Texas A&M did not commit any errors in the field and only made one major mistakes in its first true road game of the season, but one bad pitch from Brigham Hill was enough to propel Vanderbilt to a 4-3 win over the Aggies Friday night.
In the second inning, with the bases loaded and two outs, Hill left a two-strike changeup up in the zone to the Commodores’ leadoff hitter Jeren Kendall. He did not miss it, sending a grand slam to dead center field for his fifth home run of the season.
The Aggies (15-8, 0-4 SEC) had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in their first two at-bats, but after Kendall’s big fly neither team scored again. Hill settled down to toss four more scoreless innings and Kaylor Chafin came out of the bullpen to pitch the final two.
Nick Choruby led off the top of the first inning with a walk and advanced to third on a double by Austin Homan. Braden Shewmake quickly drove in Choruby with an RBI groundout, but Logan Foster and Cam Blake struck out to strand two runners on base.
In the second, the Aggies used a two-out rally to tack on two more runs off Vanderbilt starter Kyle Wright (1-3). George Janca singled to left, Choruby and Homan walked to load the bases, and Shewmake came through with a two-run single to right.
In all, Hill (4-2) allowed four runs and four hits in six innings, while Chafin retired all six batters he faced.
Janca was the only Aggie to record a multi-hit game and Shewmake drove in all three of their runs.
Wright, a highly touted draft prospect, lasted five innings after the Aggies elevated his pitch count early, striking out six and walking four in what was his first victory of the season.
Zach King came out of the Vanderbilt bullpen in the sixth and pitched 2.1 hitless innings to bridge the gap to closer Reed Hayes, who recorded the last five outs to nail down his fourth save of the season.
The series picks back up Saturday at Hawkins Field. Stephen Kolek (1-0, 2.54 ERA) will start for A&M, while the Commodores will counter with Patrick Raby (3-2, 1.71). First pitch has been moved up to 12:30 p.m. due to possible inclement weather, and the game can be seen on SEC Network +.