Sixteen games in, the Aggies are the lone undefeated team in Division I college baseball.
The No. 11 Texas A&M baseball team needed only three hits to remain perfect on the season, defeating Baylor 3-2 in the final game of the Houston College Classic held at Minute Maid Park.
A&M donned its black uniforms — reserved for when the team is attempting to earn a sweep — for the fourth time already this season.
Born and raised in Waco, junior starting pitcher Matt Kent gave no breaks to his hometown team. Kent went 7 1/3 innings against the Bears, allowing two runs, six hits, one walk and nine strikeouts — including a string of six straight punch-outs. The lefty set career highs in innings pitched and strikeouts.
“Early on I had really good command and I was able to get them off-balance and get some quick innings with some off-speed pitches and easy groundouts,” Kent said. “I really let my defense kind of handle the work for me. Later in the game I lost a little bit of my command but I was still able to push balls into the zone and make them hit pitches and not just give up free walks.”
A&M didn’t record its first hit until the fourth inning, but that didn’t stop the Aggies from pushing across a run in the first inning. After leading off with a walk and then advanced to second on a wild pitch, Blake Allemand came around to score on an error by Baylor second baseman Duncan Wendel, who overthrew his shortstop on a grounder by Nick Banks that should have ended the inning.
Logan Taylor got the Aggies in the hit column with a double off the end of his bat down the right field line. Taylor advanced to third on a Blake Kopetsky ground out but was left stranded 90 feet from home when Logan Nottebrok flew out to deep left field.
Senior catcher Mitchell Nau, the team leader in batting average, continued his hot start to the season. After Allemand and Ryne Birk both reached with walks, Nau ripped a 1-0 pitched into the left-center field gap for a two-run double. Nau, a native of Spring, Texas, played high school ball just 25 miles down the road from Minute Maid Park at Klein High School.
“I played here two years ago as a freshman,” Nau said. “A bunch of my family is here and I know a bunch of people who grew up around here. It’s a great environment to get to see everybody. I’m glad we went 3-0.”
After seven scoreless innings and just 78 pitches, Kent went back out to the mound to start the eighth inning. After back-to-back singles, Andrew Vinson relieved him.
With runners on the corners, Vinson caught Logan Brown off first base, but Aggie first baseman Nottebrok made a throw home to try and catch Hayden Ross at home. Nottebrok’s throw was late and Ross scored while Brown advanced to second. Brown then went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a ground out to first.
With one out in the ninth, pinch-runner Nick Chorby was thrown out on a close call at second base. One pitch later, Nick Banks ripped a two-out triple but was stranded 90 feet from home.
Sophomore Ryan Hendrix came in to shut the door in the ninth inning. Hendrix picked up his third save of the season and gave A&M its best start since 1989 and its second 16-0 start in program history.
After starting the season winning most games in convincing fashion, four of the Aggies last seven games have been decided by two runs or less.
“We’re finding a way,” Childress said of his team’s success in close games this season. “We’re an older bunch. They don’t panic when the games are tight late. We did a little bit there in the seventh inning, but we got it back together and we were able to finish.”
A&M returns to Blue Bell Park at Olsen Field at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday to begin a two-game series with UTPA.