Texas A&M baseball still in Top 20 despite 2nd straight series loss

Texas A&M baseball (32-17-1, 12-11-1 SEC) won the midweek game against Sam Houston State, but would lose the weekend series at home to Mississippi State.

Texas A&M baseball got back in the win (15-5) column against Sam Houston State after dropping all three games in Oxford to Ole Miss. A&M traveled to Huntsville for their final midweek contest of the year the Bearkats. The Aggies jumped on them, leading 6-0 after two and then scored six times in the fourth to push the lead to 12-0.

Starter Chris Weber would pitch five strong innings giving up five hits and one run before Chandler Jozwiak would come in to record the final six outs in a run rule shortened game. At the plate, every hitter had at least one hit. Lead-off hitter Braden Shewmake went 4-for-4 to pace the Aggie offense. In all, A&M recorded 15 runs on 15 hits despite only two of those hits going for extra bases.

Heading into the weekend series against Mississippi State, the Aggies had a great opportunity to get back in the SEC west race after getting swept in Oxford last weekend. Unfortunately, for the second weekend in a row, the Aggies lost a weekend series. Now, with two series left, find themselves on the outside looking in for a host spot in the NCAA tournament.

Just as I did last week, I think I’ll leave the game wrap-ups for those that want to revisit them on their own. Once again, the rain played a factor with the first game on Thursday being rained out pushing that to Friday which would cause a doubleheader to be played on Saturday. And due to the SEC rules, the doubleheader would be shortened to seven innings in both games just like in the series against South Carolina.

As for game one, the Aggies were held to just one hit and lost (4-0). Game two was not much better if you prefer an offensive showcase. Both teams had just three hits, luckily for the Aggies one of their hits drove in the game’s only run (1-0) thanks to Zach DeLoach.

The rubber match saw starter Christian Roa struggle with his control and the Aggies found themselves down 3-0 before the Aggie offense got going with a Bryce Blaum solo home run. Heading into the bottom of the seventh, A&M was down 4-1, the rally would fall short with the 4-3 loss which dropped the Aggies conference record to one game over .500 with six games to go.

In summary, the Aggies found themselves on the wrong side of the verdict for the second week in a row against a team from the magnolia state. With these results, A&M moved down in all six polls and is barely hanging on to a Top 20 ranking.

• Perfect Game / Rawlings – moved down three spots to No. 19
• NCBWA – moved down one spot to No. 18
• Baseball America – moved down four spots to No. 19
• D1Baseball –  moved down three spots to No. 17
• Coaches – moved down one spot to No. 18
• Collegiate Baseball – moved down two spots to No. 21

This week, the Ags do not have a midweek contest. The SEC series this week will be on the road in Tuscaloosa to face Alabama who is trying to keep themselves alive for one of the 12 spots in the SEC baseball tournament.

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