Winning a game on the road is hard — winning a game on the road against a ranked opponent is even harder.
On April 14, Texas A&M baseball defeated No. 13 ranked Georgia with a dominant eight inning performance from sophomore pitcher Nathan Dettmer and a couple home runs from the maroon and white bats.
This victory marks the Aggies’ fifth win this season against a top-25 team, their fourth win on the road.
After hitting his first homer of the season against Kentucky on April 7, graduate catcher Troy Claunch hit a solo moonshot to tie the game at one in the top of the second inning.
One inning later, junior outfielder Brett Minnich hit an RBI double to gain A&M its first lead of the game.
With the score at 2-1 in the top of the fifth, graduate outfielder Dylan Rock hit a three-run homer over the left field wall to give the Aggies a 5-1 lead and secure three of the four RBIs total the Sugarland native brought in.
“It was a close game at that point,” Rock said. “He left the change-up up, got a lot of barrel on it, carried out and gave us a good lead.”
Claunch finished the night hitting twice at five at-bats, while Rock was only able to put together one hit, however, finished with four RBIs.
Junior outfielder Jordan Thompson led the team in runs scored with three and acted as a ball-magnet after being struck twice by Georgia.
“Jordan [Thompson] got on base three times, played a good center field and got a big double,” A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “He’s a guy that put up numbers last year in the opportunity that he got to play. So, we’re trying to give him a chance.”
As for the mound, Dettmer pitched a career-high in strikeouts with nine and a career-long eight innings pitched only allowing five hits, one unearned run and did not give up a single walk.
When asked what pitch was working best for him in the SEC matchup, Dettmer said “all of it.”
“I knew it was going to be a special day,” Dettmer said. “Troy [Claunch] worked for me and my defense worked for me. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Freshman pitcher Ryan Prager relieved Dettmer in the last inning and picked up a strikeout of his own, securing an A&M victory.
The first pitch of Game 2 of the Aggies’ three-game series against No. 13 Georgia will be thrown at 5 p.m. on April 15 at Foley Field.
