On Friday night, 5,484 Aggie fans filled Olsen Field looking to cheer Texas A&M on to a victory over the Portland Pilots.
The experience turned sour, however, as after grabbing an early 2-1 lead, the Aggies surrendered three runs to fall behind late. After a strikeout of junior infielder Ryan Targac in the bottom of the eighth, coach Jim Schlossnagle was ejected from the game for arguing with head umpire Brandon Tipton. A&M then gave up seven runs with two outs in the final inning and went on to lose 10-3.
“I don’t do those things on purpose,” Schlossnagle said. “There’s a lot of emotion in the game. I don’t want our players talking to umpires, and if I feel like things aren’t right, then it’s my job to protect them. I’m not proud of that, it wasn’t intentional, but I’m human too.”
A&M got the scoring started early, as after senior infielder Austin Bost was hit by a pitch to start the fourth inning, junior third baseman Trevor Werner hit a double to center field and came home to score on two errors in the play from Portland.
After only being down one to start the inning, the wheels fell off of the bus for the Aggies in the top of the ninth. After Schlossnagle was ejected a few minutes prior, freshman pitcher Shane Sdao struck out two to start the inning, but, after a single and a walk, was replaced by junior reliever Will Johnston. Johnston immediately gave up a single to stretch the Pilots’ lead to two. Another walk and a single added two more runs for Portland, and sophomore pitcher Josh Stewart came in to try to stop the bleeding.
The Aggies could not do any damage control, as Stewart gave the Pilots four free bases and a single, adding three more runs for Portland. Stewart got a strikeout to close the crooked inning, but not before the Pilots had already piled on seven runs to all but secure the victory.
The Aggies’ bats matched the chilly weather, going cold all night. A&M tallied only four hits on the game and were struck out 11 times, including a four strikeout performance from freshman outfielder Jace Laviolette.
“[It is] kind of more of the same,” Schlossnagle said. “The last two games, I thought that Lamar’s bullpen and Portland’s bullpen both came in and did exactly what we saw on the scouting report. [Portland’s pitchers] threw strikes, did what they do. We knew the starting pitcher was going to be tough, this is a good team.”
This is also the fourth time in five total games that the Aggies have been out hit, only out-hitting Seattle in the Sunday, Feb. 19, finale so far this season.
“We’ve got some guys pressing,” Schlossnagle said. “ The last two games, we’re the youngest team on the field, and we’re supposed to be a veteran team. We’re starting two freshmen and a high school senior. I do believe in our offense as long as we stay true to what we’re supposed to be.”
A bright sport for A&M was junior starting pitcher Nathan Dettmer. Dettmer, who made his second start of the season, pitched six and ⅓ innings, struck out seven and only allowed one run.
“There was some temptation [to leave Dettmer in],” Schlossnagle said. “But obviously, we can’t have him go down. I was trying to slow down the run game by bringing in Lamkin.”
The bullpen struggled in relief of Dettmer, with Sdao being the only pitcher in relief to last longer than one at-bat.
“It’s basically been auditions,” Schlossnagle said. “[We are] trying to find who can come out of that bullpen. Sdao has shown signs, Sexton has shown signs, but it’s basically tryouts right now to try and see who can take what they do in practice and take it to a game.”
