Texas A&M baseball tallied its 20th nonconference win on Tuesday, May 4, following an 8-4 comeback victory over UT-Arlington at Globe Life Field.
The win advances to the Aggies to 25-22 overall while they remain at 5-16 in SEC play. Trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth, pinch hitting helped narrow the deficit to one run.
“Just a lot of heroes today,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “[Junior catcher] Taylor Smith played his butt off tonight, he had a couple of big hits for us. I thought he was prepared and ready to throw down and compete tonight. Just a lot of guys coming off the bench ready to go. I’m very proud of our guys.”
With the bases loaded, graduate left fielder Bryan Sturges doubled to left field, bringing in all three runners. Sturges went to the plate twice on the night and hit 1-of-2 and walked on his other at bat.
“We were [feeling] down a little bit,” Sturges said. “We had a little losing streak coming off the weekend, but we just needed something to jumpstart us and get us going and get the momentum on our side.”
Six pitchers took to the mound on the day with sophomore pitcher Jonathan Childress receiving the start. Childress let through two runs and walked a batter and was replaced by junior pitcher Chris Weber. Weber held UT-Arlington scoreless through three innings, striking out three batters and walking two.
“It was certainly a, ‘quick, get ready, get hot, get in the game,’” Rob Childress said. “Jonathan didn’t feel 100 percent health-wise, so we had to get [Weber] down there. [Weber] was a little bit shaky his first inning, but once he got loose he was really good the next two and it proved to be the difference in the game.”
Senior pitcher Chandler Jozwiak came in to close the game, pitching through 2.1 innings with only one hit and no runs allowed. The win marks Jozwiak’s 13th scoreless appearance on the mound.
“[Jozwiak} did an amazing job,” Rob Childress said. “He was incredibly efficient to go in and get us seven outs. It’s super good to get him back on the horse and feeling good going into the weekend.”
A&M’s momentum at the plate held in the game’s final three innings, as three runs were scored in the seventh and one in the eighth and the ninth to bring the game to its final score.
“It feels great,” Smith said. “Everybody off the bench came out and swung the bat and that’s what we want out of them. I was super excited that we got those runs late there in the game. It was awesome, great win.”
Coming up, A&M will host No. 11 Ole Miss for the weekend series beginning on Friday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.