What A Start: Texas A&M grabs season-opening win over Hofstra, 5-2

GAME #1: Texas A&M 5, Hofstra 2
RECORDS: Texas A&M 1-0, Hofstra 0-1
WP: Kyle Simonds (1-0)
LP: Alec Eisenberg (0-1)
SAVE: Ryan Hendrix (1)
BOX SCORE

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Could it have started any better?

Yes, I’m talking about the season-opening 5-2 victory for the #4 Texas A&M Aggies over Hofstra. A win that was finished off by scoring runs in four consecutive innings and the possession of a lock-down bullpen. That was a good start.

The other one I’m referring to? That would be the start of one Boomer White’s career in Aggieland. After wanting to be an Aggie for most of his life, the transfer felt like he might explode from excitement in his first game.

Instead, he exploded on a 2-1 fastball and ended his first A&M at-bat with a homer to left that gave A&M an early 1-0 lead.

For White, it was a moment he truly couldn't believe.

“There was a lot of nerves, and then I ran into one with my first swing. I was overcome with emotion and actually came through the dugout and (Ryne) Birk gave me a chest bump on my nose and I was bleeding everywhere,” White said. “They were worried I was going to bleed through the inning, but it’ll be a good story.”

The rest of the game, post-celebration, went much smoother.

After sitting Hofstra down in order in the first inning, Kyle Simonds experienced his first test of the season in the second frame.

Following back to back singles, the Pride had runners on first and second when Teddy Cillis hit a hard line drive to deep center. Nick Banks got a great jump on the ball and made the grab, but the runner on second tagged and set up a runner on the corners situation for Simonds. One batter later, Hofstra scored on a soft liner to left and things were tied up at 1-1.

The Pride would seize the lead in the third inning before A&M had the chance to bounce back.

Simonds jammed David Leiderman, but through some luck and quite a bit of athleticism, he got a grounder through the left side and into the corner for a leadoff double.

Leiderman scored, and gave Hofstra a 2-1 lead, when the next man up singled to left.  J.B. Moss came up firing, but Michael Barash couldn't maintain control of the throw home and thus, the Aggies trailed for the first time in 2016.

It didn't last long.

With a high fly ball that landed against the wall in left, Moss started the home half of the third inning with a triple. When Birk’s sac fly to center proved deep enough to score Moss, A&M had once again pulled even at 2-2.

In the three innings that followed, the Aggies scored a run in each, growing a 5-2 lead along the way.

First, Hunter Melton led off the fourth with a single to left center. He advanced to third after Joel Davis’ single to right was mishandled and scored on a sac fly off the bat of Walker Pennington.

A&M struck again in the fifth, when Moss and Birk repeated their run scoring process almost identically. The only difference this time around, Moss’ leadoff triple was to right field, not left. After he was brought home by another Birk sacrifice, A&M had doubled the Pride, 4-2.

One final run was added in the sixth after Hunter Melton turned a single into a score, thanks to a balk and a Michael Barash single. For Childress, seeing his team manufacture runs in different ways is something he sees as a big positive.

“It was really important (for us),” He said. “J.B. Had a great night and started a few of those innings with triples, but every time we had a runner on third with less than two outs we were able to get him home. That’s important, because Hofstra managed their pitching really well, and offensively, they have guys who can change the game with one swing of the bat.”

As well as Hofstra handled their pitching staff, A&M’s performed even better. Kyle Simonds collected his first win of the season after struggling slightly through the opening frames. Brigham Hill entered the game in the sixth and allowed just three hits, with no runs.

In the eighth inning, coming out to his own video in the eighth, Ryan Hendrix walked onto the mound.

As he did, Hofstra’s chances were officially declared done.

Hendrix fired 14 pitches of 95 mph or greater, with six of them being clocked at either 96 or 97. He finished the eighth inning with a strikeout that personified what will make him so dangerous this season. The second strike was a 95 mph heater, the third was a mid-80’s off-speed offering that was a swing and miss as soon as it left his hand.

As great as A&M’s play was, the story was Boomer White and nobody knew it better than his head coach.

“That was kind of a meant to be thing,” Childress said of the solo home run. “First career at-bat at A&M, he hits a homerun. That’s probably a pretty good feeling for him. I know it was for us, to get on the board first.”

What a start.