With the SEC race tightening up, the Aggies wanted to keep their bats warm for their midweek contest with Texas State before their weekend showdown with Alabama.
A&M kept their bats hot against the Bobcats for 13 hits and two home runs as A&M ran away with an emphatic 14-1 win Tuesday evening.
Immediately into the game, a leadoff walk and single by Nick Banks set up Hunter Melton. The cleanup hitter smashed a double to the gap in left center to give A&M a 2-0 lead. Michael Barash added a ground out RBI to help the Aggies to a 3-0 lead after one inning.
“For us to come out and take control of the game right away says a lot about our group,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “It would be easy to pat yourself on the back after the week we had last week. But, we came out well prepared and ready to go.”
Texas State (21-17, 9-6 Sun Belt) responded with a run the next inning. After a two-out double and a hit-by-pitch, catcher Jared Huber looped an RBI single to right and cut the Aggie lead to 3-1.
In the bottom half of the inning, A&M (30-7, 10-5 SEC) put two on base without a hit to leadoff. Banks punched an RBI single to make it a 4-1 Aggie lead. Melton followed him up by tallying his 50th RBI of the season with a fielder’s choice RBI and that gave the Aggies a 5-1 lead following two innings.
Walker Pennington would get his bat involved in the third. He cranked a solo bomb to left that granted A&M a 6-1 lead.
The A&M pitching staff took care of the Bobcat lineup. Starting pitcher Tyler Ivey lasted two innings, giving up one earned run on two hits with two strikeouts. By the night’s end, A&M utilized seven pitchers and allowed seven hits with six strikeouts and walked just two batters all evening.
“Pitching was very good. Going with so many guys, I felt like each one of those guys did the job we asked them to do,” Childress said.
Melton added to his RBI total with two more in the sixth. With two on, he roped a two-run single to center and pushed the Aggie lead to 8-1. All-in-all, Melton finished 2-for-4 from the plate with five RBI.
Joel Davis joined the cavalcade of runs in the same inning. With the bases loaded and two outs on the board, Davis shot a three-run triple off the wall to make it an 11-1 A&M advantage. Pennington joined the fun one last time with a three-run homer, his second of the game, to make it a commanding 14-1 Aggie lead.
Pennington finished 2-for-5 with four RBI and the two home runs.
“We have one of the deepest offenses in the country, no doubt,” Pennington said. “[Nick Choruby] is on the bench giving me confidence…it just shows how deep we are. We all have so much confidence and we all rely on each other. So, hopefully we can keep it rolling.”
Offensively, A&M went 7-for-15 (.466) with runners in scoring position and were 6-for-14 (.428) when hitting with two outs. Their final eight runs of the game all came with two outs on the board.
The win pushes A&M’s streak to eight games. The Aggie bats have pounded out 84 runs on 107 hits with 13 home runs, 16 doubles and have struck out just 46 times in their last 289 at-bats.
“It is something special. It shows the depth we have in our offense and the pitchers allowing us to do this,” Melton said. “I feel like everyone is putting in work … I think everyone matters and it shows when we put up 10 or more runs how many people are sold out to one another and for our team.”
Defensively on the night, A&M turned three double plays. In its current winning streak, A&M has committed just two errors.
Next on the schedule is a huge home SEC series with a hot Alabama Crimson Tide team this weekend.
