Aggie offense goes stagnant in loss to Sam Houston State

GAME #51: Sam Houston State 5, Texas A&M 0
RECORDS:  Sam Houston State 34-19 (21-6); Texas A&M 39-12 (18-9)
WP: Dakota Mills (2-1)
LP: Tyler Ivey (2-3)
BOX SCORE

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2014.  The last time the Texas A&M Aggies were shutout at home.  That game was against Sacramento State, this time it was against the team from right down the road. The Sam Houston State Bearkats. 

In front of 4,389 fans, this game saw a low dosage of Aggie hits (only 7 recorded), in addition to early runs given up, which resulted in a 5-0 shutout at the hands of the Bearkats. 

Aggie starter Tyler Ivey was roughed up in limited work, only going 2.2 innings, giving up five hits, and four runs. Three Aggie pitchers would be enough to keep the game close, but it was to no avail in the end. Jace Vines took over and quietly threw 3.1 innings, only giving up two hits along the way. Mitchell Kilkenny surrendered the final run of the game in the eighth inning, while Corbin Martin threw 1.2 innings of solid baseball to finish the game. 

The story was different on the other side of the field.

Bearkat starter Dakota Mills proved to be the difference in this game, throwing 6.2 innings and 104 pitches, giving up six Aggie hits, only walking one batter and striking out four along the way.  Reliever Miles Manning also proved effective, only giving up one hit in 2.1 innings.

Ivey's final batter hit a two-run home run over the right field wall, just out of reach of Nick Banks' outstretched arm. It was just that kind of night it was for the Aggies, in which nothing seemed to go their way.

"I didn't think Ivey was very good," said A&M head coach Rob Childress. "He was gone in the 3rd inning, but our bullpen did a great job, they threw 6.1 innings and only gave up one run and gave us a chance to get back in it.  But when you are chasing four runs before you can get through three innings, I wouldn't call that a solid performance."

Other than the lack of early pitching, the story of the day was the lack of offense. Nick Banks and Nick Choruby had two hits apiece, which represented the only multi-hit games in the A&M lineup.

"We wanted to get that bad taste out of our mouth from Sunday at South Carolina," said Banks. "We came out and they were the better team today. You have to tip your cap to Mills, he pitched a heck of game and threw all three pitches for strikes.  We took good swings here and there, but they didn't fall when they needed to and that's just baseball.  We're just going to have to rebound and have a great practice tomorrow."

You could argue the team was looking ahead to a pivotal SEC matchup against Ole Miss, or you could even argue the team had a bit of a hangover from last weekend's series against South Carolina. 

Banks, or Childress certainly do not feel that way. 

"This team never looks ahead," said Banks.  "They just played as a team better than we did today, they came ready to play for sure.  We are a mature hitting group that will rebound against Ole Miss."

Speaking of that pivotal series, the Aggies will host the Ole Miss Rebels starting Thursday for a chance to do something the Aggies have not done yet: win an SEC championship.