For coach Jim Schlossnagle and the Aggies, it was about as good of a start to the season as you could ask for.
In what was an eventful opening weekend filled with upsets and comebacks around the country, No. 8 Texas A&M was able to take care of business against McNeese State.
In the final game of the first series this season, the Aggies only needed seven innings to defeat the Cowboys with a resounding 10-0 win, giving yet another fantastic crowd of 5,500 at Olsen Field something to cheer for.
After allowing just one run in the first two games combined in this series, the Maroon and White kept it up with dominant pitching in this game.
Sophomore LHP Shane Sdao pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits to go with five strikeouts and a walk. In total, Aggie starters pitched a combined 13.2 scoreless innings over the course of this series, allowing just seven hits, three walks and three hit batters.
The Aggies kept the bats hot in this one as well, getting production from all over the lineup.
Sophomore CF Jace LaViolette crushed a two-run homer, his third on the young season, in the bottom of the first inning after freshman 3B Gavin Grahovac worked a leadoff walk to open the scoring.
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In the next inning, Grahovac tacked on another run for A&M with an RBI single, giving the team a 3-0 lead.
A&M knocked out junior LHP Alexis Gravel, who started the game for McNeese State, midway through the bottom of the third after he walked freshman 1B Blake Binderup; however, senior RHP J.T. Moeller, who replaced Gravel for McNeese State, worked out of a bases-loaded, no-outs jam to keep A&M from breaking the game open.
The Maroon and White were able to add to the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, as junior RF Braden Montgomery drove in junior SS Ali Camarillo with a groundout to first.
Montgomery, who transferred from Stanford after last season, now has five RBIs in his first three games as an Aggie. Camarillo drove in a run of his own in the next inning, which gave the Aggies a 5-0 advantage.
Camarillo got it done on both sides of the diamond. He recorded two hits, an RBI, and a walk; in addition, he flashed the leather in the third inning when he snared a lineout to save a run.
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Sdao ended his day by retiring the side in the top of the fifth with a strikeout, stranding a runner on second. Freshman RHP Luke Jackson replaced Sdao in the sixth inning, and he blanked the Cowboys in the frame.
In the seventh, Jackson allowed a leadoff knock, as senior RHP Brock Peery replaced him and got the next two outs.
After Peery hit a batter in the seventh, junior RHP Josh Stewart came on with two outs and finished off the inning with a four-pitch strikeout.
The Aggies ended the game with a barrage of runs in the bottom of the seventh. It began when LaViolette drove a two-run single to right field with the bases loaded to make it 7-0.
Montgomery followed this up with an RBI groundout, and graduate DH Hayden Schott drove in another run right after with an RBI double in the left-center gap to make it 9-0. Finally, Binderup drove in Schott with a sac fly to right field, giving the Aggies a 10-0 win.
In total, the Aggies outscored the Cowboys 31-1 in this series. Under Schlossnagle, the team has had sustained success on opening weekend. A&M has now swept the season opening series all three years with Schlossnagle at the helm, and the Aggies have averaged 9.1 runs per game during that span.
The Maroon and White will look to keep their hot start to 2024 going when they host Incarnate Word on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
