A huge sixth inning for Aggie Baseball propelled them to their game two win over Fordham in the season-opening series on Saturday. Texas A&M was up 4-1 before the frame and took advantage of two straight walks to open the inning before taking advantage of Fordham’s eight errors.
A&M defeated Fordham 19-6 and improve to 2-0 on the season while Fordham falls to 0-2.
“We all love scoring runs and we did a really good job on the mound and played great defense for all nine innings,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said. “All around really solid effort in every facet of the game for us today.”
The Aggies struck first in the bottom of the first after sophomore leadoff hitter Bryce Blaum doubled and scored on the first of many Fordham errors in the ballgame. A&M Junior catcher Mikey Hoehner singled in the second run in the inning, giving the Aggies a two-run cushion to start the game.
A&M added two runs in the third before the explosive six-run fourth inning. After taking a 10-1 lead the Aggies scored four runs in the fifth, one run in the sixth, three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth.
Sophomore left-handed pitcher Asa Lacy started on the mound for A&M and cruised on his way to a career-high 11 strikeouts. Lacy gave up just three hits and one earned run in five innings.
Sophomore Dustin Saenz took over for Lacy and tossed one perfect inning before freshman Brandon Birdsell made his first career appearance. Birdsell also tossed one inning, giving up a run on one hit. Junior Jake Nelson then tossed the eighth, giving up no runs on two hits and freshman Chris Weber threw the ninth, giving up four runs on three hits in the inning.
“You’ve just got to stay loose in the dugout and trust your defense,” Lacy said. “You’ve got the lead, so you’ve just got to make pitches and trust your team. It was great, I really enjoyed it, and as far as our team, we were just really excited to be out here again and just play Aggie baseball.”
At the plate, the Aggies were led by Blaum, Hoehner and sophomore Will Frizzell. Blaum went 3-4 with four runs scored, Hoehner went 2-2 with three runs scored and an RBI, while Frizzell went 2-5 with a game-high five RBIs.
“When you keep coming at them, it’s had for the other team to get it going,” Hoehner said. “Just a bunch of quality at bats today from the whole lineup, even guys that didn’t start, it was a real group effort.”
Fordham senior Anthony DiMeglio started on the mound for the Rams, tossing three innings in which he gave up two earned runs on five hits and one walk. Fordham’s seven relievers after DiMeglio combined for six innings pitched, giving up 14 earned runs on nine hits and ten walks.
The Rams were stifled by the A&M pitching staff all game until the ninth, but were led by freshman Jason Coules and junior Matt Tarabek. Coules went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and Tarabek went 1-3 with an RBI.
The Aggies will look for the sweep in Sunday’s game three against Fordham. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. at Blue Bell Park.