After a rebound Wednesday night victory over Texas Southern, Texas A&M baseball continued its offensive revival with a monster 19-0 run-rule win over New Mexico State.
These offensive fireworks came in the wake of a superstitious attempt to break free from the batting lulls that have kept the Aggies from playing their best. A handful of players, including senior infielder Gavin Kash and junior outfielder Jace LaViolette, buzzed their hair as a way to “free” up their batting attack.
“I’m not sure how much it has to do with our on the field performance,” coach Mike Earley said. “But I mean when you got guys hitting like they are, it’s hard to say it’s not working.”
It began with a “ball five” chant to greet junior right-handed pitcher Jack Turner as he took the mound in Aggieland, which rattled the New Yorker as he faced the Bragan Slugger Player of the Week in graduate infielder Wyatt Henseler. Another four-pitch walk put Henseler on base as the crowd awoke into yet another “ball five” chant, spelling certain doom for the visitors from Las Cruces.
The switch from outfield back to infield for Kash has paid dividends, as the spark returned to the Texas Tech transfer’s bat. His RBI single captured the first run for the Aggies, while an error and a pair of base hits brought in two more runners, giving A&M a 3-0 lead going into the second inning.
Bullpen pitching has been a weak point for the Maroon and White this season. However, their Friday ace, redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Ryan Prager, has continued his dominance on the mound in all four of his contests, surrendering only one earned run in that span. A quick 1-2-3 inning in the first exemplified the Dallas native’s efficiency, as he did not let up a hit until the fourth inning.
“My job is to attack batters and get outs,” Prager said. “It’s a lot easier when you got everyone taking care of business, but we always got our guys giving their full effort everyday.”
The second inning was reminiscent of the first for Prager, as he retired the trio of batters he faced in quick succession. Turner’s inning looked just like his previous as well — base hits and free passes.
A two-RBI double from junior shortstop Kaeden Kent had the Aggie base runners looking like a relay team, neck and neck as both crossed home safely. Henseler seemed to enjoy his walk but was more fond of his run, a 387-foot bomb into left field that scorched through the Friday night lights at 100 miles per hour.
Renewed sharpness on routine plays proved to be a difference maker for the Aggies’ dominance over their New Mexico State counterparts. Double plays and groundout mishaps were absent in their commanding victory, and as a result, the bottom of the inning always seemed to arrive rather quickly for the Fightin’ Farmers.
By the third inning, Turner had already faced the top of the order three times and suffered the wrath of a surging Kent. His hard hit to shallow right was dropped by the NMSU shortstop, giving the green light for junior outfielder Jamal George to high-tail it in for the Aggies’ eighth run. The scoring would not stop there, since junior OF Jace LaViolette finally broke through his home run drought with a high-arching 105 mph heater into Section 12.
With the Katy native’s 54th time going yard, he is now three away from being Texas A&M’s stand-alone home run record holder.
“It would mean a lot to me to break that record, but at the same time, the focus is putting everything together,” LaViolette said. “We’re still reaching where we can be as a team and finding out what we can be.”
The threat of a run-rule defeat already haunted the New Mexico State dugout in the third inning, a fear personified in Prager’s 200th career strikeout, which retired the first batter of the fourth. Though he surrendered his first pair of hits, the lefty had a strong supporting cast in the Aggie defense, who continued to show improvement from early season woes and kept the game at 10-0.
The Maroon and White offense showed signs of its true potential all night, where extra base hits became the norm in the batting order. Every Aggie batter recorded a hit, while newcomers made themselves at home, with the likes of Kash and freshman OF Terrence Kiel II each recording a pair of doubles.
“You take every day day-by-day knowing this could be the one where you can break through,” Kash said. “The hard work is what creates success. The shift back to first base is great, and it loosens me up and it spreads.”
By the fourth inning, the number of “Ball 5” chants surpassed the number of NMSU hits when the Aggies tacked on their twelfth run. LaViolette was up to bat for the fourth time, bringing home two more runners and giving A&M a two-touchdown lead.
Kash’s reign of terror could not be stopped when he, too, faced a bases-loaded situation. Like all Aggie hitters Friday night, the Sour Lake native answered the call to action, this time with a 392-foot grand slam deep into the stands of Section 12. New Mexico State’s only answer was a 1-2-3 inning as nothing seemed to go right for the visitors.
The bottom of the fifth was a return to Earth for A&M, who endured its very first scoreless inning. However, it wasn’t without a fight, as two runners were able to get on base before New Mexico State was finally able to corral Kent.
Prager enjoyed an 18-run cushion as he continued to play at a high level, fighting through desperate pinch-hitting and offensive changes for New Mexico State. Their search for answers was to no avail, as no runner found themselves past second base with Prager on the mound.
The bottom of the sixth inning would complete the scoring for the Aggies as fireworks echoed from the Davis Diamond, with Kiel getting the last word in as his RBI single brought in the 19th run for A&M.
New Mexico State’s aim to get nine runs in the seventh to extend the game showed too little too late when two runners were left stranded on base, and in less than two and a half hours, Prager dismantled his opposition in his second career shutout game.
The Aggies look to capture their third-straight series victory in a 2 p.m. match against New Mexico State on Saturday, March 8th.
