No. 19 Texas A&M falls in SEC opener to No. 1 Vanderbilt, 7-4
Game #20: No. 1 Vanderbilt 7, No. 19 Texas A&M 4
Records: Vanderbilt (15-3, 1-0), Texas A&M (15-5, 0-1)
WP: Drake Fellows (4-0)
LP: John Doxakis (3-2)
SV: Tyler Brown (3)
Box Score
SEC play didn’t exactly start as the Aggies would have hoped as they fell to No. 1 Vanderbilt, 7-4, on Friday night. The Aggies have now lost back to back game for the first time this season and sit at 15-5 on the year.
John Doxakis took to the hill looking to redeem himself after suffering his first loss of the season last week to a fiesty Gonzaga squad. Unfortunately for Dox, once again he didn’t have his best stuff and fell behind early, allowing a run in the first after a crucial two out walk.
“They made it hard to be successful today, that’s what good teams do to you,” said a frustrated Doxakis after the game. “Not having [my] secondary stuff made it harder to pitch and kind of just a chain of events that didn’t go our way.”
Despite four walks by Vanderbilt ace, Drake Fellows, in the opening frame, the Ags were only able to muster a single run. Will Frizzell tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI groundout and it seemed like all was shaping up for an epic pitcher’s dual. Doxakis and Fellows both pitched well through the next few innings, but a 4th inning slider that got away from Dox and skipped past Hoehner resulted in the second Vanderbilt run.
While it was just 2-1 at that point, the lack of timely offense from the home nine once again became painfully evident.
“We’ve got a chance to get their starter out early when he walks four in the first inning [but] we couldn't get a big hit. In the third we had a runner at second with no one out and we couldn’t move him with the middle of our order up and cash him in,” said head coach Rob Childress. “At the end of the night, that’s the difference in this game. As bad as we played, we still had our opportunities.”
The game really slipped away from the Aggies in an uncommonly sloppy 6th inning. Allonte Wingate misread a fly ball to right field that glanced off his glove and bounced off the track and over the wall for a ground rule double. Then LF Cooper Davis dropped down an incredible bunt on a suicide squeeze with runners on seecond and third. Davis somehow managed to get the bat on a ball thrown right at him and as Ty Coleman fielded the ball and looked to go to first, 1B Julian Infante took the opportunity to round third base and break for the plate, sliding in just under the tag by Hoehner. Vanderbilt would add another run in the inning when Bryce Blaum overthrew first base on a fairly routine play.
Texas A&M would mount a comeback, as they always seem to do at home, but it fell short in the end. Ty Condel smoked an RBI single into left in the 6th and Hoehner would rope a two RBI double past a diving centerfielder in the 7th, putting the tying run on base with no one out. Yet despite the momentum, the Aggie bats would fall silent and once again strand crucial runners on base.
Vanderbilt would score twice more before it was all said and done, resulting in a 7-4 loss for the Maroon and White.
Texas A&M will try and even the series tomorrow as they send Asa Lacy (4-0) to the mound tomorrow against the Commodores with first pitch at 2:02pm.