After splitting its first Southeastern Conference games, No. 22 Texas A&M baseball fell to No. 9 Oklahoma on Sunday, March 15, after an evening defined by situational at-bats, violent wind gusts and lackluster pitching from both parties. Despite a game-tying surge in the late innings, the Fightin’ Farmers lost 12-11.
While the elements can work in favor of crops, droughts and even some coniferous trees, baseball simply does not make the cut on the list of things benefitting from weather conditions. From the Aggies’ first out to their 27th, the flags just outside Kimrey Family Stadium were slapping in the cloudless sky as winds reached as much as 50 miles per hour.
Such conditions rattled the otherwise steady arm of sophomore right-handed pitcher Aiden Sims, a young starter who has been one of the Maroon and White’s most productive players on the mound with a sub-2.00 ERA.
The same luck and consistency seemed to flee in the wind, as Sims allowed seven hits, six earned runs and walked four batters through 2.2 innings of work. Two strikeouts is all the Forney native could muster, with the Sooners dealing eight runs of damage against the sophomore righty.
In the chaos of the first three innings, Oklahoma slashed eight hits and at one point held a 6-0 advantage over A&M. But with such a potent offense, the Aggies were more than just a force to reckon with. At the top of the third, sophomore catcher Bear Harrison knocked a double into left field, followed by back-to-back singles from freshman shortstop Boston Kellner and sophomore right fielder Terrence Kiel II for the Aggies’ first run of the evening.
Shortly after, junior center fielder Caden Sorrell joined in on the singles party with one of his own, scoring Kellner. After a fielder’s choice and a flyout nearly stopped the Aggies’ advance, a walk and senior left fielder Jake Duer’s two-RBI single put head coach Michael Earley’s squad within two runs at 6-4.
But for every A&M punch, an Oklahoma haymaker lay waiting. Sims’ day ended shortly after it began when he surrendered a two-run homer to senior LF Trey Gambill, and while Sorrell scored a run the following inning, the same trend continued from the first to the ninth for the Aggies.
Three errors were also the Maroon and White’s undoing, as the jetstream kept routine fly balls and pick-off attempts offline, one such case scoring two Sooners as a host of Aggies were left searching for a ball that landed in the midst of dazed defenders.
However, even in the face of adversity, Earley’s squad did not go quietly into the night. Every attempt Oklahoma had to pull away seemed to have an A&M response, none more emphatic than in the top of the eighth inning.
After a trade of blows pushed the home-turf defenders’ lead to 11-7, the resilient Aggies came to the plate with an intention to get back into the swing of things. Kellner and junior second baseman Chris Hacopian both made it on base thanks to a walk and a fielder’s choice, putting Sorrell in position to take action with his A&M RBI-leading bat.
The top MLB draft prospect did just that with a double down the right-field line, scoring a run before the Aggies had three runners on with two outs. Duer, already hot off his early two-RBI single, knocked a base-clearing double down the left field line and tied the contest, 11-11.
But like a perfectly-blown bubble, some comebacks have a short life. Tasked with holding off a go-ahead run at the bottom of the eight, senior RHP Grant Cunningham took the mound with a decision in play. The former Washington Huskie took care of his first batter, but what happened between the next two outs condemned the Aggies to their first SEC series loss.
Cunningham let up a pair of singles and a walk to load the bases. By the time he achieved his second out, junior third baseman Camden Johnson was at bat, hopeful to bring the potential game-winning run across. The Boerne High School product did so off a four-pitch walk, and Cunningham retired the last batter but not before Oklahoma took back the lead, 12-11.
Down to their last three outs, the Aggies couldn’t get a man aboard as Harrison, Kellner and Kiel went down in order, and A&M lost the series, 12-11.
A&M will return to Olsen Field against Texas State on Tuesday, March 17, at 6 p.m. as it will strive for revenge against the Bobcats after faltering a season ago at home.
