The Aggie baseball team continued its hot start with a 6-0 win over Stephen F. Austin on Tuesday night.
The Aggies (4-0) were led by freshman pitcher Turner Larkins, who had nine strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings of work, giving up four hits and zero earned runs.
It was Larkins’ first career start.
“After the third inning, coach came to me and told me to get my command right,” Larkins said. “I lost it for a bit. But I fought through and gained control. To get guys out at this level is not easy.”
The Lumberjacks (1-4) had no response to the Aggie pitching attack.
The scoring got started in the first inning for A&M. A sacrifice fly by Mitchell Nau and a Ryne Birk run on a groundout by Logan Nottebrok made it 2-0 A&M at the end of the inning.
The Aggies led 3-0 after three innings when Nau picked up his second RBI of the night on a sacrifice fly.
Birk was the story on offense. He went 3-for-5 with two RBI, scored three runs and hit a home run. Nau picked up two RBIs in the effort. Nick Banks also went 4-for-4 with an RBI in the win.
Birk gave credit to his teammate JB Moss after the game.
“It felt good, but I could not have done it without JB Moss,” Birk said about his home run. “His at-bat right before mine, he sucked nine or 10 pitches out of him, and that left me a cookie over the middle. I have to give a lot of credit to JB Moss.”
On a cold night at Olsen Field, the Aggie pitching took over.
Larkins saw his night end in the sixth inning. Kyle Simonds came through in relief in a bases-loaded jam to keep the shutout alive for the Aggies. Simonds pitched in the seventh and eighth inning as well, recording three strikeouts along the way.
A&M head coach Rob Childress was elated with the performance from his freshman.
“I am very proud of him,” Childress said. “He got punched a little bit early, but finally got it together.”
Birk hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to give A&M a little cushion with a 5-0 lead. Banks had an RBI single later that made it 6-0 Aggies.
A&M is now 23-1 all time against the Lumberjacks in baseball. The lone victory for Stephen F. Austin over A&M came in a 7-6 win in 2010.
The Aggies will keep their 13-game home stand going this weekend against Penn State. It is the first time the Aggies will host a Big Ten opponent in baseball since sweeping Michigan State in 2012. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Friday night.