Texas A&M baseball defeated Texas Southern 9-4 on Tuesday, April 20, at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
The Aggies reached base with ease on the night, posting 10 hits and eight walks. A&M’s pitching staff gave up seven hits and four walks, but managed its way through some jams to come out on top.
“I thought it was a fabulous game on our part,” A&M coach Rob Childress said. “We just had a lot of gritty, tough, hardnose at bats. For us, with the emotion that was spent this weekend, to show up and be in the moment, I couldn’t be more proud of the team.”
Junior outfielder Brett Minnich came across home plate three times during the game and posted two hits and one RBI. The bottom half of the Aggies’ lineup in particular was strong at the plate. Senior second baseman Bryce Blaum and junior first baseman Hunter Coleman both had two hits of their own.
“With the wind blowing in 20 miles per hour, it’s an awful hard thing to score nine runs on 10 hits,” Childress said. “We had to take advantage of a lot of free base runners. Just had a marvelous game plan and approach offensively.”
Freshman pitcher Jonathan Childress received the night’s start and worked through 4.1 innings, striking out four batters along the way while walking three and allowing three hits and two runs.
“Every game that we play is the biggest game of the year and I just want to attack and help our team win,” Jonathan Childress said.
Sophomore pitcher Mason Ornelas closed the game, pitching through 2.2 innings while striking out four and allowing two hits. Ornelas earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The win now places the Aggies at 22-17 overall, while still at 4-11 in SEC play with another top 5 team upcoming for the weekend series.
“For us at this point in the season, we’re not where we expected to be,” Blaum said. “There’s a sense of urgency in this locker room and to get ourselves going is never a question. We create our own energy in the dugout.”
Next up, A&M will host No. 5 Tennessee starting on Friday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. The two remaining games of the series will be played on Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m. and 12 p.m., respectively.
“Tennessee is a good team so we’ve got our hands full,” Minnich said. “But coming off two wins, I think we’ve got some confidence and we’ve got some guys rolling right now.”