Texas A&M baseball played in its final nonconference game on Tuesday before SEC play this weekend where the Aggies defeated Houston 9-4.
After a undefeated 10-game home stand, A&M traveled to Houston and expanded its win streak to 11. Houston brought in a run in the first inning, the first time A&M has allowed one all season, but A&M quickly fired back off the bat of freshman shortstop Kalae Harrison that went for a grand slam.
“It felt great,” Harrison said. “I was able to put a good swing on it. It was a little confusing when I was running down to first base because [the left fielder] jumped up and nobody knew if he caught it or not. It was amazing.”
The home run was Harrison’s second at the collegiate level. Spurred by a batter hit by pitch, a double and a walk, the bases were loaded for Harrison with no outs. Houston pitchers would walk two more batters before retiring the inning with the score at 4-1 in A&M’s favor.
Free bases and patience at the plate aided A&M’s offense as eight batters were walked and three were hit by pitches. Junior Austin Bost sent a two-run home run into left field in the top of the fourth inning, padding A&M’s lead to 6-1.
“Those guys [Bost and sophomore outfielder Logan Britt] have been great for the last two weeks,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. There’s not a lot of holes in that lineup right now and it’s certainly because of those two guys.”
Houston fired back quickly with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth off of junior pitcher Chris Weber. Britt responded in the top of the sixth with an RBI triple and scored himself on the next at bat due to a wild pitch.
Sophomore pitcher Mason Ornelas stepped in at the start of the bottom of the sixth, where he held Houston hitless for three innings with five strikeouts and no walks.
“Just keeping the hitters off balance,” Ornelas said. “Mixing the slider, fastball, changeup and just mixing the tempo and the timing. Just not letting the hitters get too comfortable.”
Sitting at 8-4 in the top of the eighth, Britt scored off of a wild pitch yet again to bring the game to its final score.
On Thursday, March 18 A&M will begin its three game series against Florida in Gainesville. The Aggies, now ranked No. 25 in the country, are 11-7 all time against the Gators.
“We feel like we’re getting a breath of fresh air,” Childress said. “We only have to play four games this week after playing five for the last three. To be able to get on a plane tomorrow and play a really good Florida team, it will be a lot of fun.”