The Aggies continued their dominant run this weekend with another SEC series win, this time over Mississippi State. The series was tied going into Sunday, but a 13-5 win — highlighted by two grand slams — helped A&M clinch the series.
A&M has not lost a weekend series this season. When coming off a loss in a weekend game, the Aggies have outscored their opponents 38 to 12.
“It went back and forth early,” A&M head coach Rob Childress said about winning the series Sunday. “We made some mistake defensively in the first couple of innings to allow them to have hope, but each time they would score, we would answer back.”
On Friday night, the Aggies topped Mississippi State 3-1 behind a fantastic pitching performance from starter Grayson Long. On the night, Long worked seven innings, allowing one unearned run off only three hits. There was a stretch during the evening when Long retired 10 Bulldog batters in a row.
Logan Taylor’s two-run homer put the Aggies in front 2-0 in the fourth inning, a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
The win streak would come to a close on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs came away with a win behind an outstanding performance from their starting pitcher and bullpen to earn a 3-2 win.
A bright spot for the Aggie offense during the afternoon was Taylor, who hit his eighth home run of the season and second of the series to try and lead the Aggie comeback, but the bats could not get going behind him.
Sunday would decide the series, and both teams came out firing to start the game. Mississippi State took an early 2-0 lead. The Aggies got two runs of their own in the bottom of the
the inning on a passed ball and an RBI from Ronnie Gideon to make it a 2-2 game.
The Bulldogs (22-16, 6-9 SEC) would not go away, capturing an RBI single in the second inning to gain the 3-2 lead. However, A&M earned the lead it would keep in the bottom of the inning. An RBI from Michael Barash tied it, and a sac fly made it 4-3 A&M.
In the fourth inning, the Aggies (33-3, 11-3 SEC) loaded the bases. Nick Banks stepped up and crushed a pitch over 400 feet for a grand slam, his fourth home run of the season, and the Aggies gained an 8-3 lead after four frames.
“I just got a pitch I could handle and did a little damage to it,” said Banks about his grand slam. “Anywhere I hit in the lineup is OK with me as long as we keep getting Ws.”
Ronnie Gideon joined in on the home run fun in the eighth inning. After A&M loaded the bases, Gideon smacked a ball over the scoreboard in left to give A&M a 13-5 lead. A&M hit two grand slams on the afternoon.
After getting into a jam in the fifth, Ryan Hendrix came on in relief and was lights out for the Aggies on the mound. Hendrix pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless, hitless baseball to help A&M secure and maintain its lead. Hendrix appeared twice this weekend and did not surrender a hit or run throughout the entire series.
“Give the props to our offense,” Hendrix said. “They’re the ones who really got me in the game and had me comfortable in the end. So I put it all on them.”
The series win improves A&M to 25-2 at home this season. The Aggies will continue their homestand at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday night against Abilene Christian.
Unstoppable: Pair of grand slams power A&M past Mississippi State to take series
April 12, 2015
Photo by FILE
The 2015 team started off the season red hot, winning their first 24 games of the season.
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