Aggie Baseball blows late lead and drops series opener to Ole Miss, 5-4
Game #23: Ole Miss 5, Texas A&M 4
Records: Ole Miss (21-2, 3-1 SEC), Texas A&M (18-5, 1-3 SEC)
WP: Will Ethridge (1-0)
LP: Nolan Hoffman (3-1)
SV: Parker Caracci (2)
Box Score
Stephen Kolek put together what his head coach said was by far his best start of the season, but the Aggies left 12 men on base and blew a late lead as No. 5 Ole Miss took the series opener 5-4 Thursday night at Olsen Field.
“He was on top of his slider, he commanded the fastball to both sides of the plate — he was fabulous,” Rob Childress said after the game. “He made one mistake on the home run to [Nick] Fortes, but other than that he couldn’t have been any better than he was tonight. Very proud of his performance.”
A&M’s best opportunity came in the bottom of the eighth, when an Ole Miss error loaded the bases with one out and Braden Shewmake and Logan Foster due up. Both of them struck out to end the inning, which turned out to be the last time the Aggies would threaten.
“We got the guys that we wanted at the plate,” Childress said, “but their reliever was able to get two big punchouts.”
The Aggies drew first blood in the bottom of the second, as Hunter Coleman led off with a sharp single up the middle followed by a Will Frizzell walk and an infield single by Baine Schoenvogel to load the bases. After a strikeout, George Janca hit a chopper back to the pitcher. Ole Miss starter Ryan Rolison threw home for the second out of the inning, but the catcher’s throw to first sailed high and into right field, allowing Frizzell to score from second.
Ole Miss came back in the third to inflict the only damage it could muster against Kolek all night. Kolek left a pitch over the plate, and three-hole hitter Nick Fortes pounded it way over the fence in left for a two-run homer.
Kolek settled in after that, however, retiring the next seven Rebels — four via strikeout — and not giving up another run the rest of the way. He finished with 10 strikeouts and one walk in seven innings, throwing 108 pitches in the process.
He left the game with a 4-2 lead that the Aggies were able to build thanks to an RBI single by Frizzell in the third and a two-spot they put up in the sixth on RBI doubles by Shewmake and pinch hitter Aaron Walters.
The game looked to be in good shape for the Aggies as Kolek handed the ball to reliever Nolan Hoffman to start the eighth. Hoffman, who had not allowed an earned run to score the entire season, promptly gave up four consecutive one-out singles, the last of which got away from Foster in left and led to the Rebels’ fifth and final run.
“He’s our guy, I love the kid to death,” Kolek said of Hoffman. “He’s a human, he’s going to mess up. It’s going to happen, but at the same time he’s got to come back out and be who he’s meant to be and he’s going to be there for us next time.”
In the next half-inning, Cole Taylor and Zach DeLoach reached on back-to-back one-out singles, and then Helman hit a grounder to first base. Cole Zabowski fielded it cleanly, but his throw was dropped by Grae Kessinger at second base to load the bases.
After a long break in the action on a review that kept the call on the field, Ole Miss reliever Parker Caracci recovered to strike out both Shewmake and Foster on four pitches to escape the jam unscathed and preserve the one-run lead.
Kaylor Chafin retired all four batters he faced to finish the game for the Aggies, and then the offense went down in order in the ninth against Caracci to seal the win for Ole Miss.
“The first half of the game was great, and then we kind of started falling apart,” Helman said of the offense. “We were still getting some runners on and having some good at-bats, but we just have to be better.”
The teams return to the field on Friday for the second game of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. and will be televised on the SEC Network.
“We’re going to have to flush it and forget about it,” said Helman, who went 1-for-3 and extended his hitting streak to 16 games. “Move on to tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”