run and struck out two batters along the way.
Later in the bottom of the inning, the Aggies scored two runs from Blake Kopetsky and Logan Nottebrok’s hits to gain a 3-1 advantage. A&M would not relinquish the lead from there. The Aggies added an insurance run in the eighth to make it 4-1.
Childress said that grinding out the win it will help the team moving forward.
“I think it is important,” Childress said. “We are going to have a lot of games like that, those grind it out type of wins. I thought our pitching and defense was fantastic. All in all, I could not be more proud of our guys. The more we can play with pressure, the better we’re going to be later in the season.”
Sophomore right fielder Nick Banks sees it as a big win for the team, especially in the cold weather.
“A win is a win,” Banks said, smiling. “Whether it’s 39 degrees or 75 and sunny, it was a big win for us.”
A&M once again got double-digit hits, having now achieved double-digit hits in seven of eight games this season. A&M continues its best start since 2006 and are now 8-0 on the season.
The Aggies will return to Olsen Field Wednesday night for another mid-week contest against the Incarnate Word Cardinals. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.