Texas A&M baseball self-destructs in 9th inning for 2nd game in a row, drops series

Texas A&M baseball searching for answers after two eerily similar losses to open SEC play

Texas A&M baseball went into the 9th inning against Alabama today much like they did yesterday: locked in a low-scoring game in which they had battled back from an early deficit. And much like what we saw out of the Aggies in that previous contest, a cavalcade of avoidable mistakes cost them the game.

In both games, the Aggies were one out away from ending the top of the 9th tied up, sending their own batters to the plate with a chance to wrest the lead away from Alabama for the first time in the weekend and walk the game off. In both games, the Tide homered to put themselves ahead for good.

It's more than just late-game pitching that's an issue, however. The quality of the Aggies' fielding is not near where it should be. The bats have been an absolute disaster. Given that the man in charge was the hitting coach for last year's team— which pumped homer after homer, putting up huge numbers on the offensive side— that may be the biggest mystery of them all.

One thing is for certain: something has got to change. This was supposed to be the easy part of the schedule, and the Aggies have played just above .500 baseball to this point. There's no way they'll survive the grind of the horrifically difficult road schedule ahead of them if they don't get things together.

There are some uncomfortable questions that are becoming more and more reasonable to ask at this point. This team is too talented to be playing like this. We've seen teams in this situation turn things around dramatically before, but the path forward is looking hazier and hazier with each passing game.