On Thursday, May 20, Texas A&M baseball faced off against LSU to open its final conference series of the regular season. The Aggies took an early lead in the series, edging out the Tigers in a defensive battle by a score of 2-1.
After not allowing a hit from the Tigers in the game’s opening three innings, the Aggies opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning when a single by graduate student outfielder Ray Alejo forced an error that brought home freshman infielder Kalae Harrison to take a 1-0 lead.
The score remained stagnant until the top of the sixth inning, when LSU freshman infielder Dylan Crews sent a solo home run into left field, tying the game up for the Tigers.
Senior infielder Will Frizzell opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a bang, barrelling a solo home run into left field to give the Aggies a 2-1 advantage. After taking the lead, the A&M defense forced three straight outs in the top of the ninth inning to seal the 2-1 victory.
A&M’s offense was held to six hits on the day, and Alejo led its batters with two. Senior pitcher Dusting Saenz dominated at the mound for the Aggies, striking out eight and allowing one run off of two hits in 8.0 innings. Senior Chandler Jozwiak closed the game’s final inning, not allowing a hit.
Following the victory, A&M coach Rob Childress said he was excited to see the Aggies make the play late to close out the game.
“That’s what you want to see on the first night of a series in the Southeastern Conference,” Childress said. “We forced them into a state defensively and cashed in early. Certainly our guy hit the big ball there in the eighth inning to allow Dustin’s great performance to stand out tonight. He was magnificent, as close to perfect as you can be.”
As both offenses were stifled for most of the outing, Frizzell’s late home run made the difference in a game that was vital for the Aggies’ position in the SEC Conference Tournament. Following his clutch home run, Frizzell said that he was not fazed by the pressure of the moment.
“I don’t think there were any more nerves than in other games,” Frizzell said. “Every game in this conference is huge, and we’ve been so close so many games. When it’s close like that, we just need to win and do whatever we can to win.”
The win lifts the Aggies to 29-25 overall and 9-19 in SEC play. The Tigers dropped to 32-21 overall and 11-17 in SEC play.
The series continues on Friday, May 21 at Blue Bell Park in College Station. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.