After sweeping Missouri for its first Southeastern Conference series victory, No. 20 Texas A&M baseball added to its now-six-game win streak with a 16-2 over Sam Houston on Tuesday, March 31. Fresh off conference weekly honors, junior first baseman Gavin Grahovac blistered his seventh homer of the year in his reprised role as the leadoff hitter.
“He’s letting balls travel,” head coach Michael Earley said. “He’s blessed with being big and strong, and he’s been able to get things going as of late.”
Rookies in anything are bound to make a person anxious; brain surgery, heavy equipment operation and — most nerve-racking — baseball can rattle the very core of onlookers, especially when the two freshmen on the mound are sporting 8.00-plus ERAs. Freshman left-handed pitcher Cole Hubert must have avoided the jitterbugs on the walk over from campus, needing just nine pitches to get through the first inning unscathed.
The Bearkats and freshman right-handed pitcher Mason Murphy did not share the same luck, working through 30 pitches plus a pair of walks and hits to get through the bottom of the frame with just a run of damage, as head coach Jay Sirianni elected to send another newcomer in freshman RHP Gabe Winans up in the second.
Winans did everything he could to replicate Hubert’s early efficiency, needing just a baker’s dozen pitches to drop the Aggies in order before the latter returned to the mound in the third. A&M — which leads the country in walks allowed per nine innings with 2.53 — issued its second of the night just before consecutive hits tied the affair at one apiece.
It was then that the recurring midweek theme of pitching by committee came to finally resurface, the latest since sophomore RHP Gavin Lyons began his shift from Tuesday starter to dependable reliever. With runners on second and third, senior RHP Grant Cunningham earned the frame’s final two outs to make it a 1-1 game, with the heart of the Aggie sluggers ready to deal some damage.
The day of the week may have read Tuesday, but it was sophomore RHP Conner Mondey who took the mound as the Bearkats’ third pitcher, although quickly loading the bases thanks to an error, base hit and a walk. While his last name did not match the calendar, Mondey worked his way out of the jam before an A&M run could cross the plate.
But like a college student out of funds, it’s only a matter of time before it’s time to head home. Grahovac, still charged with the power of a stepped-on hand, stared down a 1-0 pitch, blasting a solo shot 443 feet into left center field to reclaim the Aggies’ lead in the fourth.
The Preseason All-SEC selection, who had two homers in his first 25 games, has hit five in just three contests, quickly giving junior center fielder Caden Sorrell’s SEC-leading RBI total a run for its money.
But the scoring party did not end with Grahovac, as six straight batters reached base safely, with a double from freshman third baseman Nico Partida clearing the bases thanks to an error that got the Perfect Game Midseason Freshman of the Year to third. Redshirt junior Blake Binderup had the final damaging swing in the bottom of the fourth, getting Partida home and giving A&M a 6-1 lead.
As the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, freshman right fielder Jorian Wilson still showed signs of his youth with an error leading to an unearned run for the Bearkats. Even so, freshman talent has been the heart of the Aggies’ success in the early stages of the 2026 season, accounting for over 50 RBI and 20 percent of A&M runs.
And what do outstanding rookies produce? Why, savvy veterans in time, which is exactly what the Maroon and White have in Grahovac and Sorrell, as they both seem destined for the upcoming MLB Draft. Partida won’t go to prison for his draft dodging, since the highly touted professional prospect is slated for a historic career with the Aggies, especially with three-RBI, 4-for-4 performances like Tuesday’s.
The Manvel native was put on the MLB map with his ability to hit and pitch, supposedly tearing teams on his role in their system, leading to his signing with A&M. Sam Houston’s junior LHP Easton Ballard, coming into the game with a 99.00 ERA, would’ve loved to share the same consideration, as hits and careless mistakes had the Aggies in run-rule victory territory after senior left fielder Jake Duer knocked a two-RBI double off the left field wall.
Ballard exited the game with a 108.00 ERA once eight different A&M sluggers recorded a hit, six of which tallied multihit games. It very well could have been just seven batters getting the ball down, if it weren’t for Wilson atoning for his mistakes with a no-doubter two-run homer that went 440 feet over Section 12.
When the dust cleared, the Aggies had a 16-2 lead with sophomore LHP Cooper Powell coming in to clean up a two-runner, no-out situation in the seventh. After a wild pitch advanced the Bearkats’ offensive, Powell got back to basics, striking out two and ending the nearly three-hour game for all intents and purposes “early.”
A&M will shift its focus to its next SEC series versus Vanderbilt, beginning Thursday, April 3, at 6 p.m.
