The No. 11 Texas A&M baseball team welcomed the Cornell Big Red to Blue Bell Park for a three game series this weekend. The first two games were played as a doubleheader on Friday, with the first one at 3 p.m. and the second one at 6:30 p.m. The two games could not have been any different, as the Aggies won game one 3-2 and game two 22-0. Cornell had a chance to tie game one it in the top of the ninth with a guy on second, but obviously weren’t anywhere close to the Aggies in game two.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” head coach Rob Childress said. “We played in every facet as good as we could possibly play in that second game, and baseball’s a funny game, sometimes the bounces go your way. We played a tight, well-played 3-2 game on both sides, and in the second game, things just went our way from an offensive standpoint.”
Game one saw great pitching and defense from both sides, as there were only five combined runs and one combined error. Aggie junior ace Stephen Kolek was on the mound for A&M, and Cornell senior ace Tommy Morris was on the mound for Cornell. The Aggies struck first in the bottom of the second when sophomore Logan Foster doubled off the left field wall to score freshman Will Frizzell. Then, Cornell immediately answered in the top of the third when senior outfielder Dale Wickham hit a groundball with the bases loaded that Kolek had trouble fielding cleanly, scoring the runner from third. In the bottom of the fifth, freshman outfielder Zach DeLoach hit a sacrifice fly to score freshman Aaron Walters from third for the second Aggie run of the game. Shortly after, sophomore Braden Shewmake grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored junior George Janca from third. The three runs were all the Aggies would need, as Cornell tacked on a second in the top of the seventh, but couldn’t tie it up. Junior Nolan Hoffman got the save in the top of the ninth. 
“I thought he fought a little bit today,” Childress said about Kolek. “I thought he competed very well, maybe something as a freshman he wouldn’t have been able to navigate through six innings, but with his maturity and his competitiveness, he was able to throw six innings and give us a nice start and the bullpen held on for us.” 
Game two was an absolute blowout from the get-go. The Aggies started the game with four straight hits and would never look back. A&M racked up 16 runs in just three innings to take a 16-0 lead after three. A&M would add six more in innings 4-9 to take the win 22-0, but the biggest story of the night came from sophomore DH Chris Andritsos. Andritsos crushed a triple off the outfield wall in the first inning, a line drive home run in the second inning, a double in the third inning, and a single in the eighth inning to give him the cycle. The Oklahoma transfer finished the game 4-6 with five RBIs and three runs scored after nearly breaking his wrist on Sunday against Rhode Island. He nearly didn’t get an at bat in the eighth inning, but freshman Cole Taylor’s RBI hit extended the inning and gave Andritsos his chance at the cycle.  
“I was just trying to get even with the ball,” Andritsos said. “I was trying to make an adjustment from last weekend, and I guess it paid off. You can’t change your approach in the last at bat and chase a single, so you just have to continue what you’re doing and build on what you’ve done so far.”
Freshman Chandler Jowziak had a rough first outing last Saturday against Rhode Island, tossing three innings and giving up three earned runs on four hits, while walking two, but the freshman lefty didn’t let his first bad outing affect him. Jowziak dominated the Big Red lineup in game two, throwing five scoreless innings while giving up just two hits, no walks, and striking out five. 
“I was definitely more comfortable tonight,” Jowziak said. “Honestly, I was more confident, I had a talk with coach and tried to trust my stuff a little bit more and didn’t try to be so unique every pitch, and I just felt more confident trusting my stuff. Having our lineup come out and hit like that is amazing, and having that defense behind me is amazing too, it’s one of the best in the nation.”
The A&M baseball program hadn’t seen a cycle in seven years, and has now seen two in a matter of three days this week. Zach DeLoach accomplished it on Tuesday against Stephen F. Austin in the 11-4 Aggie win, and Andritsos followed it up with his on Friday against Cornell. The 29 hits the Aggies smacked in game two came one shy of the record of 30 hits in a game set in 1985 against Texas Tech. 
A&M will look for the sweep tomorrow as the Aggies and Big Red will battle in game three of the series at Blue Bell Park. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.