After thunderstorms canceled Friday’s opening series game with Arkansas, the Texas A&M baseball team’s bats responded with a thunderstorm of their own in a 13-6 victory in the first of a Saturday doubleheader at Olsen Field.

In the home half of the first inning, leadoff hitter Blake Allemand started the Aggie charge with a double to right center field. After Nick Banks struck out swinging, Mitchell Nau drew a walk and then Logan Taylor fulfilled his cleanup duties, launching one over the fence in left center field for a three-run homer.

Taylor’s bat remained hot into the bottom of the third when he added a RBI double to right center, scoring Nick Banks. A Hunter Melton single to right field then scored Taylor to extend A&M’s lead to 5-0.

A six-run, bottom of the fifth effort, featuring RBI’s from four different Aggies, including Taylor and Melton, forced an Arkansas pitching change and all but sealed the victory as the Aggies headed to the top of the sixth up 11-0.

Just as it seemed time to glance ahead to game number two later that evening, a bit of mayhem struck the Aggies in the top of the sixth.

The Aggies (35-3, 12-3 SEC) starting pitcher Grayson Long had dealt five innings of scoreless, one-hit baseball and with six strikeouts before taking the mound in the sixth. He then proceeded to give up six runs on five hits, including a grand slam credited to Arkansas’s Michael Bernal, which narrowed the score to 11-6.

Long did not finish the inning nor did he get any outs prior to being relieved by Jason Freeman and eventually, Ty Schlottmann, who entered in the same inning after Freeman surrendered back-to-back hits to his first two batters. Schlottmann, however, got the Aggies out of the bind with a fly out and two strikeouts.

The Aggies got a run back in the seventh and eighth innings to re-extend their lead to 13-6. Relief pitcher Andrew Vinson effectively finished out the game, taking the mound in the seventh and delivering the remaining three innings in scoreless fashion with six strikeouts and no hits to clinch the Aggie victory.
Game two of the doubleheader starts at 7:30pm tonight.