Texas A&M Baseball drops in rankings after tough series loss to Tennessee

Texas A&M Baseball (29-11) win streak is over with series loss to Tennessee. With four SEC series left, A&M needs to win at least three to host?

In the midweek contest, Texas A&M welcomed the boys from San Marcos. Chandler Jozwiak got the start, but only lasted one hitter into the second inning. He gave up four hits, three runs with two of those being earned. Six other Aggie pitchers would come in allowing two earned runs. Cason Sherrod would pick up the win and Nolan Hoffman would record his seventh save.

At the plate, the offense got going right away with two doubles, a walk and a single in the first to take the lead 3-2. The Aggies would never trail again and would end up winning 7-5. George Janca homered to give the Aggies the lead in the sixth and then Hunter Coleman would hit a triple in the seventh that scored Braden Shewmake. Allonte Wingate would double home Zach DeLoach to give the Aggies a 2-run lead in the eighth.

In the conference series, the Aggies traveled to face Tennessee. The Volunteers would enter the series winning one of their last nine conference games. Could the Aggies take advantage? The answer was a resounding NO.

In the first game, Mitchell Kilkenny would get his first Friday night start of the year, but the dominance that the Aggies have seen was not present in Knoxville. Tennessee jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead after the first. Kilkenny would settle down and would not give up another run till the sixth.

The Aggie offense would scratch across nine hits in the game, the problem was eight of them came from hitters 1-4 in the lineup. Hitters 5-9 were a combined 1-for-19, the lone hit came from Cam Blake with a double in the seventh. It’s very hard to win when more than half your lineup does not show up. A&M would lose 7-4 pushing their opening game record in SEC series to 1-5.

In the second game, John Doxakis was brilliant, he would pitch seven scoreless innings only allowing six base runners. Tennessee would score three times in the final two innings, but the game was already over by then.

At the plate, the offense were considerably better than they were in the first game. Every starter had at least one hit. A&M would put the Volunteers away in the first scoring five times on five hits. Coleman would add a double in the sixth that would score two to push the lead to 8-0. The Aggies would even the series with a big 8-3 win.

In the rubber match, Stephen Kolek was back for his second series ending start of the year. He would be giving a quick 2-0 lead by Coleman and Will Frizzell, but could not hold the lead and pitch pass the third inning. His partners in the pen could not do much better as all three relievers gave up at least one run. Control was a problem in this game with seven walks giving up.

The Aggie offense would tie the game in the sixth with a big home run by Chris Andritsos and would have 10 hits in the game, but never could put a big inning together. Tennessee would end up winning the game 6-4 and the series.

This series will definitely hurt the Aggies and their chances of hosting come tournament time. The good thing for the Aggies is they still have Florida and Arkansas on the schedule and guess what the Aggies are only one game out of first in the SEC west. The division title is there if they want it.

In the Perfect Game/Rawlings poll, the Aggies dropped to No. 20. In the Coaches and NCBWA polls, the Aggies dropped four spots to No. 18.

In the Baseball America poll, A&M is no longer ranked.

In the D1Baseball and Collegiate Baseball polls, the Aggies are ranked No. 22.

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This week, the Aggies welcome Abilene Christian to Blue Bell Park for the midweek contest. The SEC series will be in Starkville to face Mississippi State. The Bulldogs are riding high after sweeping Top 10 opponent Arkansas at home.