The No. 4 Texas A&M baseball team gathered its second shutout of the season — a 4-0 victory over Pepperdine Sunday as the Aggies took the rubber match of a three-game series.
After suffering the first loss of the season Friday, the Aggies rebounded to win 6-0 with 13 combined strikeouts from Kyle Simonds and reliever Ryan Hendrix.
The Aggies (7-1) started off the game hot, tagging Pepperdine junior pitcher Chandler Blanchard with two home runs in the first inning. Junior outfielder J.B. Moss started the Aggies off with a two-run homer, plating Boomer White. Senior Hunter Melton followed Moss with his third homerun of the season to give A&M a 3-0 lead.
After not scoring in the next seven innings, the Aggies added an insurance run in the ninth with an RBI single from White to seal the victory.
Freshman Tyler Ivey started on the mound for the Aggies and recorded his second win of the season in stellar fashion, throwing six innings with three hits and eight strikeouts on the afternoon.
Head coach Rob Childress commented on the tone his pitching staff set to contribute to the team’s success this weekend.
“I’m very proud of our team,” Childress said after the game. “They showed a lot of toughness after losing on Friday. They came back and won on Saturday and Sunday in dominating fashion. It all starts on the mound and defensively. We pitched at an extremely high level and played great defensively. It may not have shown on the scoreboard with the run total, but we put pressure on them all day today and it’s been 18 straight innings of a relentless approach at the plate the last two days.”
Pepperdine (3-4) struggled at the plate Saturday and Sunday, only getting five total hits over that span while striking out 23 times. Childress continued to laud his pitchers, including a freshman that is beginning to come into his own.
“They were both fantastic,” Childress said. “Ivey certainly hasn’t pitched like a freshman this season. He threw four pitches for strikes and got the key punch-outs when they were threatening. Vines was electric. He was 90 to 94 with power sink. He pounded the zone and got them on swing. He went nine up, nine down.”
The Aggies return home Tuesday against Houston Baptist. This will begin a 10-game homestand before beginning SEC play.
