Texas A&M Baseball: Aggies back in the polls after big series win

Texas A&M Baseball (23-9) is back in the polls after a 2-1 week. The first SEC series win came at a good time, can the Aggies keep the momentum alive?

In the midweek contest, Texas A&M and Houston were postponed due to weather. The game has yet to be rescheduled, there’s a possibility of the game being played in May after taking a look the Aggies remaining schedule. We’ll have to wait and see what the two schools decide to do.

In the conference series, the Aggies welcomed LSU to Blue Bell Park. The Aggies and starter Stephen Kolek could not produce a win (fourth consecutive series opener lost) which promptly pushed manager Rob Childress to make a change to his starting pitching rotation.

Kolek got off to a great start retiring the first nine batters of the game. The fourth inning would end up deciding the game. The first three Tigers in the inning reached base which gave LSU a 2-0 lead. Kolek would retire the next two, but would not survive the inning with the next three hitters all reaching base. When Kaylor Chafin came in to get the last out LSU was up 4-0.

Chafin would pitch through the eighth inning only allowing one base runner. Cason Sherrod would pitch the ninth surviving a hit and two walks. At the plate, the Aggies were baffled like they were against Auburn star Casey Mize. A&M hitters only had one inning where they had two players on base at the same time, that came in the fourth after a walk and single by Logan Foster. Will Frizzell would provide the only scoring with a solo home run in the ninth. The Aggies face another uphill battle on the weekend with a 4-1 loss.

In the second game, the offense wasted no time knocking out LSU starter Caleb Gilbert after retiring just two Aggies. By that point, A&M scored five times and all nine batters got to the plate. That would be all the offense that starter John Doxakis would need.

Doxakis would pitch eight strong innings giving up only two earned runs and six hits. He was able to pitch out of a jam in the first which looking back may have been the spark the team needed. After giving up the home run that plated two in the fourth and the other two base runners to reach in that inning, Doxakis never allowed more than one base runner to reach in any inning. The Aggies ended up scoring three more in the fifth and one in the seventh to give them a 9-2 win to even the series.

In the rubber match, starter Mitchell Kilkenny continued his dominance going the entire way allowing only six base runners. The Tigers only run came in the eighth where I think after replay the failed double play should’ve been reversed. The Tigers would garner back to back hits to score a run and give the Aggie faithful something to think about. However, the Tiger rally would be cut short by some sloppy base running that produced the final out of the inning.

At the plate, Hunter Coleman opened the scoring with a home run in the fourth. George Janca would provide the added support with a 2-run triple in the sixth. The extra base hit by Janca was big because it came with two outs. The Aggies and Kilkenny would keep the Tigers at bay and secure their first conference series win 3-1.

In the Perfect Game/Rawlings poll, the Aggies moved up a spot to No. 18. In the Coaches poll, the Aggies remained at No. 19.

In the Baseball America poll, A&M moved up to No. 22.

In the D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball polls, the Aggies moved back into the polls at No. 22.

The NCBWA poll has yet to be released, but expect A&M to move up a spot or two. The Aggies were No. 18 in the poll last week.

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This week, the Aggies welcome the Texas Longhorns for a one game showdown. This really needs to be a weekend series, can we please get this done? The home stand continues with Alabama coming to town starting Thursday April 12. Both teams are tied in the standings at 5-7 and sit three games behind SEC west leader Arkansas. Manager Rob Childress announced a change to the rotation with Doxakis and Kilkenny moving up a day. The Sunday starter has yet to be announced.

The LSU series was a good start, the momentum needs to continue with Florida and Arkansas still on the schedule.