Two brothers, gritty baseball and Olsen magic.
The culmination of the three led Texas A&M baseball to a 7-6 walk-off win over Georgia on Saturday, March 27.
Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Aggies were faced with the perfect opportunity to display the rumored magic of Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park. Freshman shortstop Kalae Harrison, eying home plate, rested on second base with one out. Senior first baseman Will Frizzell drove a hard ground ball to center field, tying the score and reaching second base. Olsen Magic was in full swing.
Two runners on base, graduate designated hitter Hunter Coleman was walked and passed the torch to his brother. With the bases loaded and his older brother on first base, junior second baseman Ty Coleman ripped the ball to the warning track in left center field.
Ballgame.
“In that situation, all I’ve got to do is move the ball and [the runner on third] is probably going to score,” Ty Coleman said. “Move it in the air. Give credit to Kalae for starting the inning with a walk. Then Frizzell having the hustle double, getting another guy into scoring position. Everything just got set up around that.”
At the bottom of the second, A&M trailed 5-0. Ty Coleman stepped up and hit a solo home run. With two outs, graduate center fielder Ray Alejo found a piece of the action and sent the ball over the wall to bring the score to 5-2.
“Those five runs came in the first two innings. We’re playing a nine inning game,” Ty Coleman said. “We really weren’t out of it or down. There was no panic in the dugout from any of us. We always have a chance to win any game.”
A&M sophomore Alex Magers came to the mound in relief and pitched through 2.2 innings with three hits and no runs. Magers’ stingy precedent was followed by freshman Kobe Andrade and freshman Nathan Dettmer, who combined to retire the next 2.1 innings with no outs.
“I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “I mean, 38 guys all in. For the game to start so tough for us on the mound, we had to be almost perfect on the mound to even have a shot.”
Harrison hit 2-of-3 while Alejo and Ty Coleman both hit 2-of-4. While Hunter Coleman was instrumental in Friday’s win, he was 0-of-4 with a walk when it mattered on Saturday.
“Hunter is the most experienced hitter we have when you look at at bats in the SEC,” Frizell said. “He’s really finding a groove. He just has very mature at bats every at bat. Ty, he’s really seeing the ball well right now. He’s a guy that’s just going to be gritty all the time. When they do well, it just makes everybody so happy.”
With the win in the series, A&M’s rollercoaster of a season continues. A shabby start led into an 11-game winning streak that was followed by the receiving end of a sweep in the teams first SEC outing.
A&M improves to 2-3 in the SEC and 17-8 overall. The final game of the series and the opportunity for a sweep against Georgia is at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 28.
“We had a super tough weekend last weekend, and it’s been a while since we had some Olsen magic,” Childress said. “That certainly gathers a lot of energy and enthusiasm in that locker room. To have an opportunity to go for the sweep at home against a really good Georgia team tomorrow is a good feeling.”