Fans gave Rafeal Pineda a standing ovation as the junior walked off the mound midway through the eighth inning. After allowing no runs on three hits, the ace pitcher left the game with a 6-0 lead.
Pineda said everything worked well for the Aggies the whole night, giving credit to his offense for the shutout victory.
“Everything [was working],” Pineda said. “We were on point tonight. We did a great job tonight.”
Behind Pinedas performance, the Texas A&M baseball team recorded its second consecutive midweek shutout in a 7-0 route of the University of Texas at Arlington on Tuesday night in Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
A&M scoring was spread throughout the game, starting in the second inning after junior catcher Troy Stein tripled to center field and took advantage of a UTA error to take the 1-0 lead.
From that point on, the Aggies never looked back as eight different players earned hits while juniors center fielder Krey Bratsen and second baseman Charlie Curl each recorded two hits. Curl recorded his first home run of the season.
However, all focus was on Pineda as the senior dominated the Maverick batting order. According to Bratsen, Pineda is a big part of the team.
“I’m excited about Pineda,” Bratsen said. “He threw a heck of a game, we really needed that from him tonight. We need him to help us out anyway he can.”
With only one out and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning, freshman pitcher A.J. Minter came in with a 3-0 count to relieve Pineda. Minter went on to strike out the next two batters, leaving the Mavericks scoreless.
Head coach Rob Childress preaches having a strong team effort, a fact that can be seen by the amount of hits and the cooperation of the bullpen throughout A&M’s most recent wins.
Over the course of the season, the Aggies are outscoring opponents 121-85, holding opponents to just over three runs a game.
Childress said he was very proud of the team effort on Tuesday night, especially after the recent success in the 2-1 road series win over No. 6 Ole Miss.
“You couldn’t ask for more,” Childress said. “We had seven runs on 10 hits and no errors. We shut them out on three or four hits. It’s just a total complete team effort. It’s good we were able to put last week behind us and look forward at what we had and that was today.”
For the second weekend in a row, A&M will travel to face a Top 10 opponent in SEC play, taking on No. 5 South Carolina. For Childress, the Gamecocks will provide a tough challenge for his squad.
“They’re coming off a tough weekend against Arkansas,” Childress said. “I expect them to be mad and ready to get after it and we need to make sure we’re the same way.”